Jonathan LaPoma is an award-winning, best-selling novelist, optioned screenwriter, songwriter, and poet from Buffalo, NY. In 2005, he received a BA in history and a secondary education credential from the State University of New York at Geneseo, and he traveled extensively throughout the United States and Mexico after graduating. These experiences have become the inspiration for much of his writing, which often explores themes of alienation and misery as human constructions that can be overcome through self-understanding and the acceptance of suffering.
LaPoma has written five novels, fourteen screenplays, and hundreds of songs and poems. His screenplays have won over 160 awards/honors at various international screenwriting competitions, and his black comedy script HARM FOR THE HOLIDAYS was optioned by Warren Zide along with Wexlfish Pictures (AMERICAN PIE, FINAL DESTINATION, THE BIG HIT) in July 2017. Barnes and Noble selected LaPoma's dark, disturbing coming-of-age novel THE SUMMER OF CRUD to its B&N Press Presents list (February/March 2018) where, "B&N Press editors have handpicked the best books from emerging authors and new voices." LaPoma's novel DEVELOPING MINDS: AN AMERICAN GHOST STORY is a #1 Amazon Best Seller ("Satire" and "Urban Life" Kindle categories), and it won the 2015 Stargazer Literary Prizes (Visionary and Metaphysical Fiction category) and won the bronze medal in the 2016 Florida Authors and Publishers Association President's Awards (Adult eBook category). His novel UNDERSTANDING THE ALACRÁN won the silver medal in the 2017 FAPA President's Awards (Contemporary/Literary category), and his novel THE SUMMER OF CRUD is a finalist in the 2018 Eric Hoffer Book Award. He lives in San Diego and teaches at a public secondary school.
LaPoma is also an online instructor of a writing course, FROM FIRST DRAFT TO BESTSELLER, which teaches beginning authors how to self-publish and market their books, and build their readership from zero. The course is offered on Udemy.
www.jonlapoma.com.
LaPoma's screenplays have won the following awards/honors:
-Hollywood Screenplay Contest, 2014, Grand Jury Prize (Best Overall Script)
-Las Vegas Screenplay Contest, 2014, Grand Jury Prize (Best Overall Script)
-Hollywood Screenplay Contest, 2017, Grand Prize: Comedy Category
-London Film Awards, 2016, Grand Prize Winner: Feature Screenplay Category
-London Film Awards, 2015, Grand Prize Winner: Feature Screenplay Category
-London Film Awards, 2014, Grand Prize Winner: Feature Screenplay Category
-Los Angeles Screenplay Contest, 2017, 1st Place: Comedy Category
-New Renaissance Film Festival, 2017, 1st Place: Drama Category
-Awareness Film Festival, 2014, 1st Place
-Las Vegas Screenplay Contest, 2014, 1st Place: Drama Category
-West Field Screenwriting Awards 2014, 1st Place: "The New York Award"
-Auckland Film Festival, 2016, 1st Place -MAC Underground Film Festival, 2016, 1st Place ---Las Vegas Screenplay Contest, 2018, 2nd Place: Comedy Category
-Los Angeles Screenplay Contest, 2015, 2nd Place: Drama Category
-World Series of Screenwriting, 2017, 3rd Place: Comedy Category
-Las Vegas Screenplay Contest, 2017, 3rd Place: Comedy Category
-Indie Gathering Film Festival, 2017, 3rd Place: Comedy Category
-Chicago Screenplay Contest, 2014, 3rd Place: Drama Category
-Awareness Film Festival, 2015, 3rd Place
-Rated SR – Socially Relevant Film Festival, 2014, Top Four Scripts
-Indie Gathering Film Festival, 2016, 4th Place: Comedy Category
-California Film Awards, 2015, 5th Place
-WriteMovies Monthly Contest (December), 2016, Honorable Mention
-California Film Awards, 2016, Honorable Mention
-Barcelona International Film Festival, 2014, Honorable Mention
-Indie Gathering Film Festival, 2014, Honorable Mention (for three scripts)
-Indie Gathering Film Festival, 2013, Honorable Mention (for two scripts)
-Mountain Film Festival, 2015, Honorable Mention
-Oaxaca Film Festival, 2018, Finalist
-Oaxaca Film Festival, 2019, Finalist
-Las Vegas Screenplay Contest, 2019, Finalist
-Twister Alley Film Festival, 2019, Finalist
-Creative World Awards, 2017, Finalist-WriteMovies 37, 2015, Finalist -Twister Alley Film Festival, 2018, Finalist
-Moondance Film Festival, 2017, Finalist
-World Series of Screenwriting, 2017, Finalist
-Cannes Screenplay Contest, 2017, Finalist
-New Renaissance Film Festival, 2017, Finalist
-iHolly Next Generation Indie Film Festival, 2017, Finalist
-Screenplay Festival, 2017, Finalist
-Oaxaca Film Festival, 2017, Finalist
-Beverly Hills Film Festival, 2017, Finalist
-Twister Alley Film Festival, 2017, Finalist
-The British Independent Film Festival, 2017, Finalist
-Oaxaca Film Festival, 2015, Top 12 Finalist (of about 1,000 screenplays)
-Oaxaca Film Festival, 2016, Finalist
-World Series of Screenwriting, 2016, Finalist
-Las Vegas Screenplay Contest, 2016, Finalist
-Los Angeles CineFest, 2016, Finalist
-Beverly Hills Screenplay Contest, 2014, Finalist
-Los Angeles Screenplay Contest, 2015, Finalist
-Extreme Screenwriting Contest, 2015, Finalist
-California Film Awards, 2015, Finalist
-New York Screenplay Contest, 2015, Finalist
-Women in Cinema International Screenplay Competition, 2015, Finalist
-New York Screenplay Contest, 2014, Finalist
-River Bend Film Festival, 2015, Top Three Finalist: Independent Category
-Anchorage International Film Festival, 2016, Finalist
-Amsterdam Film Festival, 2015, Finalist
-Hollywood Screenplay Contest, 2016, Finalist
-Barcelona International Film Festival, 2015, Finalist
-Aura Screenwriter Awards, 2015, Finalist
-Buffalo Niagara Film Festival, 2015, Finalist
-Beverly Hills Film Festival, 2015, Finalist
-Beverly Hills Film Festival, 2014, Finalist
-Twister Alley International Film Festival, 2015, Finalist
-The Monthly Film Festival, 2016, Finalist
-Evolution Mallorca Film Festival, 2016, Finalist
-Southern California Screenplay Competition, 2018, Semifinalist
-Table Read My Screenplay Contest, 2017, Semifinalist
-Southern California Screenplay Competition, 2017, Semifinalist
-Moondance Film Festival, 2017, Semifinalist
-Austin Revolution Film Festival, 2017, Semifinalist
-Lake Charles Film & Music Festival, 2017, Semifinalist
-Los Angeles CineFest, 2017, Semifinalist
-Sacramento International Film Festival, 2017, Semifinalist
-Evolution Mallorca Film Festival, 2017, Semifinalist
-Los Angeles CineFest, 2016, Semifinalist
-Extreme Screenwriting Contest, 2016, Semifinalist
-FilmMakers International Screenwriting Awards, 2016, Semifinalist
-Table Read my Screenplay, 2014, Semifinalist
-Los Angeles CineFest, 2016, Semifinalist
-Reel Writers, 2015, Semifinalist
-The Monthly Film Festival, 2017, Semifinalist
-Evolution Mallorca Film Festival, 2016, Semifinalist
-Aura Screenwriter Awards, 2015, Semifinalist
-Marquee Lights Competition, 2015, Semifinalist
-Courier Awards, 2015, Semifinalist (for three scripts)
-Austin Film Festival, 2016, Second Round
-Beverly Hills Film Festival, 2019, Official Selection
-Sunset Film Festival, 2017, Official Selection
-Near Nazareth Festival, 2017, Official Selection
-Lake Charles Film Festival, 2016, Official Selection
-Eye Catcher Film Festival, 2017, Official Selection
-Sacramento International Film Festival, 2018, Official Selection
-Neu World Studios International Film Festival, 2017, Official Selection
-Hollywood Independent Film Festival, 2017, Official Selection
-Oregon Short Film Festival, 2017, Official Selection
-Malta Film Festival, 2017, Official Selection
-Cinema New York City, 2017, Official Selection
-Eurocinema Film Festival, 2017, Official Selection
-Austria International Film Festival, 2017, Official Selection
-EyeCatcher International Film Festival, 2016, Official Selection
-Wayfarer Film Festival, 2016, Official Selection
-Swedish International Film Festival, 2016, Official Selection
-Media Adventures Film Festival, 2016, Official Selection
-Twister Alley Film Festival, 2016, Official Selection (for two scripts)
-Pasadena International Film Festival, 2016, Official Selection
-Evolution Mallorca Film Festival, 2015, Official Selection (for two scripts)
-Oaxaca Film Festival, 2014, Official Selection
-Oaxaca Film Festival, 2013, Official Selection
-Finow International Film & Script Festival, 2016, Official Selection (for two scripts)
-NewLife Film & Script & Music Festival, 2016, Official Selection (for two scripts)
-Glendale International Film Festival, 2014, Official Selection
-Los Angeles CineFest, 2016, Official Selection
-Sacramento International Film Festival, 2015, Official Selection
-Sacramento International Film Festival, 2014, Official Selection
-BLOW UP Chicago International Arthouse Film Fest, 2015, Official Selection (for two scripts)
-Albuquerque Film Festival & Comic Con, 2015, Official Selection
-The Monthly Film Festival, 2015, Official Selection (for two scripts)
-Hollywood Sky International Film Festival, 2015, Official Selection (for two scripts)
-Page International Screenwriting Awards, 2016, Quarterfinalist
-Creative World Awards, 2017, Quarterfinalist
-ScreenCraft Fellowship, 2016, Quarterfinalist
-Fresh Voices Screenplay Competition, 2016, Quarterfinalist
-WriteMovies Winter 2016, Quarterfinalist
-WriteMovies 37, 2015, Quarterfinalist
-WriteMovies, 2013, Quarterfinalist (for three scripts)
-FilmMakers International Screenwriting Awards, 2015, Quarterfinalist
-Filmmakers International Screenwriting Awards, 2013, Quarterfinalist
-Filmmakers International Screenwriting Awards, 2013, Second-Round Qualifier
-Creative World Awards, 2016, Preliminary Finalist (for two scripts)
To request a screenplay, please visit the "Contact" page on his website: http://jonlapoma.com/contact/.
