 Screenwriter Eric Roth ("Munich") accepts UCLA's Distinguished Achievement Award at June 9.
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The UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television has announced this year's winners of its annual Screenwriters Showcase competition, an industry-juried screenplay and television pilot contest celebrating the creative work of students in the school's graduate screenwriting program.
The showcase was created to provide an opportunity for student scribes to present samples of their work to the entertainment industry. This is the first year the competition has included TV pilot scripts — a result of the school's newly established TV showrunner concentration.
Selections from the seven winning works, chosen from among 88 submissions by a distinguished panel of Hollywood professionals, will receive staged readings on Monday, June 9, at 7:30 p.m. at the Writers Guild of America West building in Beverly Hills (135 South Doheny Dr.).
The event will be hosted by UCLA alumnus and accomplished screenwriter Mike Werb ("Face/Off," "The Mask," "Firehouse Dog"), who will present alumnus Eric Roth ("The Insider," "Forrest Gump," "Munich") with this year's Distinguished Achievement in Screenwriting Award.
Admission is free, but space is limited and reservations are required. To R.S.V.P., please visit www.tft.ucla.edu/festival2008.
The 2008 Showcase feature winners are:
Christina Eliason: "Divine Mistress" (drama)Eliason's screenplay tells the very sexy tale of Madame du Châtelet and her infamous lover, Voltaire.Jennie Malika Evenson: "The Waking" (thriller)When Annie's health takes a sudden and shocking downturn, she suspects her doctor of foul play. When she investigates, she discovers that her husband has both murdered and reanimated her as part of a guarded experiment. As her body decays, Annie must figure out how to protect herself and her daughter.Austin Formato: "Self Help" (dark comedy)Ronnie McGlohan desperately wants to kill himself but can't stand the idea of leaving his hypochondriac mother alone. While on the job at Amerimart, he stumbles upon a service that provides cryogenic freezing to the store's wealthiest customers — as a Christian-friendly alternative to suicide.Amanda Parham: "Galapagos" (animated)After being abandoned by his family, Rico, a young blue-footed booby, tries to befriend a giant tortoise as they struggle to save each other from extinction at the hands of vicious pirates who have invaded their islands.Kit Steinkellner: "The Great Fitzgeralds" (biopic)Steinkellner's screenplay tells the dazzling, passionate and ultimately tragic love story of famed American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald and his wife, the charismatic and troubled Zelda, set against the sweeping background of the Roaring '20s and the Great Depression.
The 2008 Showcase TV pilot winners are:
Ryan Tavlin: "Ladies of Lambry" (comedy)Three mafia wives are coerced by the feds into testifying against their husbands with the promise of a "fresh start."Ben Taylor: "PCU: Petty Crimes Unit" (sitcom)In the LAPD's Petty Crimes Unit, four underachieving rookies take on every case too small, too trivial, too unglamorous for real detectives, saving the city one small affront to society at a time.
The 2008 Showcase feature script finalists are: Greg Daubenspeck ("The Piper"), Meg Gifford ("Porcelain"), Maureen Johnson ("Life's a Drag"), Alice O'Kieffe ("Loudmouth") and Richard Rapoza ("The Hole in the Brain of Phineas Gage"). The 2008 Showcase TV pilot script finalists are: Julie Mullen ("Just Barely Managing") and Andy Shrader ("Vamps").
The UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, consistently ranked among the nation's leading institutions, is unique in the world, bringing together the arts of theater, film and television in one academic institution. UCLA's reputation as an outstanding training ground for the theater, film and television professions and for critical scholarship is based on its long tradition of fostering creative growth, encouraging experimentation and ensuring artistic freedom. Many of the most respected names in the entertainment and communication arts and the world of scholarship are UCLA alumni.
