BEST SCENE SCREENPLAY READINGS
The "best scene" take from features and TV pilots of winning screenplays.
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CRIME/MYSTERY Festival 1st Scene: MURDER ON MARS, by Patrick McKinley
In 2058, A murder investigation leads two police detectives down a dangerous path during the early days of the colonization of Mars.
CAST LIST:
Narrator: Hannah Ehman
Daryl: Shawn Devlin
Matt: Sean Ballantyne -
FEMALE Festival TV Pilot 1st Scene: PRIORITY ONE, by Hannah Augenstine
Three interconnected teams - firefighters, police officers, and 911 dispatchers - face relentless emergenies in Indianapolis, balancing personal struggles with the split-second decisions that determine life or death.
CAST LIST:
Narrator: Julie Sheppard
Ross: Sean Ballantyne
Taylor: Shawn Devlin... -
WILDsound Festival Script: Polite to the Death (Nanny Kills), by Pippa Blackmore
Nanny Ivy, an English nanny, is hired to help an American family with their troublesome children but when she arrives, it becomes clear that the adults and other people in the children's life are the problem so she enlists her charges to kill them all. They return to England to start a new life a...
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LA LGBTQ+ Best Scene Reading: SHRINK, by Teddy Andrews
A young man attends the final session of his compensated work therapy program. The therapist remains ever oblivious as his lies begins to swallow the room whole.
CAST LIST:
Narrator: Shawn Devlin
Ashton: Sean Ballantyne
Therapist: Hannah Ehman -
CRIME/MYSTERY Festival Scene: STREET KNOWLEDGE, by Greg Sawicki, Brian Miller
Haunted by both a past transgression and the unsolved murder of his hero-cop father, a biracial Philadelphia detective with a reputation for losing his cool sets out on a quest to take down a criminal kingpin, but as the investigation unfolds, he realizes he might not be prepared for what he unco...
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ENVIRONMENTAL Script Reading: 20/20: Search for Independence, by Harold L. Brown
A cattle rancher invents a new energy source to replace oil and gets caught in international conflict and espionage over global energy and must assess who he can really trust.
CAST LIST:
Narrator: Julie Sheppard
Jeff: Sean Ballantyne
Jinny/Grace: Hannah Ehman -
The Giant, the Witches, and the Red Turban Bandits, by Gawaine Caldwater Ross
In the 22nd century, a military squad searching for a lost officer vanishes through the same wormhole he did—into a parallel world orbiting a binary star system. Though the laws of physics remain familiar, this world’s society is not: technology is stalled at a medieval level, and four rival homi...
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HORROR Festival Best Scene Reading: The Tenth Cry, by Erick von Schulz
When a devout woman’s long-awaited pregnancy warps into visions of blood-soaked cradles, whispering walls, and cords coiling from her own flesh, she discovers her storm-battered ancestral home enforces a generational curse — every tenth child must be born, or the house will devour her body, soul,...
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SCI-FI/FANTASY BEST Scene: The Uprising Episode 1: More Than We Bargained For
In a galaxy choked by occupation, reluctant leader Sol hijacks a Galactic Union warship—sparking planetary uprisings and thrusting his fledgling resistance into a brutal war against a colonising force that will burn worlds to stay in control.
CAST LIST:
Narrator: Julie Sheppard
Ambassador Kort... -
THRILLER Festival Best Scene: X9, by Sarantos
In a near-future world ravaged by the memory-wiping virus X9, brilliant young scientist Andrea Santiago discovers a suppressed cure hidden by the powerful Biotech Pharmaceuticals. Having once been recruited into the system she now seeks to dismantle, Andrea grapples with betrayal, moral compromis...
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ACTION/FANTASY/THRILLER Best Scene: Un-Cognito, by Kevin Renshaw
In the quirky desert town of Grand River, conspiracy theories, old grudges, and government secrets collide in Un-Cognito, a satirical action-comedy with heart.
Glenn Rancher, a straight-laced FBI forensic accountant facing a terminal diagnosis, returns home to reconnect with his estranged daught...
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Fantasy/Sci-Fi Festival Best Scene: NEXUSm by Eric Lotter
A family, torn apart by a past tragedy, must unite and overcome internal and external conflicts to reclaim their advanced starship from a fanatic general who plans to use its unique capabilities to trigger a galactic-scale "reset" and fulfill an ancient prophecy.
CAST LIST:
Narrator: Julie She...
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Female Festival Best Scene: FRIENDS IN HIGH PLACES, by Rosemary Gallagher
Rose is struggling to find that deep connection in her life, compared to her friends she's the only one without any kids, love or overall success.
CAST LIST:
Narrator: Sean Ballantyne
Rose: Julie C. Sheppard
Bethany: Hannah Ehman -
SCI-FI/FANTASY: ARTHUR PENDRAGON AND THE WANDERING WIZARD, by William A. Murphy
A baby is born to a married woman and the father is a king. Her jealous husband has them both killed along with their entourage. The baby is left to the wolves who call upon the wandering wizard to get this baby back to the humans it belongs with. The wizard takes the child, Arthur, to a comrade ...
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BEST Scene Script Reading: FRIENDS IN HIGH PLACES, by Rosemary Gallagher
Rose is struggling to find that deep connection in her life, compared to her friends she's the only one without any kids, love or overall success.
CAST LIST:
Narrator: Sean Ballantyne
Angel Bethany : Hannah Ehman
Rose : Julie Sheppard -
Female Festival Best Scene Reading: A FIELD FULL OF WISHES, by Malia Taylor
When an overwhelmed mother finally calls it quits on her marriage, she is faced with traumatic memories of her childhood.
CAST LIST:
Narrator: Shawn Devlin
Malia: Hannah Ehman
Sophie: Julie Sheppard -
BEST SCENE Script Reading: KRIS KRINGLE, by Maria Ciampi
A genius but jobless toymaker is tricked by Santa's archenemy, who's livid the Naughty List is at a record low, into working in the Elves' Workshop where his presence sets in motion a magical curse to destroy Christmas.
CAST LIST:
Narrator: Val Cole
Old Scratch/Geek: Sean Ballantyne -
Mr. Di... -
WILDsound Festival Best Scene: THE SENTINEL, by Damián Gajardo
https://youtu.be/wWBwXUuE3l0
CAST LIST:
Narrator: Elizabeth Rose Morriss
Athena AI: Hannah Ehman
Captain Bishop: Geoff Mays -
FEMALE Festival Best Scene: ALL THE KING'S HORSES, by Nancy Franklin (interview)
In a 1960s rural community, a young girl navigates her coming-of-age only to discover family secrets of mental illness, love, and loss that change the course of her life.
Get to know the writer:
1. What is your screenplay about?
It's a coming-of-age story about a girl trying to find her place ... -
FEMALE Festival Best Scene: ZOMBIE HOT SPRINGS, by Candace Rose
In a zombie world, a badass waitress from Iowasets out to cureherzombie brother with a magical hot spring - while dodging cultists, undead flashmobs, and a sexy ex-turned-zombie- hunter. Along the way they discover that family isn't who you're born with - it's who you survie the apocalypse with.
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THE TRIAL OF ROMAN WEINZAPFEL, by John M. O’Leary & John W. McMullen
In Indiana in 1842, an unhappilymarriedwoman accuses a young, immigrant priestof raping herin the confessional. His vow to keep the Seal of Confessionprevents him from speaking in his own defense. Aclimate of xenophobia and anti-Catholicismfuelsa sensationaltrialandviolent, shameful eventsthatult...
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FEMALE Festival Best Scene: BEASTIES, Amy Kolquist (interview)
Desperate to escape her abusive, Christian Nationalist family, a teenage girl finds an unlikely ally when a female werewolf from a pack dead set on killing her family lands in her home, and the attraction they develop for each other forces them into a fight for their very survival.
Get to know t...
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HORROR Best Scene: The P.I.'s (Paranormal Investigators), by Krista Crawford
When a disgraced ghost hunter reluctantly returns to her hometown, she faces a paranormal fight for her life as she tries to mount a comeback.
Years after escaping a family and hometown that shunned her, Bates thought she had it all. A successful ghost hunting career and show, a beautiful woman ...