The Lonely Seal Screenwriting Festival is sponsored by:

This year we are proud to announce our 22 finalists from five countries; USA, Canada, Australia, UK, Zimbabwe. Our winner and runner-ups will be announced during our closing night ceremony on Saturday, October 6. We congratulate all of our finalists, as well as all of the wonderful writers who shared their work with us. 

2018 Screenwriting Finalists:

Feature Film Screenplays

African Alien by Tatenda Mbuzdi – Zimbabwe

Dak Man by Tatenda Mbuzdi – Zimbabwe

Snarly Boy by Dave Musolf – USA

Shades of Love and Noir by Philip T. Brewster – UK

Rouge’s Coward by Robert J. Rogers – USA

A Soul Experience by Marilyn Lee – USA

Days of Glory by Laurent Boulanger  – Australia

Eye for Eye by Jaspal Kunner – UK

The Resurrectionist by Spencer Slovic – USA

Unconscious Coupling by Bridget Addison – USA

Raw Materials by David Calbert – USA

Six Letter Word by Lisanne Sartor – USA

The Greatest Artist in the World by Emily Bice – USA

Short Film Screenplays 

Quiver by Cody Peterson – Canada

Purgatory: A Love Story by Alice L. Lee – USA

Country Roads  by Stephen Bodossian – USA

Red Shirt by Mary C. Ferrara – USA

Jacket of Blue by Obediya Jones-Darrell – Canada

1801, Buck by Jalen Thompson – USA

The Vest by William Ebert – USA

Menschheitsdammerung by Jordan Porter – USA

Duet by Lianne Santor – USA

Teleplays 

You Feel Me? by Laura P. Valtorta – USA

Our Screenwriting Festival is near and dear to our hearts because Hammad Zaidi is a disabled writer who types one-handed and Jonathan Nadeau is a blind writer.  

Hammad is a member of the Writers Guild of America. He has judged several screenwriting contests, including Cinequest and UCLA’s Screenwriting Showcase.  Hammad also created “Script Accessible,” a screenwriting contest for disabled writers as well as non-disabled writers who write about disabled lead characters. “Script Accessible” is detailed below. 

A message from Script Accessible founder Hammad Zaidi

EMBRACE ABILITY.

These two simple words are our bedrock. The development process of creating “Script Accessible” started several decades ago, when a head injury turned my healthy six-month-old body into one that would someday house a writer that types with one usable hand. Since then, I’ve spent my entire life embracing my abilities, rather than my inabilities. It’s that passion that I created the “Script Accessible” screenwriting contest. My mission is to encourage writers with disabilities to make their voice heard and to inspire all writers to create more stories with disabled characters.

“The globe is our community and we strive to inspire every inch of it.”

Script Accessible was housed at the Slamdance Screenwriting Contest in 2009-2010 and was sponsored by WGA-West. Our 2009 winner, “All the Wrong Reasons,” which was announced during Slamdance in January of 2010,  not only went on to be produced, but it won the Discovery Award of the 2013 Toronto Film Festival. 

We’re excited to bring “Script Accessible” it back in 2019 as one portion of our screenwriting festival.

Gia Milani, “All the Wrong Reasons,” with Hammad Zaidi.

R. Ian Simpon, “Below The Waist,” with Hammad Zaidi