Loyola Marymount University School of Film and Television honored the winners of its inaugural MFA Screenwriting Competition, a competition in which industry leaders evaluate the best work from its distinguished student body, at an invite-only awards ceremonyTh2024.
The winning students were blindly selected by a panel of over 40 experts from industry-leading companies including Anonymous Content, Gotham Group, Macro, Verve, Entertainment 360, Temple Hill, Scott Free, Riot Games and more. The awards were presented by LMU SFTV graduate Melissa Blake, who has written and produced series, among other things Based on a true story And A Mississippiand Evan Romanski, creator of the four-time Emmy nominated film Ratedwhich he wrote as his MFA thesis.
The MFA Screenplay Competition honors the best feature and pilot scripts written by second- and third-year graduate students in LMU’s top-ranked Writing for the Screen and Writing and Producing for Television programs. It is one of numerous SFTV initiatives aimed at providing students with unprecedented access to the entertainment industry. In keeping with the university’s mission to promote inclusion, the competition presents a Social Justice Award as well as awards for the best comedies and dramas of the year.
Dean Joanne Moore said: “To rise to the top of such a strong group of PhD students is a great achievement and we are delighted to have launched this initiative to give these extremely talented writers the recognition and exposure they deserve “This is just another way we can connect our students with industry leaders to launch successful careers.”
“I am thrilled that such high-profile Hollywood companies, whom I have long admired, have served as judges to support emerging voices,” said Weiko Lin, graduate director of screenwriting for the screen. Lin created the competition and mentors the students along with Michael FX Daley, graduate director of writing and producing for television.
Recent graduates of LMU’s screenwriting programs have written blockbuster features like John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, John Wick: Chapter 4 and Rebel Moon”as well as such acclaimed episodic series as The Bear, Atlanta, The Wonder Years, and Grimsburg. Notable graduates include Academy Award-winning writer, director and producer Brian Helgeland (LA Confidential, Mystic River), director Michael Jelenic (The Super Mario Bros. Movie), producer Barbara Broccoli (No time to die, Specter), director Francis Lawrence (The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, I am Legend) and producer Effie Brown (Dear white people, real women have curves).
Below are the winners of the LMU School of Film and Television’s inaugural MFA Screenwriting Competition:
Drama Feature Award
Winner: The Larson episode by John Norton
After exploiting a mistake in the 1980s edition of “Press Your Luck,” perennial loser Michael Larson becomes the biggest winner in game show history, but then must battle CBS’s legal team and his personal demons not to lose everything.
Award: Cyclical from Fenton Queens
A performance artist uses a diary to travel back in time to stop the sexual assaults of her grandmother, mother, and herself, but potentially destroys the present in the process.
Award: Speak Simply by Chris O. Lukens
He was an alcoholic TV star until he was accused of a heinous crime. Now he’s a no-nonsense, low-level private investigator scouring the gutters of Hollywood in search of a paycheck. When his daughter goes missing, the trail leads straight back to the same corrupt Hollywood system that destroyed his life.
Comedy Feature Award
Feature Award Winner Justice Pilot Award: Cherry Drive by Noemie Boucher
A rowdy sixth grader’s world falls apart when she learns she’s moving away because her house is being foreclosed on. But when a local fast food chain hosts a cross-town scavenger hunt with a big prize, she convinces her friends to go on one last big adventure to save her house.
winner: Necronomicops by Aaron Hluch
LA, 1987. When a satanic cult threatens to bring Armageddon, a young supercop and his quirky partner must tackle their toughest case yet: protecting a wild 9-year-old girl destined to be the Antichrist.
Drama Pilot Award
Winner: Damn Barcelona by Brett Cornwell
As civil war rages in Spain, a band of radicals threaten to tear Barcelona apart in a last-ditch attempt to pay off their debts when, instead of money, their prey becomes a young woman and her mysterious painting.
Award: Rising Chieftain by Taylor C. McMullan
Genocide forces a young Indian boy to become chief of a rebel tribe of refugees and runaway slaves.
Comedy Pilot Award
winner: True Chicago dream life by Sarah Frasco
Emma, a normal human who dreams of superhuman abilities like her roommates Pasta Girl and Cat Lady, struggles to adjust to adulthood while living her truest, dreamiest life.
Award: unprofessional by Tia Kaiulani Kanaeholo
An overworked and underpaid 30-year-old tries to balance her career, relationships and sobriety under the pressure of LA’s “women can have it all” boss and the hectic culture.
Social Justice Feature Award
winner: Between heaven and hell by Marisa Martinez Rodenbaugh
1874. While being hunted by her eldest brother, whom she thought was dead, a determined Arapaho woman travels across the plains to save her younger brother, a Dog-Man warrior, before the law finds him.
Social Justice Pilot Award
Winner: Rising Chieftain by Taylor C. McMullan
Genocide forces a young Indian boy to become chief of a rebel tribe of refugees and runaway slaves.