Script Competition
2024 Script Competition
Pittsburgh Shorts and Script Competition has earned a reputation for presenting the best international contemporary short films and scripts in the Pittsburgh region. We are dedicated to the art of short film, which we know starts on the page. That’s why we boost writers through a script competition in partnership with Carnegie Screenwriters where we continually seek out new voices.
We pride ourselves on our reasonable entrance fees, cash prizes, travel assistance, and all-festival and all-conference passes for finalists. The winner of the Script Competition will receive a $500 prize and a 1-hour consultation with a Roadmap Writers executive. All four finalists will have their scripts performed by professional actors at a well-attended staged reading. In addition, all writers who submit a script to the competition receive a free educational webinar of their choice from Roadmap Writers plus a 10% off discount on any additional program at RoadmapWriters.com.
Submit your script
Juror
Our juror for the 2024 Script Competition is Tom Schulman, writer of Dead Poets Society, for which he received an Academy Award for best original screenplay. Most recently, he wrote and directed Double Down South which had its Pennsylvania premiere at the 2023 Three Rivers Film Festival. Tom’s other screenplays include What About Bob?, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, Medicine Man, and Holy Man. He wrote and directed Eight Heads in a Duffel Bag, wrote and produced Welcome to Mooseport, and was executive producer of Indecent Proposal and Me, Myself and Irene. Tom previously served on the board of directors and as vice president of the Writers Guild of America, West. He was president of the Writers Guild Foundation, and currently serves on its board.
2023 Finalists
WINNER — SLEEPER by Gavin McClenaghan
A disgruntled supermarket employee with a history of sleepwalking relapses on the anniversary of her father's death in this dark comedy.
2nd Place — CHOSEN by Michelle Farley
When a spirited, unattached, and independent senior wakes up to find her companion from the previous night deceased, she knows her favorite granddaughter is the only one she can turn to for help.
3rd Place — DREIDEL by Glenn Lissner
In this thriller, Samuel tells his friends the horrors his grandfather suffered at a concentration camp during the Holocaust and how he took revenge against a sadistic Nazi prison guard.
4th Place — THE NEW MOON IN THE OLD MOON’S ARMS by David Sanders
As night falls, an exhausted son struggles to care for his father who has Alzheimer's.
Semifinalists
THE LIGHT AT THE END by Lynda Simmons
LEFT-HANDED DISABILITY by Hannah Kennedy
OKORO by Gregory Earls
PAPER MONSTERS by Michael Clifton
UNDERTOW by Alejandro Alvarez Cadilla
WAKING UP FROM A NAP ON A LONG DAY OF DOING NOTHING by Thom Hilton
Quarterfinalists
ESE DÍA (THAT DAY) by Alycya Magana
EXCELLENT FANCY by Julie Sharbutt
THE FARMER IN THE DELL INCIDENT by Greg Rempel
FLOW by Wendy Womack
HEAR MY SONG by Rachel Williams
OVARY-ACTING by Michelle Brøndum
THE SHOW MUST GO ON by Edward Santiago
SUPERMAN DOESN’T STEAL by Tamika Lamison
TINY TOES by Max Cianci
TRUE BLUE by Phil Yuhas
2023 Sponsors
