Presenting the TOP 10 SCREENPLAY FINALISTS

Adam Waldowski

Adam Waldowski

Plug

A weekend retreat gets kinky — and deadly — when the party’s hottest toy turns out to be an explosive.

SCREENWRITER BIO

Adam is a Los Angeles-based librarian living with his partner and two badly behaved cats.

 

Cody Joslin

Cody Joslin

The Wolf Woman

A mysterious woman’s arrival in a small town forces a young local to confront the reality of both love and monsters.

SCREENWRITER BIO

Cody Joslin is a bi-ace writer from the California Central Coast. A graduate from the UCSB Film Studies department, he has always been obsessed with media in all its shapes, though film has always been his one true love. His work includes academic material, short form comics, and an upcoming four issue limited comic series launching either by the end of 2025 or the start of 2026.

Daniel Montgomery

Daniel Montgomery

Pillow Bite

Tormented by heartbreak and insomnia, Jason ends up falling for his sleep paralysis demon. But the literal man of his dreams turns out to be a real nightmare when he steps into the waking world – and turns Jason’s life upside down.

SCREENWRITER BIO

DANIEL MONTGOMERY is an actor/writer/director with a deep love for horror. Beyond his onstage and onscreen career, he’s the co-creator and writer of LA-based immersive theatre company, JFI Productions, known for their flagship horror show, CREEP L.A. (and 6-year sold-out run of cult murder-mystery hit THE WILLOWS). His debut feature THE JESSICA CABIN, a gay ghost story, screened at the inaugural Queer Screams Film Festival (where he also won the award for Best Writing) and was featured in the New York Times and on NPR. Watch it now on Prime Video!

Jack Warren

Jack Warren

Violent Delights

A trans boy and cannibal girl fall in love and fight for survival against her homicidal family. Sam Van Belle has just returned home to his estranged brother and father when he finds Charlie DeWitt in the woods, her ankle caught in a bear trap. He uses his chest binder to treat the wound, then becomes obsessed with finding her again. When he does, Sam and Charlie are pulled into a generations-long vendetta between their families, reignited when Sam is gored by Charlie’s maniac brother, Pickford. Charlie must use her sharp teeth and surgical skills to save his life, consuming his lacerated breasts in the process. Reborn in his lover’s arms, will Sam be able to liberate Charlie from the DeWitts? Or will her desire for him become a hunger she can’t sate?

SCREENWRITER BIO

Jack Warren is a Dublin-based writer and filmmaker hailing from the haunted hills of the Hudson Valley. Their award-winning short films have screened all over the world, such as: Papergirl, which has played at festivals including Final Girls Berlin, the San Francisco Transgender Film Festival, and the Trans Genre, Trans Form Film Festival, where it took home the audience prize; Toxic Astrology Ex-Best Friends, which has screened at the FRINGE! Queer Film and Arts Fest and the Trans Image, Trans Experience Festival among others; and ARTEMIS, which premiered at the Woodstock Film Festival. Jack was recently awarded the Bronze Prize from the Soho Horror Film Festival for Blair’s Craft Projects, where it was honored by Eduardo Sanchez (The Blair Witch Project) and Jed Shepherd (Host).

James Steele Haney

James Steele Haney

Superstar Blvd.

In 1983, a former child celebrity attempts a second chance at fame when he auditions for the local public access show Superstar Blvd.—inciting his descent into madness.

SCREENWRITER IN ATTENDANCE

SCREENWRITER BIO

James Steele Haney is an award-winning horror screenwriter and a graduate of the University of Louisville. After 16 years of writing experience in marketing, he is now pursuing a career in screenwriting, directing, and acting.

His work includes four feature films: the psychological horror “ReddeR”, the LGBT+ crime horror “Greenville Society”, the psychological thriller “Superstar Blvd.” and the family-friendly fantasy “RikkorRokkir.” He is currently writing a new feature film, working on his first novel, and directing “Tales of the Macabre” a short film he also penned.

Jensen Rule Tierra

Jensen Rule Tierra

Consent

Based on true events, two meet on a dark and rainy night to discuss and plan a grisly consensual homicide.

SCREENWRITER IN ATTENDANCE

SCREENWRITER BIO

Jensen Rule Tierra was born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii. Jensen is an award winning filmmaker and screenwriter. Credits include “Harmful Sensations” (2015), a queer body horror short that played numerous festivals including Screamfest and Famous Monsters Silver Scream Fest where it won “Most Cringeworthy Moment”. “The Séance” (2023), a screwball melodrama about secrets revealed during a séance with the spirit of a man’s dead husband. “The Séance” played various festivals including Screamfest and Queer Screams where it was awarded Best Supporting Actress. Currently Jensen is working on several projects, feature film screenplays, various short films. Influenced by true crime, cult documentaries, Pedro Almodovar, David Lynch, David Cronenberg, John Cassavetes, “Showgirls”, Lana Del Rey, “Grey Gardens” and “Paris Is Burning”.

João Dall’Stella

João Dall’Stella

STEAM

On the last night of an underground gay bathhouse, a group of friends confront their deepest desires and face unimaginable horrors to survive. Steam is a surreal, sensory horror experience—equal parts erotic and terrifying—that asks: what if the path to freedom meant facing the horror of who you really are?

SCREENWRITER BIO

João Dall’Stella is a Brazilian writer, director, and producer based in Los Angeles, known for his bold, genre-blending storytelling that explores human psychology and self-expression. His award-winning short Día De Las Carpas won the DGA Grand Prize for Latino Directors and screened at prestigious festivals, including CAA Moebius and SAG-AFTRA Foundation. His LGBTQ+ short Stalls screened at over 50 festivals worldwide, including OUTFEST 2020.

Lisa Nagy Isaacson

Lisa Nagy Isaacson

Subsidence

Struggling with her bigoted father’s death, a young queer woman returns to her haunted family estate to try and save it from being condemned.

SCREENWRITER BIO

Born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio Lisa now lives in New York City. Lisa has written three 60-minute dramedies, including “Vintrospection” – the 2025 winner of “Best Pilot Script” in the Female Voices Rock and NY International Screenplay Awards competitions – as well as two features and a short film, with more in the works. She’s published two works: the short story “A Date with my Brother” (McFadden Women’s Group); and the article “B-W Professors Jamming with Bluegrass Sound” (Berea News Sun). Lisa earned a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology (minor in English w/concentration in writing) from Baldwin Wallace University in Berea, Ohio, and a Master of Public Administration from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. This one-time Executive Assistant to former Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Paul Volcker, now works as Special Assistant to the President/CEO of Breaking Ground, NY’s largest provider of permanent supportive housing.

Maryellen DeVivo

Maryellen DeVivo

Pinned

A serial killer stalks the streets of late Victorian NYC. A grieving woman takes action after the love of her life becomes one of his victims–and does it in style.

SCREENWRITER BIO

Maryellen’s horror and dark comedy screenplays have racked up numerous laurels, including winning Days of the Dead (twice), Dark Nights, and The Thing in the Basement film festivals. Her plays have been performed at the Short Play Festival in NYC. Maryellen is also a costume designer with a penchant for historical fashion, which is why most of her stories, including Pinned, take place in days of yore.

Thom Hilton

Thom Hilton

Champagne Friday

As Halloween approaches, a group of queer Portland schoolkids begin to have visions of ghostly apparitions.

SCREENWRITER IN ATTENDANCE

SCREENWRITER BIO

Thom Hilton is a local queer filmmaker whose shorts Synonymous With, One Drift and We All Go Home, You Look Pretty Up Here, and Matinee Baby have been selected for numerous international film festivals. As a performer, Thom can be seen onscreen opposite Udo Kier in Swan Song and live onstage as a cohost of The Rocky Horror Picture Show at the Clinton Street Theater. He has written the monthly column Dining Confidential for Eater PDX since 2022.

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