ISA SPOTLIGHT

Exciting ISAConnect Member Success Stories

These are the top success stories listed by ISAConnect Members. If you're an Industry Pro and interested in viewing the work of these emerging writers, please request Industry Pro status. 3176 Success Stories Listed.

THE DROME optioned and in development

By: Hunter Davis
Hunter Davis' screenplay THE DROME has been optioned by producers Gerry Pass (12 Feet Under) and Lucas Foster (Ford vs. Ferrari, Morbius, Man on Fire, Bad Boys) and is currently in development.

DELIVERANCE makes top 25 shorts at TRMS Genre Competition

By: Olga Holtz
DELIVERANCE, a short Sci-Fi thriller by Olga Holtz, made it to the top 25 shorts at Table Read My Screenplay 2020 Genre Competition.
More SuccessDown Aroow

A LABOUR OF LOVE recognized at two more contests
By: Olga Holtz

'A Labour of Love', a feature written by Olga Holtz, was selected a finalist of the 2016 Hollywood Screenplay Contest and listed among the top 100 scripts by Emerging Screenwriters.

 

'A Labour of Love' is the story of an obsessive English film-maker who sacrifices all - money, personal life, career - to restore the epic silent film `Napoleon', while his idol, the delusional genius director of the mutilated masterpiece, sabotages the restoration. It is based on the real story of Academy Award winner Kevin Brownlow's restoration of 'Napoleon' and his love-hate relationship with Abel Gance.

 

The newest digitized restoration of 'Napoleon' will be widely released in the UK at the end of 2016 and in France in 2017.

Tags: Emerging Screenwriters Screenplay Competition, Hollywood Screenplay Contest

A LABOUR OF LOVE on The Hot 100 list
By: Olga Holtz
A Labour of Love, a biopic of Academy Award winner Kevin Brownlow written by Olga Holtz, placed 6th on The Hot 100 list of the 2016 Capital Fund Screenplay Competition.
Tags: Capital Fund Screenplay Competition

Two more awards for The Zahir

By: Olga Holtz

The Zahir, a magic realist short thriller written and directed by Olga Holtz, has received a Platinum Remi Award at WorldFest-Houston International Film & Video Festival and a Top Indie Film Award for Best Original Idea. These are the 7th and 8th awards for the short, which is on the festival circuit.

Tags: Top Indie Film Awards, Worldfest Houston International Film Festival

A LABOUR OF LOVE wins Best Feature Script at Top Indie Film Awards
By: Olga Holtz
A Labour of Love, a biopic of Academy Award winner Kevin Brownlow written by Olga Holtz, has been named Best Feature Script at April 2016 Top Indie Film Awards.
Tags: Top Indie Film Awards

THAT SISTER THANG makes Launch Pad Top 50.

By: Dale Winton
Our comedy-drama about two black South African sisters tackling life in weird 'n wacky Austin, and the arrival of a conservative white Texan mother, has made it to the last Top 50 pilot scripts!
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SAUSAGE & SUSHI makes Finals of WeScreenplay Diverse Voices

By: Dale Winton
Dale Winton's latest pilot about a bisexual guy secretly juggling a traditional straight life with a more hedonistic gay one is through to the final round! (Script and pitch deck available.)
Tags: Sausage & Sushi, Diverse Voices presented by WeScreenplay(Semi Finalist), WeScreenplay

THAT SISTER THANG makes Screencraft Pilot Launch semis
By: Dale Winton
Dale Winton is chuffed to see his pilot THAT SISTER THANG advance through to the semifinals. They've enjoyed over 15 top contest placements for their script and are hopefully one step closer to seeing a story about African sisterhood in Texas become an original series. (they've created a website for any producers wanting to know more about the show.)
Tags: That Sister Thang , ScreenCraft Pilot Launch Contest(Semi Finalist), ISA, ScreenCraft

SAUSAGE & SUSHI makes WeScreenplay Diverse Voices Semis
By: Dale Winton
Great to see Dale Winton's pilot make the next round! A story about a bisexual guy secretly juggling a traditional straight life with a more hedonistic gay one and finds his two worlds colliding when his fiancee gets pregnant and his boyfriend proposes. (Pitch deck with pilot script available on request.)
Tags: Sausage & Sushi, Diverse Voices presented by WeScreenplay(Semi Finalist), ISA, WeScreenplay

SAUSAGE & SUSHI pilot makes quarterfinals x 2
By: Dale Winton
Great to see the script for Dale Winton's show SAUSAGE & SUSHI advance to the QFs in both the Shore Scripts Pilot Contest and the ScreenCraft Pilot Launch.
Tags: Sausage & Sushi, ScreenCraft Pilot Launch Contest(Semi Finalist), Shore Scripts Screenwriting Competition(Semi Finalist), ISA, ScreenCraft, Shore Scripts

World Wide Distribution

By: michael mccarthy
In 2020 after HAG OF BLACK HOWE MOOR won over eight festival awards, the movie was picked up for World Wide distribution on all platforms by the S M G Films.

Giancarlo Fusi Awarded the Sklar Prize to Study Social Impact Filmmaking

By: Giancarlo Fusi
The Sklar Prize is a fellowship awarded to students of exceptional promise in directing, producing and screenwriting. It is named after the late Robert Sklar, a pioneer in the development of the modern fields of film and media studies. Giancarlo was awarded the fellowship to join the inaugural class of Stony Brook Manhattan's Certificate in Social Impact Filmmaking program. Over the next year, he will be training in activism and making movies that matter while writing and directing a documentary film.
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Giancarlo Fusi's VIOLETTE HAYES Awarded by Florida Challenge & Ivy FilmFest
By: Giancarlo Fusi
The supernatural short VIOLETTE HAYES: A True Story set in the Florida Keys was awarded a Certificate of Excellence in Screenwriting by the Florida Short Script Challenge. It was also awarded 3rd place in the Graduate Short Screenplay category at the Ivy Film Festival, the largest student-run film festival in the world held annually at Brown University. Although the festival was held virtually this April due to the coronavirus pandemic, a reading of excerpts from the award-winning scripts performed by Brown drama students was streamed online.
Tags: Violette Hayes: A True Story,

Giancarlo Fusi Invited to United Artists 100th Anniversary Networking Mixer
By: Giancarlo Fusi
Award-winning screenwriter Giancarlo Fusi was one of the select few invited by the Latino Filmmakers Network to a Q&A and networking mixer for emerging artists of color in celebration of the 100th Anniversary of United Artists at MGM Studios in Beverly Hills with the purpose of providing a better understanding of how creative talent can establish relationships at the studio level. The Presidents of both MGM Motion Pictures and MGM Television were present, in addition to top executives from TV shows The Handmaid’s Tale, Fargo, and Vikings, as well as movie franchises Rocky, Creed, The Hobbit and James Bond 007.
Tags: First of April,

Giancarlo Fusi Awarded a Mentorship with Legendary Filmmaker Roger Corman
By: Giancarlo Fusi
Giancarlo was awarded the Writers Residency at the Bahamas International Film Festival. The selected writers were mentored one-on-one by industry pros at one of the 25 Coolest Film Festivals in the World according to MovieMaker. The lead mentor was indie film trailblazer Roger Corman, famous for giving a start to several top Hollywood actors & directors. Joining him was his wife Julie Corman, former head of the NYU film school and a noted producer in her own right. Additional mentors included Jib Polhemus, founder of Source Management and producer on Tomb Raider & The Expendables 2, Antonio D’Intino, literary manager at Circle of Confusion, and producer Dara Cohen, who's developed projects as far-ranging as Saving Private Ryan & Zoolander.
Tags: Hell Hound: The Legend of Robert Johnson,

Giancarlo Fusi's VIOLETTE HAYES Wins Best Screenplay at SOMA Film Festival
By: Giancarlo Fusi
After a dazzling table read by lead actors James McMenamin, who plays correctional officer Charlie Coates on Orange is the New Black, along with Jeremy Beck and Molly Wright Stuart who’ve both appeared on Law & Order and more hit TV shows, the supernatural coming-of-age comedy VIOLETTE HAYES: A True Story won 1st place in the SOMA Film Festival short-length screenplay competition plus a cash prize to be used towards the film's production.
Tags: Violette Hayes: A True Story,

Script Sold/Hires Pending

By: M Sieve
Thanks to ISA, my heavily awarded script PRAYER sold to an undisclosed (NDA) production company. As well, the success of PRAYER lead to two more hires, one for a faith-based feature, nearing completion, and negotiations now underway for a 10-epi dramatic series.

Sieve Receives Multiple Wins at California Film Awards
By: M Sieve
M B Sieve strikes twice at the California Film Awards placing 2nd in the feature screenplay competition with his latest feature "Soul to Soul", and outright winning the short script competition with his multiple award winning short "Give My Love to Rose". 

REDNECKS Optioned

By: Christopher Byram
Christopher Byram's screenplay REDNECKS has been optioned by one of the Exec Producers of American Gods and is currently out to potential commissioners including Netflix, Amazon and HBO.

THE REAL THING - Los Angeles Independent Film Festival Awards (2020)

By: Matthew Papadopoulos
THE REAL THING, Winner: 2nd Place Best Screenplay Feature, Los Angeles Independent Film Festival Awards (2020), Los Angeles, California USA. With this placing, Matthew's screenplay brings up its 30th win milestone since June 2019. 

The Real Thing - New Media Film Festival (2020)
By: Matthew Papadopoulos
The Real Thing, Winner: Best Script, New Media Film Festival (2020), Los Angeles, California USA. Award presenter and judge for screenplays Chelsea Lo Pinto (Director of HBO Program Strategy & Planning) states that the winner of Best Script "exemplifies these qualities [innovation and vitality] and, most importantly, adds something to the genre that is unexpected and new". 
Tags: The Real Thing, New Media Film Festival Scripts Competition(1st Place), New Media Film Festival

GHOST SPECIES wins at the UK Motion Picture Festival

By: Justin Hayward
GHOST SPECIES has won the Grand Jury Prize for Best Unproduced Screenplay Feature at the UK Motion Picture Festival 2020. Run by Festival Director and well-known UK film publicist Stuart Bannerman, this is the first award for Justin's horror screenplay. It has also been accepted as a Semi-Finalist in the Flickers' Rhode Island International Film Festival.

The Real Thing - New Media Film Festival (2020)

By: Matthew Papadopoulos
The Real Thing, Winner: Best Script, New Media Film Festival (2020), Los Angeles, California USA. Award presenter and judge for screenplays Chelsea Lo Pinto (Director of HBO Program Strategy & Planning) states that the winner of Best Script "exemplifies these qualities [innovation and vitality] and, most importantly, adds something to the genre that is unexpected and new". 

THE REAL THING - Los Angeles Independent Film Festival Awards (2020)
By: Matthew Papadopoulos
THE REAL THING, Winner: 2nd Place Best Screenplay Feature, Los Angeles Independent Film Festival Awards (2020), Los Angeles, California USA. With this placing, Matthew's screenplay brings up its 30th win milestone since June 2019. 
Tags: The Real Thing, Los Angeles Independent Film Festival Awards(2nd Place)

OUR BETTER ANGELS Garners Another Award

By: Steven Michael
Steven Michael's screenplay, OUR BETTER ANGELS, was named a quarter-finalist in the 2020 Screencraft Drama competition. This is the fourth major placement for this touching story.

NYC Midnight Screenwriting Challenge 3rd Place

By: M. Rowan Meyer
Out of an original pool of 2600 writers, and after 3 rounds of challenges, Development Slate writer M. Rowan Meyer placed 3rd overall in this year's Screenwriting Challenge. 
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TV Pilot PATIENT Produced!
By: M. Rowan Meyer
After two years of shooting, editing, and producing, Rowan's first TV pilot is finished. PATIENT won Best Teleplay at Cinequest Film Festival, Creative World Awards, Great American Script Contest, and Moondance International Film Festival, as well as being a Finalist or Semifinalist in over 25 others. Enjoy! https://vimeo.com/394101155/feca903752
Tags: Patient,

Short Film CARE PACKAGE Produced!
By: M. Rowan Meyer
In response to the global pandemic, Rowan wrote, directed, and produced a short called CARE PACKAGE. It came in 1st at Live Read LA and was in the Top 8% in the BBC's InterConnected Film Challenge. Enjoy! https://vimeo.com/414349173
Tags: Care Package,

NYC MIDNIGHT Screenwriting Challenge Top 15
By: M. Rowan Meyer
From an original pool of 1700+ writers, Rowan took 14th place in NYC Midnight's 2019 Screenwriting Challenge. Three rounds, three new scripts: MOSS, a horror, MIYAMOTO, a historical fiction, and SPAZ, a fantasy.
Tags: Moss , NYC Midnight

NYC MIDNIGHT Short Screenplay Challenge Winner
By: M. Rowan Meyer
From an original pool of 1000+ writers, Rowan took 1st place in NYC Midnight's 2019 Short Screenplay Challenge. Four rounds, each requiring a 5 page screenplay in 48 hours, based on assigned prompts. The award includes a very generous cash prize, screenwriting software, and an interview published on NYC Midnight's website along with his winning scripts. 
Tags: NYC Midnight

Chinese Language Adaptation Rights Sold -- KEEPING TIME

By: Nathan Zoebl
Nathan Zoebl sold the Chinese language adaptation rights to his sci-fi comedy KEEPING TIME to Imola Media.

ISA Table Ready My Screenplay - Winner

By: Xavier Burgin
Xavier Burgin's drama Feature ON TIME was chosen as the 2020 ISA Table Read My Screenplay Drama Category Winner.

KALTENHOUSE wins top awards

By: Don Thompson
Don Thompson's WWII action-drama screenplay KALTENHOUSE has won top awards, including 'Best Drama Screenplay' at the Los Angeles Film Awards (2019), 'Best Action Screenplay' at the Festigious International Film Festival (2020), and 'Screenplay of the Month' at the Festigious International Film Festival (July - 2020).
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MEDEA, SOUTH CAROLINA is a finalist in the New York Screenplay Competition
By: Don Thompson
Medea, South Carolina was among the Official Finalists in the New York Screenplay Contest, 2017. The competition had over 1000+ submissions.
Tags: New York Screenplay Contest

MESSAGE TO SHIGATSE a Finalist in Filmmatic Screenplay Awards, 2017
By: Don Thompson
Don Thompson's screenplay Message to Shigatse is a finalist in the 2017 Filmmatic Screenplay Awards.

MEDEA, SOUTH CAROLINA selected among TOP 50 for ISA Fast Track Fellowship
By: Don Thompson
Don Thompson's screenplay 'Medea, South Carolina' has moved forward in the TOP 50 for the ISA Fast Track Fellowship.
Tags: ISA Fast Track Fellowship

Don Thompson Semi-finalist, Los Angeles CineFest screenplay Competition
By: Don Thompson
Thompson's script 'Medea, South Carolina' is a semi-finalist in the Los Angeles Cinefest Screenplay Competition. The script may still move up to the next tier, with final annoncements to follow.
Tags: Los Angeles CineFest

Edge of Darkness Optioned

By: Amy Blackwelder
MiLa Media optioned The Edge of Darkness fall of 2019. MiLa Media found The EDGE OF DARKNESS through an ISA Writing Gig. Due to Covid19, plans for production and streaming will be postponed and hopefully completed in 2021. Currently Sony Screen Gems is interested in financing this screenplay.

Hired From ISA Writing Gig

By: Richard Lasser
Alex Azmi hired Richard Lasser to rewrite his short about Anna May Wong from a writing gig from the ISA Team.

Representation: But the Work Doesn't Stop There.

By: Crystal Harris
Crystal found ISA's Virtual Pitch challenge through a fellow writer, and literally submitted the pitch a day before the deadline. The next week, she learned she was 1 of 4 winners. Since then, things have been moving very quickly! She was accepted onto ISA's Development Slate, and has been working with Jerren and Felicity on the project. Two weeks ago, she was introduced to Matt Prater from Citizen Skull Productions. They had a great talk about life in general and (of course her writing). She sent Matt her pilot that night, and the next morning, he called her to discuss it and her dreams for her career. The conversation was insightful; he gave her GREAT feedback on ways to elevate the story structure. What she liked about Matt is that he was invested in her story. Happy to announce that Crystal is now repped by Matt...

Horror-Thriller Script Scores Dev Slate Writer Big Meetings

By: Beth Hanna
Beth's feature script THE TAR was positively evaluated and then invited to be part of ISA's Development Slate. Since then, Beth has scored a general meeting with Ben Stiller's production company Red Hour, and the Development Team has sent Beth's scripts to other prestigious companies such as Margot Robbie's LuckyChap and Prospero Pictures in Toronto. Beth recently signed with literary manager Matt Prater at Citizen Skull Productions.

Travis Opgenorth Reels In Papa Octopus

By: Travis Opgenorth
With one of Travis' features already under option, Papa Octopus Productions came back to him asking for more ideas. The production company, whose last film, BADLANDS, charted at #7 on Netflix's Top 10 list in April, was interested in a first-look option on a sci-fi concept Travis pitched. Upon reading the treatment, the company bought the project outright and is now looking to fast track it for production around the end of the year. This marks Travis' fifth feature deal in the last twelve months and his sixth overall. Currently, Eclectic Pictures (Angel Has Fallen) is setting up his female-drive action-thriller DISTORTION, while Travis is hard at work wrapping up a writing assignment on an untitled indie feature based on true events.
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Papa Octopus Catches Day of Reckoning
By: Travis Opgenorth
Papa Octopus Productions (Badland, Any Bullet Will Do) has optioned Travis J. Opgenorth's micro-budget, modern-day western DAY OR RECKONING with plans to fast track it into production this summer. This marks the second option and fifth overall script under contract for Travis, a Nicholl Fellowship semi-finalist, PAGE Awards finalist, CineStory Fellowship grand prize winner and ISA Top 25 Screenwriter to Watch

Eclectic Pictures Re-ups Shopping Agreement
By: Travis Opgenorth
As their original agreement was coming close to an end, and with a second company showing interest in Distortion, Eclectic Pictures (Angel Has Fallen) re-upped their shopping agreement with Travis Opgenorth for another full term. Eclectic Pictures has a number of financiers and co-producers equally interested in the project, and an A-list talent is circling the script with the intention of making it her directorial debut.
Tags: Distortion, Eclectic Pictures

Travis J Opgenorth Signs On For Feature Assignment

By: Travis Opgenorth
ISA Top 25 Writer to watch, CineStory Fellowship winner and PAGE finalist, Travis J Opgenorth has signed on to write and develop a feature project based on true events, and this deal marks his second feature writing assignment and fifth project currently in development. Presently, Travis has projects under contract with Sixth Sense Productions (Hotel Rwanda), Votiv Films (Super Troopers 2), and Eclectic Pictures (Angel Has Fallen).
Tags: Gridiron, Eclectic Pictures, Votiv

The Overnight Success...
By: Travis Opgenorth
9 years ago Travis wrote a spec called Day of Reckoning. It won some small contests and eventually a director picked it up to shop around. Nothing happened. Travis kept writing, and he'd check in with the director occasionally to see if he wanted to read new material. He politely declined every time. Late last year Travis reached out again. Again, the director declined but asked about DoR. Days earlier, a project had fallen out of pre-production at a company he knows. They read DoR and are now considering it for production in 2020. Nine years that script sat in a folder on Travis' desktop. Nine years he continued writing. DoR is now one of 4 features he currently has in development with four different companies. That's why you don't quit.

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SPOTLIGHT

These are the top success stories listed by ISAConnect Members only. Many come from ISA Writing Gigs, the ISA Fast Track, the ISA Development Slate, the ISA’s Top 25 Screenwriters To Watch plus other ISAConnect Members who have demonstrated additional success throughout the industry. This includes but is not limited to winning or placing in contests, receiving a fellowship, a writing assignment, representation and/or getting a script produced, optioned or sold. We welcome posting your success from any part of the industry!

Anyone can upgrade to ISAConnect. Upgrade to the Yearly Membership on any contest page and you’ll receive a free contest entry! If you are an industry pro and interested in viewing the work of these emerging writers, please request Industry Pro status.

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