2023 Screenplay Winners

Here is the list of 2023 screenplay winners from the DIVERSITY Festival.

Watch the winning screenplay best scene readings:


A Waterless Place, by Leiter Daniellson
After witnessing an Alien spacecraft crash in the mountains two brothers rush to the scene and gather what they can. A shadowy figure is sent to hunt the brothers down and eliminate them before their Father rescues them.

1st Scene Reading: A Waterless Place, by Leiter Daniellson


UNDYING LOVE, by Bill Liggins
All hell breaks loose when a flaky podcaster involves herself in a race between the US government and a powerful secret society to find an authentic immortal.

1st Scene Reading: UNDYING LOVE, by Bill Liggins


Gladiatrix Daughter of War, by Roxanne Gregory
Gladiatrix Daughter of War — Barbarians+Spartacus=Gladiatrix. Acolyte priestess Aoife survives the fall of the Druidic stronghold but is enslaved. She kills a brothel master & is sold to a ludus, a school for gladiators, where she flourishes becoming Rome’s deadly champion. As Amazonia Nyx Death-Bringer she will have blood justice for her people.

1st Scene Reading: Gladiatrix Daughter of War, by Roxanne Gregory


Christmas Pizza, by Andy Heidel, Chloe Sehr
Noelle is a struggling NYC singer and musician that returns to her hometown of Carillon after her mother dies in a freak accident during the annual Thanksgiving Leftovers Casserole Contest. Upon her return, she discovers that the building she is supposed to inherit is in foreclosure and her ex-girlfriend/bandmate Joy has opened up a pizza parlor on the ground floor.

1st Scene Reading: Christmas Pizza, by Andy Heidel, Chloe Sehr


Mr. Pettigrew, by Larry J. Martin
Beau, having lost a leg in the Civil War, stumbles out of a cattle car at the little Nevada town of Nemesis. He’s taken under the wing of Mr. Pettigrew, partner in the Angel Saloon and given a job sitting shotgun. Pettigrew kills the son of a powerful mine owner and Beau is drawn into the trouble. It’s two against twenty.

1st Scene Festival Reading: Mr. Pettigrew, by Larry J. Martin


VILLAGE, by Adolpho Phillips
It takes a village to raise a child and Tasha’s village is crazy but willing.

1st Scene Festival Reading: VILLAGE, by Adolpho Phillips


THE EVIL THAT MEN DO, by Jeffrey van Davis
When a police detective, hunting a serial killer, gets too close, the killer murders his wife and two children, sending him into a downward spiral of alcohol, suicide, and a near-death experience where God tells him to become a priest. Years later the serial killer reappears – in his confessional.

1st Scene Script: THE EVIL THAT MEN DO, by Jeffrey van Davis


SHORT Screenplay: The Garden, by A.M. Chester
A short, short film about finding magic and the trauma of sudden loss when that magic goes away.

Winning SHORT Screenplay: The Garden, by A.M. Chester


1st Scene Reading: Gladiatrix Daughter of War, by Roxanne Gregory

Gladiatrix Daughter of War — Barbarians+Spartacus=Gladiatrix. Acolyte priestess Aoife survives the fall of the Druidic stronghold but is enslaved. She kills a brothel master & is sold to a ludus, a school for gladiators, where she flourishes becoming Rome’s deadly champion. As Amazonia Nyx Death-Bringer she will have blood justice for her people.

CAST LIST:

Narrator: Geoff Mays
Arwynn: Val Cole –
Aoiffe: Kyana Teresa

1st Scene Reading: UNDYING LOVE, by Bill Liggins

All hell breaks loose when a flaky podcaster involves herself in a race between the US government and a powerful secret society to find an authentic immortal.

http://billliggins.com/

CAST LIST:

Narrator: Shawn Devlin
Anchor/Sheriff: Steve Rizzo
Rachel/Tamara: Val Cole
Wounded Boater 1/Agent 1: Kyana Teresa
Headwound Man/Deputy: Geoff Mays
Greg/Norman: Sean Ballantyne
Shelly/Cop: Hannah Ehman

1st Scene Reading: Christmas Pizza, by Andy Heidel, Chloe Sehr

Noelle is a struggling NYC singer and musician that returns to her hometown of Carillon after her mother dies in a freak accident during the annual Thanksgiving Leftovers Casserole Contest. Upon her return, she discovers that the building she is supposed to inherit is in foreclosure and her ex-girlfriend/bandmate Joy has opened up a pizza parlor on the ground floor.

CAST LIST:

Narrator: Steve Rizzo
Noelle: Kyana Teresa
Douchebag 1: Geoff Mays
Candy: Val Cole
Alani/Cute Customer: Hannah Ehman

1st Scene Reading: A DIFFERENT WORLD, by Michael Mendershausen & Lillian Carrier

Rebecca is waiting at an airport, while her parents baby her. Rebecca has autism and is seemingly traveling for the first time by herself. She gets on the plane with her service dog, Luke. She meets Jonathan, who already starts to help her on the plane.

While he gets off, he loses Rebecca but runs into his sister. Finally, he spots Rebecca, offering to help her out again. Jonathan reveals he was hoping Rebecca had met his sister. They travel together in a cab.

CAST LIST:

Narrator: Hannah Ehman
Albert Jones/Flight Attendant : Steve Rizzo
Rebecca: Val Cole
Mary Jones: Kyana Teresa
Jonathan: Geoff Mays

1st Scene Script Read: THE INFINIPLEX, by Brian Murphy

An obsessed grad student trying to bring his brother back from the dead, finds his task complicated by two evil movie ushers from his nightmares and the one and only girl of his dreams.

Narrator: Val Cole
Dexter/Asinine Professor: Shawn Devlin
Frisbane/Terry: Steve Rizzo
Will: Andy Camp
RIck/Old Theo: Sean Ballantyne
Creepy Female Voice/ Female Professor: Julie Sheppard
Alyson: Allison Kampf

1st Scene Festival Reading: Mr. Pettigrew, by Larry J. Martin

Beau, having lost a leg in the Civil War, stumbles out of a cattle car at the little Nevada town of Nemesis. He’s taken under the wing of Mr. Pettigrew, partner in the Angel Saloon and given a job sitting shotgun. Pettigrew kills the son of a powerful mine owner and Beau is drawn into the trouble. It’s two against twenty.

http://www.ljmartin.com/

Narrator: Elizabeth Rose Morriss
Beau: Geoff Mays
Pettigrew: Steve Rizzo
Martha Ann: Julie Sheppard