Script Competition

Nov 23, 2025

The Pittsburgh Shorts Script Competition showcases stellar scripts of 15 pages or fewer with live readings by some of Pittsburgh's best actors.

Get tickets to the live reading on Nov 23!

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Script Competition

Pittsburgh Shorts Script Competition has earned a reputation for presenting the best international contemporary short films and scripts in the Pittsburgh region in partnership with Carnegie Screenwriters. 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.

Script submissions are closed for 2025.

2025 Juror

2025 FINALISTS
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CAN'T FLOAT
By Dave Schilling
A young Black man struggles to overcome his own fear of the water–and America’s historical stereotypes of Black people–and learn to swim.

 

LIGHT
By Cynthia Riddle & Peter Hunziker
The harrowing story of women prisoners at Auschwitz who risk everything to keep hope alive. Based on a book and a true story.

LULUBELLE
By Michael Goyert
Cattle farmer Michael lovingly tends to his herd until the arrival of a seemingly omnipresent stranger throws his life into a spiral of existential chaos.

 

WE ARE MONSTERS
By Kate Mellors
A strapped-for-cash delivery woman downloads an exclusive errands app catering only to the super-wealthy and gets dragged into a dark underworld with sinister consequences.

Semifinalists

THE BEACH OF STONES by William Armstrong

GOOD EVENING, MARSHALL (GOOD EVENING, GERALDINE) by Jessica Mosher

OLIVIA COLMAN SAYS MY FARTS DON’T STINK by Lisa Marie Tedesco

THE SCREAM OF THE BUTTERFLY by Anjini Taneja Azhar

SENIOR MOMENTS by Shana Hughes

TIME ENOUGH by Nick Fituri Scown

Quarter Finalists

BUTTON by Abbey Monnin

THE GREAT BIG YANKEE LESBIAN SWAP by Nick B. Parker

HEART TO MOUTH by Portia Lannak

MUDSLIDE by Frederik Ehrhardt

RIGHT HAND RED by Ilana Turner

SHE WAS A SK8R BOI by Chase Norman

THIS EMAIL COULD HAVE BEEN A MEETING by Chase Norman

WANTED by Peter Dodds

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