The Atlanta Film Festival is proud to announce the quarterfinalists in the 2020 Screenplay Competition. Chosen from nearly 1,300 submissions, these screenplays represent those moving forward from our feature film, television pilot, and short film categories. Our writers are competing for once in a lifetime mentorship opportunities to help hone their craft and plan the next steps in their careers. 

Congratulations to all the authors so far. Stay tuned as our programming team narrows this list down to semifinalists, finalists, and this year’s winners!

Feature Screenplay Quarterfinalists

Akashi-あかし — Mayumi Yoshida

Ana — Jacob Cullen

Ann's Secret — Nadira "Naz" Pankey

Anya's Eye — Carlton Proctor

Art Appreciation — Jennifer Titus & Mark Provencher

Back to Me  — Ora Yashar

Bad Romance — Thada Catalon

Battle Cries — Karen Walker

The Beautiful Dark — Erik Gernand

Bedford Falls — Dashiell Finley (story by Dashiell Finley and Adam Dicterow)

BIN — Asad Farooqui

Bingo Night from Hell — David Piechowski

Blinker — Matthew Emery

Blue Comedy — Vincent Accettola

Borderline — Joe Bonito

Boundaries — Asad Farooqui

Breast is Best — Erika Robel

A Brown Coat — Rochelle Potkar

Burning in Water  — Caleb Samples

Captain C! — John Paul Su

The City of Gale — Taylor Rankin

Claudia Decoded — Jeff Baker & Ryan Proffitt

CNTRL+P — Albert Letizia

The Company We Keep — Suhashini Krishnan

Compositions for the Young and Old — Michael Warmoth & Riley Warmoth

Conscious Recoupling — Josh Jacobs

The Dark Cookie — James Thomas Gilbert

Dog#9 — Lee Lawson

Drawing Dead — Quentin Ellis

The Duchess of Criminality — Timothy Cheyefsky

Electronic Sounds from a Still Heart — Finley Mulligan

Faster than Bullets — Pat Holden

Fire on the Mountain — Brady Brown

Foxed — James Stewart

Fracture — Eliot Routh

Fukushima, Arkansas — Nathan Patton

The Gateway Drug — Ana Worrel & Amy Frances Wright

The Ghosts of Le Griffon — Nicole Ramberg

Goat Island — Nathan Cabaniss

Godless Skies — Joshua David Harris

Got Your Back — Katy Dore

The Hammer — Jason Hunter

Hannibal, Missouri — Peter Buhl & Conor O'Farrell

The Heeler — Darcy Lueking Bahensky

The Hemingway Mystique — Christine Sneed

Henrietta — Harry Aspinwall

Hero of the Good Land — Logan Shaw

Hills of Gold — Lia Wang

I.R.L. In Real Life — Justin Shelton

Immortal — Robert Allaire & Natalie Metzger

The Impresario — Daniel Leventhal

In Nomine Dei — John Iadarola

In Too Deep: The Brian Futz Story (A Long Lost 80's Movie) — Zack R. Smith & Andrew Miller

Incarnations — Albert M. Chan

The Italian Lover — Suzanne Griffin

Italians Without a Cause — Lucia Braccalenti

Jocko — Derek Vitatoe

Karma — Tiffany Barker

The Keeper — Kevin Nelson

Know Your Body — Ariella Carmell

The Lease of Nature — Anderson Boyd

Lest We Forget — Laura Hamlet

The Light that Burns in Us — Claire Hampsey

The Limo Driver — Tejal Desai

Mad Rush — Manfred Lopez Grem (story by Christine Burright McGuigan & Manfred Lopez Grem)

Mayfair — Patrick John Ford

Men in the Water — Kathleen Caslin

Mine — Blaire Baron & Scott Fifer

Mint — Drew Guajardo

Monster(s) — Aidan Largey

Mother-Daughter — Tricia Lee

The Murder of Stanford White — Bartle Bull

My Brother's Keeper — Joshua Schorr

My Father's Murders — Michael Salomon

My Name Is Martin — Michael J. Hardy & Kenddrie Utuk

The Mystery Knight — Abril Carpio Marion

The Nerve to Try — Kima Brown

New York Scout Story  — Erick Freitas

Northridge — Patrick Pfupajena

Not Half Anything — David Gray

Of Saints & Scholars — Amy Allen

Old Dad — Jim Harkins

Old Dogs and Still Waters — Avi Glick

On the Black — Kristen Mack Klebenow

Orwell's War — Lawrence Bogad

The Oughthousers — Ari Krause

Our Prestigious Faculty — Rani Deighe Crowe

Over Here — Glen Craney

Pandemonium — Michael Douglas

Pastor Dash — Pearse Lehane

The Persistence of Memory — Jas Shenstone

Pick — Bernhard Riedhammer

Pick Up Sidney — Natalie Higdon

The Pinch — James Raynor

Please, Anybody, But Not a Millionaire! — Larisa Vödisch-Nikitina

Project Fog — Adva Reichman

The Rat and the Bluebird — T.E. Strong

The Raving — Karl Gerhardt

Recoil — Robert Armanyous

The Reflection of a Tragic Lullaby  — James Kirk

Retreat — Jono Mitchell, Alexander Baxter, & Madison Hatfield

The Rites of Salem — Michael McCoy

Rodolfo and Julienne — Mary Albanese

Second Summer of Love — Sherrelle Kirkland-Andrews

A Seeping Wound — Darryl Wimberley

Seraphim's Miracle — Jeremy Storey

Shepherd One — Cameron Young

Shores of a New Blood — Mark Schmitz

The Shtick-up — Val Bodurtha

Sint Holo — Michael Vincent Montgomery

Skepticon — Cameron Young

Skin Deep — Cierra Lockett

The Sons of May — Donna McNeely Burke

Spindle City — Daniel Earney

Surgeon Hong — Paul Gross

The Suspect is a Black Male — Alvoro Leite

They Went On — Anthony Gilmore & Drew McCoy

Tilt — Pearse Lehane

Torched — Dianna Zimmerman

A Town Called Nowhere — Peter Mahaffey

Under Walls — Kenneth Schreiber

Venor — Matt Nye

The Waiting Room — Alex May

Walks the Buffalo — Larry M. Baer

Welcome to Cleveland — Alexandra Gerrity Kern

West Point Wives — Ann Buchanan

Where Teardrops Fall — Jesse Mays Robinson

Xplore — Xavier Burgin & Thomas Wright (story by Woody McClain & Xavier Burgin)

Zero Legacy — Izzy Vaughan & Vic Vaughan

Zuleikha — Missy Malek

Pilot Screenplay Quarterfinalists

9 Will Fall  — Lee Hayes

Alanna's Flowers — Tom Putnaerglis

Alpha — Nicolas Scroggins

Apache — Cameron Barsanti

As American as Fortune Cookies — Hua Shang

Barrio - El Niño — Charlie Gandez

Bea Rose — Natalia Temesgen

Beige — Phillip Reilly

Birdsong — Jennifer Dunn

Bitter Earth — Eric Pumphrey

Blood and Dreams — Suzanne Griffin

The Breaching — Wendy Young

Breaking Sad — Thomas Stroud

Brown Country — Asad Farooqui

Carousel Effect — Thomas F. O'Brien

Carpetbaggers — Matt Thomas

Chloe Bowe — Craig Reynolds

Conundrum Integrated — Micah Paisner

Curved — Sagar Vasishtha

The Disappeared Ones — Helmann Wilhelm

Division 34 — Eyas Shanaah

Double Dads — Jessica Burnett

Eterna — Scott Simonsen

Faith Breaker — Sam Alper

Futurelink — Jason Gilmore

The Grand Dictator — Beth K. Rehman

Grave Matters — Gus Avila

Hominine — Heather Farlinger

Hooked — Brittany Portman & Anthony Patellis and Rob Alicea & Scarlett Camargo

Hopefuls — Erica Owens

I See You — Michael Corleone

In the Gutter — Christine Burright McGuigan

The Islamic Boys (TIB) — Asad Farooqui

Jersey Rican — Ashlei Hardenburg

Kindly Metal Mother — Kurtis Theorin

La Madrina — Adam Santa María

Laughing to Keep from Crying — Jane Barr

The Line — Jeff Bower

Lost in the Flood — Sean Collins-Smith

The Maid — Nicola Pittam

Mia and Parmesan — Mia Volta

Moonflowers — Mary Albanese

Mother Tucker — Steve Holbert

Near Death — Carlo Carere & Erin Carere

No Good Deed: The Oliver Sipple Story — Heather Farlinger

Observer Effect — Paul Frank

The Odds — Wendy Hunt

Of God — Alex Williams

On the Verge — Yair Karlberger

The Paisley Witch Trial — Julia Campanelli

Pangea — T. C. Smith

Permutation — Marcus Russell

Pony Up — Caroline Mungo

Pound Foolish — Susan Feingold

The Process — Jordan Friedberg

Pure — Erika Hakmiller

re.Form(ed) — Johnny Gilligan

Red Flag — Suzanne Slack-Smith

The Sensualist — Suzanne Griffin

Sinnerman — Alexander Hooper

SMDH — Shauna Stanley & Travis Stanley

Soldiers & Bandits — Eduardo Soto-Falcon

Stayers — Teddy Gilmore & Mat Dann

Swim — Chantal Eyong

That Sister Thang — Lindiwe Mueller-Westernhagen & Dale Winton

Throw Like a Girl — Elfi Martinez

The Unvarnished Tales of the Green Fairy  — Jacob Cullen

A Version — Asad Farooqui

Westphall — Keith St. Lawrence

The White Mouse — Heather Farlinger

Short Screenplay Quarterfinalists

33C — John Burdeaux

All Are Welcome — Ross Morin

All You Want to Know — Laurel Kulow

Bahar, Born at Night — Michael Amir Bina

Blank — Bernardo Duran

Borrowed Time — Geoff Murillo

Boundless — Ran Li

Business of Ferrets — Will Berry

Chemo — Marcus Julius

The Chocolate Kandinsky — Suzanne Griffin

Chualar — Ann Marie Pace

Conscience — Brandon Kelley

The Cricket — Gabe Berry

Deadsitting — Gabriel Meyers

Definitely Not a Monster — Brea Angelo

Discord — Helene Taylor & Jax Smith

Divinity — Nelson Downend

Downballot — John Goshorn

Dreamcatcher — Shaun Radecki

Duck — Hilary Burgoon

Dunked — John Bickerstaff

The Errant Signal — Nik Theorin

Evelyn in 7 — Kasia Kowalczyk

Everyday — Ryan Dellaquila

Fantasy Chat — Mindy Fay Parks

Finding Shelter — Mehrtash Mohit

Genie — Paul Frank

Glass Bottles — David González

Greg the Puddle — Shaun Radecki

Haint — Gabriela McNicoll

Hawk Bells — Kristian Mercado

Homunculus — Will Berry

How Hawaii Became a State — Marcus Julius

I-106 — Luis Bou

Kid Midnight — Mychal Sargent

Laika — Kate Balsley

The Last Game — Gina Screen

The Lesson — Kimberly Kalaja

Let Me Know — Adrian Maitra

Man of Style — Deirdre Brenner

Murphy's Law — Zachary Kotiadis

No Room at the Jim Crow Inn — Christina Cottles

Overdue — Shaun Radecki

Parishad — Peter Haig

Pigskin — Susan Polk

Pink & Blue — Nike Uche Kadri

Possum — Lyndal Simpson

Quarry — Nell Ovitt

Refugio — Ray Tezanos

Ringloom — Justin Solaiman

Say Yes — Gabe Berry

The Scarecrow — Gemma Paul

Sight — Mo Morgan

The Slow Death of an Unachievable Dream — Gabriel Jones & Daniel Massa

Squished — Shaun Radecki

Trixie — Stephanie Moore

Until the Last One Falls — Gabe Berry

What Ever Happened to Jonny Faith? — Benjamin Pollack

WP Black Sheep — Jaime Luna

Youth in a Casket — Hannah Aslesen