Hollywood Outreach Program
The Friends of the Network Questionnaire is for Development Executives, Producers, Agents and Managers who would like to be Friends of the Network and read winning scripts. We care about your preferences, so please take a moment to fill it out and e-mail it to lsquire@ scriptwritersnetwork.org.
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HOP Winners
For further information, please contact Leilani Squire at lsquire@ScriptwritersNetwork.org.
Kevin Aldrich
Steve Barr
Chris Billett
Gina Cresse
Veronica F. DiPippo
Maggie Franks
David Fulk
Mark Garbett
Joe Garrett
Nancy Hendrickson
Syrie James
Justin Jones & Nick Garey
Doug Molitor
Paul Myerberg
Andy Nordvall & Devon M. Schwartz
Richard Redlo
Shaene M. Siders
Lance Thompson
Christopher Valin
Steve Warren
Laurel Wetzork
Tommy Wood & Marc Benton
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Kevin Aldrich
HOP winning script
WISH
family comedy
An eleven-year-old farm town delinquent gets his hands on the magic lantern of a burnt-out genie and makes them trade places. The boy, Gene Valenti, decides to wreak havoc on his town with his new found powers while the genie, Faraam Salaam Mulaam, now trapped in the measly body of a boy, rediscovers his mission and tries to grant wishes even without magical powers.
WISH is a story of personal, family and civic redemption as Gene learns to appreciate the life he left behind while Faraam recovers his belief in humanity. It is FREAKY FRIDAY meets ALADDIN.
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As a father and elementary school principal, Kevin Aldrich has an inexhaustible supply of material for family comedies like WISH. His scripts in a variety of genres have been recognized for their excellence by the Nicholl, the Scriptwriters Network, and Cinestory. He is represented by Preferred Artists Agency.
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Steve Barr
HOP winning script
MATING HABITS
action / horror
A professional killer must protect a beautiful runaway from her abusive family -- who happen to be werewolves.
--- additional scripts available by Steve ---
REQUIEM FOR AN ASSASSIN
drama
Requiem for an Assassin is a tragic character drama cleverly disguised as an action flick. An elderly government operative is sent to kill his young protégé. Along the way he relives their violent past and the twisted love triangle that drove them apart. (Imagine Ian McKellen or Morgan Freeman as a badass elderly assassin ... who is secretly gay.)
DEVIL WATER
action / horror / comedy / western
A nebbishy soft-drink inventor in the Old West discovers a stream of magical water that transforms its victims into monsters. With the help of a mysterious gunslinging preacher, he must battle demons and outlaws before he can confront the Devil Water. (Currently being adapted into a comic book series.)
FACING THE CROWD
thriller
A female doctor with the Centers for Disease Control must track down the creator of a virus that sterilizes a third of the people it infects. But when she catches the creator, she must decide if it would be best to let her go free.
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Steve Barr is currently in a development deal with Disney, being produced by Academy Award-winning writer/producers Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio (PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN). He is a founder and the President of SoCal Film Group, a creative collective of filmmakers. His comic book DEVIL WATER is a top-seller for its genre and type, and the screenplay on which it is based has recently been optioned. Children and animals love him. He can hold his liquor. He is great in the sack.
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Chris Billett
HOP winning script
REVIVAL INC.
sci-fi / thriller
After a fatal "accident", a renowned scientist is resurrected -- only to discover his dream for a better world has been corrupted by those he trusted. Joining an underground resistance, he sets out to destroy his invention and comes to learn that death is a necessary part of life.
--- additional script available by Chris ---
BADLANDS
thriller, set in New Mexico
An over-protective single mother must depend on her past skills as a U.S. Marshal when her fatally wounded ex-partner asks her to protect an eye-witness with evidence against a gang of corrupt law officers.
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Born in England, Chris Billett emigrated to the USA and ran a software company for five years before turning to screenwriting fulltime. He has written on assignment and recently developed a horror feature for Asgaard Entertainment. He is in the process of optioning an action script to a well established producer, and busy working on his next spec screenplay.
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Gina Cresse
HOP winning script
THE MONA LISA CAPER
period drama -- based on a true - and incredible - story
When a poor carpenter claims he pulled off the greatest art theft in history by stealing the Mona Lisa from the Louvre, the real mastermind confesses his story to a reporter.
--- additional script available by Gina ---
PLAN B
thriller / adventure / romance
based on the writer’s novel, which is the first in a series of five books
When a woman buys the forfeited contents of a storage locker, she unintentionally stumbles upon a money laundering ring and evidence that a
passenger plane was intentionally crashed to prevent its discovery.
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Gina Cresse loves a good story. Since 1998, she's published 5 mystery novels that most describe as "fun page-turners" and was even offered an option on the series by a film company. She earned a Certificate in Feature Film Writing from UCLA in 2005. Her screenplays have been finalists, semi and quarter finalists in competitions such as Scriptapalooza, UCLA Screenwriting Contest, A Feeding Frenzy, and Page. She writes fun, family-friendly stories that appeal to a broad audience.
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Veronica F. DiPippo
HOP winning script
THE KING’S PLEASURE
romance / period piece
The King’s Pleasure is a rags-to-riches romance about 17th Century England’s most famous actress, NELL GWYN. Working her way up from the sewers of Soho, Nell battles jealous rivals, treacherous spies, and powerful lords who long to possess her at any cost. But, just when success is within her grasp, and the very King of England promises to fulfill all of Nell’s dreams, true love forces her to choose a path which could lead to her disgrace, downfall… and even death.
--- additional scripts available by Veronica ---
DARE
action / adventure
SEAN and ANTHONY, two twenty-something, small time robbers, are tapped by “The King of the Thieves” to join an international team that is planning to steal the world’s most valuable jewel. Pitted against each other for the job, their friendship begins to fray as they discover themselves odd-men-out amongst the slick, uber-thieves of the world. Can two young crooks survive in a kingdom of super-criminal power, money, and sex, where friends become enemies, double-crossing is a way of life, and one false move could cost them their lives?
NEVER THE BRIDE
romantic comedy
SARA GARRETT, a down-on-love, self-appointed analyst, convinces her BCF’s (best college friends) to form a pact never to marry without each other’s approval. As the years pass and her BCF’s all break the pact (dragging Sara along as maid of honor to boot), Sara learns that marriage is what you make of it, and everlasting love can be discovered in the last place on earth you’d ever expect to find it.
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Prior to screenwriting, Veronica amassed a large body of produced works for theatre. Over thirty productions of her plays and one-acts have premiered at theatres on both coasts. As a screenwriter, writing assignments have ranged from adapted to original works for studios and independents including Disney and her own production company, Crunch Entertainment. Projects currently in active packaging include her horror film Crimson Lake and a feature length docu-drama with virtuoso violinist Hubert Pralitz. Also a filmmaker, Veronica’s award nominated short films have played at festivals across the country. Her most recent film, Dandelion Dharma, is currently in postproduction. Veronica will be teaching screenwriting at CSULA this winter. She is member of the WGA and Women In Film and is represented by Lee Keele at The Gersh Agency. To see Veronica’s film trailers, go to: http://www.crunchentertainment.com/about_cr.html
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Maggie Franks
HOP winning script
STAGEMOM
family / romantic comedy
It's a long, hot summer for harried divorcee, Joanna Peterson, who barely has time to brush her teeth, let alone see a movie. But she's forced into being Hollywood's newest stage mom when her son wins the coveted “Martian Makeover” contest to act in Logan Taylor’s latest blockbuster -- where the acting stint becomes a hissing contest with naive Joanna wrestling drama queens, pushy stage mothers and - Logan, the reigning “sexiest man alive.”
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As the mother of four testosterone-driven boys, Maggie Franks abandoned copywriting and political satires for the UCLA screenwriting program to hone in on family comedies. When her youngest son decided to be a big movie star, Maggie enlisted to study and write her script, STAGEMOM, as the two rookies tackled Hollywood. Several scripts and awards later, Maggie pursues screenwriting; but her son craves rock stardom now because they pull checks like Scarlett Johansson.
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David Fulk
HOP winning script
RUFUS REX
family comedy / adventure
A shy 11-year-old boy discovers a frozen egg in a freshly-dug quarry, and keeps it. When it thaws and hatches, a baby lizard pops out and immediately imprints on him, thinking he is its mother. But his secret pet soon becomes a king-size challenge, as he realizes what he's got is a young T-rex.
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Chicago transplant David Fulk has written five independent features and directed two, "Night Visitors" and "The Road to Flin Flon." His print anthologies "The Cubs Reader" and "A Blue Jays Companion" have been popular with baseball fans, and his stage play "The Potman Spoke Sooth" has been performed in hundreds of venues around the world.
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Mark Garbett
HOP winning script
I’LL BE DAMNED
comedy
What if you tried to sell your soul, only to discover it was utterly worthless? I'LL BE DAMNED is a Faustian comedy about a con artist with three days to attempt the impossible… become a decent human being.
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Mark Garbett's horror feature, MIDNIGHT MOVIE, was produced in 2007 by Bigfoot Entertainment. He has optioned several scripts, most recently the psychological horror SEWN to PHD Productions. He wrote and produced the supernatural thriller REFLECTIONS, and his short thriller SEND IN THE CLONES screened at the 2007 Dances With Films Festival. He has won or placed in numerous screenwriting contests, including Slamdance/Sci-Fi Channel and The International Screenwriting Competition. He was a semi-finalist in the Nicholl Fellowship for his script OTHERWORLD. He has several projects available, including THE CLAIMING, a thriller about a widow who suspects her seven year old daughter is predicting the deaths of those around them through her crayon drawings.
He can be reached at mgarbett@gmail.com.
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Joe Garrett
HOP winning script
THINKING TALL
dark comedy
Anthony Robbins-style audio success tapes inspire a petty thief to steal bigger. But to win the honest woman he loves, he has to go legit fast. He seeks out the success guru who made the tapes -- a larcenous dwarf who tricks him into performing the biggest scam of his career.
--- additional scripts available by Joe ---
INDIGENOUS HERO
sci-fi action / comedy
A fat, middle-aged, comic book fanatic can’t help himself -- he blows the family nest egg on a rare comic. His wife promptly leaves him. But the hot, young beauty that sold him the book turns him into a lean, buff superhero, twenty years younger, and tries to seduce him. She says his mission is to kill a famous wheelchair-bound humanitarian/genius who’s really an alien bent on the destruction of the Earth. But, despite his miraculous transformation, he doesn’t trust her.
NATURE BOYS
comedy / drama
Three decades before the ‘60s counterculture, long-haired “hippies” lived like Native Americans in the rural canyons of Santa Monica. Set in 1937, NATURE BOYS is based on their true story: an eccentric young man struggles to find a cure for his life-threatening illness and answers to life’s deeper questions in a mystical lost canyon located on the fringes of L.A. He persuades a dying married woman he secretly loves, a Native American tribe, and Hollywood’s zaniest screwballs to join him there. When civilization threatens to destroy their magical healing place, they risk everything to save it.
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Joe Garrett’s first writing job was for The Sharper Image Catalog. As an advertising copywriter, he’s won two prestigious Clio Awards, including one for best commercial running in theatres. As a screenwriter, he’s been a Nicholl Fellowship semi-finalist, and an Austin Film Festival finalist. An executive for a mid-sized production company recently wrote about him, “You are an exceptionally talented writer, and it is extremely refreshing to read work of such high caliber.”
He can be reached at garrett.joe@gmail.com.
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Nancy Hendrickson
HOP winning script
THE HOUSE UPON THE SAND
coming of age / romance
In 1960, a nine-year-old discovers the true meaning of "home" and "family" when she is suddenly transplanted from Philadelphia to Miami and her mother falls in love with her best friend's father.
HOP winning script
ON TOP OF THE WORLD
historical drama
Who was the first explorer to reach the North Pole? Was it Robert Peary or Frederick Cook? Or was it the black man whom history forgot?
--- additional script available by Nancy ---
ALPHA BABE
written with Paula Brancato
teen comedy
In this "Tootsie for teens," high school football captain Brent Lehane has to learn to BE a girl before he can GET the girl.
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Nancy Hendrickson, a former actress, teaches screenwriting at Los Angeles Film School, has written for Creative Screenwriting and MovieMaker magazines and penned over fifty promotional spots for The Disney Channel. Winner of the Austin Film Festival Screenwriting Competition and the Carl Sautter Memorial Scriptwriting Award, she was also a semi-finalist in the Nicholl Fellowship, a finalist in the Eugene O'Neill National Playwrights Conference and a finalist in the Sundance Writers Lab. She has written and directed three short films. Her first "The Healing" is currently on the festival circuit and won the GAIA Award for Best Short at the 2007 Moondance Film Festival. Hendrickson was recently hired to adapt the life story of psychologist-to-the-stars Dr. Irene Kassorla.
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Syrie James
HOP winning script
JANE
historical romance
JANE chronicles two "lost" years of Jane Austen’s life, recounting the secret, life-changing love affair that inspired Austen’s return to writing, and the publication of her first novel. Syrie James’s screenplay JANE was one of fifteen finalists (out of 1,141 entries) in the 2007 MORE/Women in Film Screenplay Contest.
The HOP-winning script JANE is an adaptation of the novel "The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen," which was published by Avon Books, a division of HarperCollins, in November 2007. The novel has received five star reviews on BarnesandNoble.com and Amazon.com and is an international best seller, with more than 100,000 copies in print. (See below for reviews of the book.)
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"A new and provocative look at one of the world's most beloved authors. This compelling novel should delight Austen fans far and wide." —John Shors, author of "Beneath A Marble Sky"
"Tantalizing, tender, and true to the Austen mythos … highly recommended." —Bette-Lee Fox, Library Journal, starred review [Editors' Fall Picks, 2007]
"…captures the heart with every turn... Syrie James compiles a great masterpiece." —Coffee Time Romance
"This is an amazing book. Jane Austen lives again in the pages of Ms. James's novel. She … captures the heart and mind of Jane Austen" —Susan Carroll, author of "The Huntress"
"This book is nothing short of brilliant. Syrie James is a literary genii who fulfilled one of my most cherished fantasies. I felt as if she'd cozied me up to a tea table with the real Jane Austen for a heart-felt chat." —Kimberly Cates, author of "The Gazebo"
--- additional scripts available by Syrie ---
FINDING THE ONE
romance / dramedy
Over the Christmas holidays, two college-aged brothers and their divorcing parents look for love—or try to run away from it—which directly impacts their relationships with each other.
TAME THE WILD SKY
family drama
A teenage city boy, miserable after moving to a small mountain town, finds new purpose in life—and a host of new challenges to overcome—when he rescues a rare, injured falcon.
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Syrie James is known for writing plot-driven, character-rich stories that touch the heart. A WGA member, Syrie has sold nineteen screenplays and teleplays in a variety of genres, to Tri-Star Pictures, Fox Family Films, ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX TV and the Lifetime Network, including HEAVENS TO BETSY for Dolly Parton, CAT & MOUSE for Gene Wilder, and ONCE IN A LIFETIME for Barry Bostwick and Lindsay Wagner. Syrie recently co-wrote and co-produced the independent film REAL. Her HOP-winning screenplay JANE—an adaptation of her novel "The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen" (Avon/HarperCollinsPublishing, Nov. 2007)— was a finalist in the 2007 MORE/Women in Film Screenplay Contest. Syrie’s play HOME FIRES BURNING was a finalist at the Palm Springs International Playwriting Festival. Her scripts UP and FINDING THE ONE (under the title PURE MORNING) have won or placed in numerous screenwriting competitions. Please visit: www.syriejames.com.
Representation:
Tamar Rydzinski
The Laura Dail Literary Agency
350 Seventh Ave. Suite 2003
New York, New York, 10001
(212) 239-7477
trdzinski@ldlainc.com
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Justin Jones & Nick Garey
HOP winning script
OCCAM'S RAZOR
action / thriller
After his friend is murdered right before his eyes, a wise cracking everyman finds himself the main suspect, on the run from the law, and in search of the those truly responsible.
--- additional scripts available by Justin & Nick ---
CIRCLE
drama
Coming of age story that begins when "Circle Justice", a Native American approach to healing, is offered to a troubled youth as his only alternative to jail. After being sentenced to a secluded island for one full year, the boy finds the process of "healing" much more difficult than he ever imagined. Based on the critically acclaimed novel "Touching Spirit Bear" by Ben Mikaelsen.
POMPEII
drama / action
A Romeo & Juliet themed story set during the last days of Pompeii. This script was a finalist in the Nicholl screenwriting fellowship.
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Nick is a graduate of NYU Film school. Justin is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
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Doug Molitor
HOP winning script
BLACK & WYATT
broad comedy
The last of the old-school private eyes gets in legal trouble and has his business put under the control of his young lawyer, an incredibly clumsy wannabe-detective. (The Big Sleep meets The Pink Panther.) (Semifinalist, 2005 Fox21/Slamdance Contest, Winner 2004 Producers Outreach Contest.)
--- additional scripts available by Doug ---
DIMMESDALE!
political spoof
Dan Dimmesdale, a telegenic brain-damage victim, becomes president through the schemes of Carl Loft, his ruthless, brilliant, morbidly obese running mate. After Dimmesdale's idiotic blunders cause international incidents, Loft has an actor surgically altered to double Dimmesdale for speeches. But then the actor grows a conscience, and decides to take over.
I LOVE LUCIDITY
broad, high-concept comedy
Barry Murphy steals whatever he wants, strolls through women's locker rooms, gets in high-speed chases, punches out his boss and makes love to any woman he sees...because Barry has mastered Lucid Dreaming...where you know it's only a dream so you can do anything you want in it. The problem: Barry doesn't realize that today is not a dream: He's actually awake, it's the most crucial day of his life...while he indulges his every fantasy of lust, risk and revenge, thinking there are no consequences. (Runner Up, Find the Funny Contest, 2005.)
GUARD #3
action spoof
You know in a James Bond movie, there's always one guard who gets knocked off the catwalk and probably breaks every bone in his body? Guard #3 is about one of these nameless shlubs, who get beat up, shot up, or blown up by the hero in an action film. But this is no movie stuntman: Bob is a real guard who goes from bad gig to worse (prison/sleazy bar/druglord's hacienda/evil mastermind's hideout), trying to be the best guard he can...while his medical insurance runs out, his wife leaves him, and his life falls apart. Only when stands up for himself does he become the hero of his own life story.
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Doug Molitor began his career writing sitcoms, then expanded into hour-longs and features. He is a 2003 graduate of the Warner Bros. Writers Workshop. His produced credits include ADVENTURE INC., SLIDERS, F/X THE SERIES, POLICE ACADEMY, YOUNG HERCULES, SLEDGE HAMMER and LUCKY LUKE. His zany feature I LOVE LUCIDITY was optioned twice. He was elected to two-terms as an Altadena town councilman. He was a five-day JEOPARDY champion. He lives in L.A. with his wife and daughter.
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Paul Myerberg
HOP winning script
BLACK MAGIC
supernatural horror
A Chicago cop must learn Haitian voodoo in order to defeat a magician who kills with magic.
HOP winning script
OUT OF CONTROL
dark action / thriller
A CIA Operative, returned home to America, is shocked to realize the women closest to him are being murdered - and he may have done it.
--- additional scripts available by Paul ---
APRIL 15
drama
After driving her husband to suicide and harassing the widow, the Internal Revenue gets a surprise when the woman fights back.
JACKIN’ THE DEVIL
action / drama with comedy
A tough kid turned minister gets a reputation as a modern-day Robin Hood by hijackin’ the local thugs.
RED MAN
action / drama / supernatural
ANDY, a young homeless and spiritually void Native-American man, is accused of the death of a friend. During the pursuit Andy is saved by the cryptic and powerful LEONARD THREE FEATHERS who forces Andy into a bargain which propels Andy into returning to the reservation to investigate a murder, putting him on the road to spiritual meaning and a sense of his heritage.
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Paul Myerberg has been optioned eight times and has won or placed in fourteen contests. A native of New York, Paul currently lives in Burbank, California. He is represented by Andy Rodman of The Jack Scagnetti Literary Agency.
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Andy Nordvall & Devon M. Schwartz
HOP winning script
LONELY INTRAGALACTIC OVERLORD SEEKS SINGLE EARTH FEMALE
sci-fi comedy in the spirit of "Spaceballs" and "Galaxy Quest"
Kang just wants to find love with a nice Earth girl. Unfortunately, he’s about to inherit the crappiest job imaginable, ruling the galaxy with an iron fist.
--- other scripts available on request ---
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Andy and Devon are three-time winners of the Carl Sautter Memorial Scriptwriting Competition. Andy comes from the UCLA Screenwriting program, where he won the Professional Program and Showcase awards. He also writes sketch comedy for the BIG NEWS SHOW, and loves referring to himself in the third person. Devon received a Theater and Psychology degree from Yale University after spending much of his youth in New York theater. Once in LA, he joined up with writing partner, Andy. Devon is also a working actor (as Devon Michaels) and has performed on and off Broadway.
Contact them at their Website: www.MySpace.com/MastersOfHumility.
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Richard Redlo
HOP winning script
END OF DISCUSSION
romantic comedy
A middle-aged, gay, Jewish man is challenged by his family to bring a male date to the next family wedding. Will he bring his best friend or his long-lost love? His choice reverberates through his family and friends, highlighting their own romantic challenges and insecurities.
--- additional scripts available by Richard ---
BILLY DONNER'S PICNIC
drama with magical realism
Decades after the publication of America's most celebrated novel, its reclusive Author re-appears with nine sequels -- only to be confronted by his famous fictional anti-hero who forces the Author to occupy, and eventually embrace, the tortured life he created.
KILLING SAMMY
dark comic thriller
Sammy D’Andrea, a 15-year-old in the midst of puberty-induced sexual explosiveness, witnesses his father’s crippling by mob underboss Sammy “The Red” Graziano. Graziano is caught and turns State’s evidence against mob boss Joe Fiorello. Young Sammy finds that sexual release and violent revenge merge as he accepts Fiorello’s assignment to kill Graziano.
THE OTHER TEAM
dramedy
A culture war among elderly suburbanites melts away when neighborly-needs ignite neighborly-love.
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Richard Redlo is the author of a television pilot and 11 feature-length screenplays, three of which have been optioned by producers and a number of which have won or placed highly in contests. He is the founder of Upstate (New York) Independent Screenwriters Forum. Richard is represented by Jeannine Edmunds (jedmundsmgt@gmail.com - www.thestoryclinic.com).
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Shaene M. Siders
HOP winning script
Inner Demons
action thriller
Demons torment Dr. Ashley Brinkman's mental patients. Her cure? Invade Hell.
--- additional scripts available through Dragon Under Glass productions ---
Please contact Shaene with specific requests.
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Shaene M. Siders is a writer/producer who runs her own business writing and consulting for the entertainment and technology industries.
She has been writing fiction since kindergarten, which makes her the typical "overnight success." In addition to a HOP win, her scripts have scored finalist and quarterfinalist awards in separate Scriptapalooza contests and a handful of awards in other contests.
Shaene has written articles for magazines such as Creative Screenwriting, and she publishes her own series of creative training manuals. Recent titles like Java for Mad Scientists have been used repeatedly by major companies such as NASA and Federal Express.
Shaene lives in Long Beach, California, and is actively seeking further assignment work as she pursues her freelance career. Please contact her at producer@DragonUnderGlass.com or visit http://www.DragonUnderGlass.com for more information.
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Lance Thompson
HOP winning script
DOG TAGS
action / drama
In the closing days of World War II, a war dog helps a group of lost soldiers find their way home through enemy lines.
--- additional scripts available by Lance ---
ONE NIGHT WITH YOU
comedy
Elvis and Richard Nixon become amateur detectives for one night to retrieve a stolen White House tape.
RIO TIEMPO
western
A retired Texas Ranger and his old Comanche war chief nemesis track
down German saboteurs in 1917 Texas.
THE LEGEND OF LONG JOHN
low-budget comedy
An ice cream man turns into a bumbling masked superhero to save the kids on his route from drug dealers.
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Lance Thompson is a script doctor (The Two Jakes, The Honeymooners), a television writer (Mr. Belvedere) and an award-winning creator of motion picture advertising. He's a staff writer at web sites lowdowncentral.com and NewMediaJournal.com, and has written and photographed for magazines such as Cowboys & Indians, Air & Space Smithsonian, and Fly Past in the UK. He's a Scriptwriters Network High School Fellowship mentor, and graduated magna cum laude from the UCLA Motion Picture/Television program.
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Christopher Valin
HOP winning script
SECRET DISCIPLE
suspense / thriller
When Jack Ryder agrees to deliver an ancient manuscript for his professors, he becomes the center of a deadly conspiracy reaching back to a secret disciple of Jesus. When the truth is this dangerous, everyone wants to kill the messenger...
--- additional script available by Christopher ---
METALHEAD
comedy
When perpetual loser and wannabe rock star Alex Gerard is blamed for the death of a famous movie star, the star's maid helps him prove that the murderer was actually the actress' famous rapper boyfriend.
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In addition to the Hollywood Outreach Program, Christopher was a winner in the Star Trek: Kirk vs. Picard screenwriting contest (Round 3), a finalist in Scriptapalooza TV, a semifinalist in the Chesterfield Screenwriting Competition, a quarterfinalist in the Nicholl Fellowship, Scriptapalooza, and Scriptapalooza TV, and was in the Top Ten Percent in the Austin Film Festival's Screenwriting Competition.
Christopher has additional projects and can be reached at cvalin@aol.com.
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Steve Warren
HOP winning script
THE GHOSTS OF BULL RUN
Civil War drama
Searching for his missing father during the Civil War, a teenage boy comes of age when he must decide between loyalty to his father and loyalty to his oath of honor.
--- additional scripts available by Steve ---
EDEN’S AIR
futuristic thriller
Will the good guys or the bad guys get the coveted formula that will cleanse earth’s polluted atmosphere? One person holds the key to the formula that will cleanse our contaminated atmosphere and powerful people would kill him for that key.
MARCUS
drama -- based on a true story
Marcus Aurelius, the most benevolent and intellectual emperor of Rome, faces plots against him by his wife, his half-brother, his favorite general, and a little band of unarmed Christians who refuse to bow to Roman gods even in the face of Marcus’ authorized persecution. Taken into war by the plots against him, Marcus soon finds himself in an untenable position where he must decide whether or not to rely upon the Christians in order to save the empire. (Winner San Jose Film Festival, Christian Screenwriter, and a Nicholl semi-finalist)
MOSES OF THE BULRUSHES
comedy
At sixteen, MOSES, an orphan, is forced from his home by his wretched foster family, who, after some mishaps, mistake his divine gift for a curse. Taking to the road with other misfits, Moses sets out to find his real mother who had set him adrift as a baby in a picnic basket. Along the way he finds a world of sin, a means of redemption, and his life purpose. (Has been optioned but not currently under option)
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Steve Warren is a produced playwright and optioned and produced screenwriter. His musical Gone To Texas received a New York reading in May at the York Theatre and opens in San Antonio this March. Two of his short screenplays have been produced, one directed by Michael Waxman, co-producer of Ali, The Insider, and Collateral. In addition to winning the Scriptwriters Network Carl Sautter Award, Steve has also won the Hollywood Symposium contest and has been a Nicholl semi-finalist.
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Laurel Wetzork
HOP winning script
IRISH MISTS
strong female / foreign setting / dramedy
An outspoken black-sheep daughter returns to Ireland to make peace with her mother and find tolerance from her sisters. Instead she finds intolerance, anger, confusion and denial as she struggles to clear the mists surrounding their hidden past.
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Laurel Wetzork is an award-winning screenwriter, playwright, published author, and fine artist. She also co-produced, directed and wrote the indie feature film Rogues. Laurel graduated from USC's Cinema School with an emphasis in production.
Her screenplay Irish Mists was in the top 7% of the Nicholl Fellowship 2007 and winner of the Scriptwriters Network Competition. Irish Mists focuses on a dysfunctional family and its Alzheimer's afflicted matriarch. Her play, Devil Inside, was a finalist in the NETC play writing competition.
There's more about her and her projects on her website: http://www.mojewetzorkstudios.com. She may be reached via email, lmw_cre8s@hotmail.com.
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Tommy Wood & Marc Benton
HOP winning script
PIECES OF EIGHT
historical action / adventure
In 16th Century Spain, a noble sea captain becomes a legendary pirate as he tries to find his lost son and seek revenge against the country and old enemy who betrayed him and murdered his family. View the trailer at http://one.revver.com/watch/108698.
--- additional scripts available by Tommy ---
ANTAGON
written with Neal Shannon Cruey
supernatural thriller
A bestselling fantasy author struggles with the dark secrets of his past when the demonic villain of his novels refuses to be killed off and invades the real world.
CHASING THE WIND
fantasy
A Viking warrior, exiled by his clan, sets out on a quest to find God, and fights Odin in an attempt to bring his younger brother back from the dead.
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Tommy Wood achieved his BFA in Communication Arts from the Atlanta College of Art. His screenplay, Pieces of Eight, reached the Top 30 of the 2006 Nicholl's Fellowship in Screenwriting, tied for 1st Place (with two of his other scripts) in the 2006 Best First Page Contest at Screenbrokers and received three recommends from the 2005 Hollywood Outreach Program 2005. Tommy is producing/directing an independent film, Grilling Bobby Hicks, that he co-wrote with Neal Shannon Cruey, and a documentary about cardiac babies called Someone Else's Life.
Marc Benton's screenplay, Pieces of Eight (co-written with Tommy Wood), reached the Top 30 of the 2006 Nicholl's Fellowship in Screenwriting, tied for 1st Place in the 2006 Best First Page Contest at Screenbrokers and received three recommends from the 2005 Hollywood Outreach Program 2005. Marc is co-producing an independent film, Grilling Bobby Hicks.