Dallas International Film Festival Film

DIFF & Event Horizon Films Announce 2024 Screenplay Competition Winners

Dallas International Film Festival opened yesterday naming the winners of the 2024 Screenwriting Competition, presented by Event Horizon Films.

Martyn Eaden and David McClellan won the Texas category for the feature script, “Olivia Mabel.” Ernest Pysher won the Drama category for the pilot script, “Terror and Virtue.” Jack Warner won the Comedy category for the feature script, “Adventures in Serial Killing.” The writers will be awarded trophies, artwork from their scripts, pitching opportunities and table reads performed by Sherrill Actors Studio during the festival.

The table reads are open to anyone with a reservation through DIFF’s schedule guide:

• Olivia Mabel will be performed on Saturday, April 27, 2024 at 11:30 a.m.
• Terror and Virtue will be performed on Monday, April 29, 2024 at 1:30 p.m.
• Adventures in Serial Killing will be performed on Tuesday, April 30, 2024 at 2:00 p.m.

Each script submitted into the DIFF Screenplay Competition was vetted by readers from the industry’s top talent agencies and management companies based on strength of characterization, dialogue, theme, concept and marketability. The winning scripts were selected by Emmy winner Michael Rowe, TV writer-producer Eric Haywood and a committee of professional filmmakers.

These high profile readers also credited the following scripts as finalists for the screenwriting competition:

Semifinalists and quarterfinalists can be viewed here.

The 2024 Dallas International Film Festival is April 25, 2024 through May 2, 2024 at Violet Crown Cinema in West Village Uptown. For more information on DIFF, visit dallasfilm.org or contact info@dallasfilm.org. Information can also be found on Facebook and Instagram. For more information about EHF, visit eventhorizonfilms.com. Information can also be found on: Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Drama
Blotter by HF Crum
Questioning by Joshua Marc Allen
The Ashen Veil by Polina Komissarova
Ziva by Cecile Vernant

Comedy
Mud Boot Ranch by Nora Wyman and Jeff Lorch
Lemonlight by M. Rowan Meyer
Shootout at the Hibachi Grill by James Parker Crumbly
First Ex by Amy Sleper

Texas
Homebrew by Straton Rushing
Texoma Shrooms by Debi Yazbeck
The Pickleball Killer by Jim Carroll
Titanomachy by Michael Holcombe-Scali

Event Horizon Films

Event Horizon Films is an award-wining film production company and screenwriting service in Dallas, Los Angeles and New York. Founded in 2019, EHF’s network of film professionals include Academy Award-, Golden Globe- and Emmy Award-winning talent and partners at top talent agencies and literary management companies. EHF is also the official host of the nationally-recognized screenwriting competition for the Dallas International Film Festival. EHF is committed to supporting screenwriters, building networks and producing stories.

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Dallas International Film Festival

Now in its 18th year, the Dallas International Film Festival (DIFF) is the region’s most powerfully inclusive and equitable platform for diverse, emerging and underrepresented voices. Since its founding, DIFF has screened more than 2,500 widely diverse new films from 50 countries, provided more than $1.1 million in awards and hosted more than 100,000 filmgoers and filmmakers. The annual festival is presented by Dallas Film Society, Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. www.dallasfilm.org