2020 Diversity Film & Script Showcase
The Diversity Showcase recognizes stories in any genre that feature a creator, or a story about a lead character, from an under-represented community.
2020 WINNER
BADAASS YELLAHBOY
written by Dylan Braud
Genre: Drama | Blaxploitation
Logline: An old, washed-up cowboy serving a life sentence competes in the prison rodeo to earn money to save his estranged lover’s life.
Bio: Dylan was born & raised in New Orleans, LA until hurricane Katrina uprooted him from his life at the age of eleven. He relocated with his father and brother to Harlem, where he lived from the ages 11 to 20. Dylan learned what cool was from Lil Wayne, basketball, Def Jam stand-up, and movies he ain't have no business watching.
Instagram: @dylispriime
DEAD NAME (Second Chances)
written by Audrey Webb
Genre: Crime | Police Procedural
Logline: A transgender detective and her partner work to solve homicides.
Bio: Audrey Webb earned her MFA in the dramatic writing program at Texas State University. Recent accolades span writing for both television and stage. Her one-hour pilot “Dead Name” was selected as the grand prize winner in the 2020 LGBTQ Screenwriting Competition. Her 10-minute play Buried was featured in the 2018 Samuel French Off Off-Broadway Short Play Festival. She received the 2018 Judith Barlow Prize for her one-act play The Only Hills We’ve Ever Had, and her full-length play Imagine That was a semi-finalist in both the 2018 Eugene O’Neill National Playwrights Conference and the 2018 Austin Film Festival. Her plays have been produced by Shoestring Radio Theatre (San Francisco), Articulate Theatre (New York), and Mildred's Umbrella Theatre Company (Houston).
DRIVING ME DESI
written by Sai Saripella
Genre: Comedy
Logline: After eloping with Padma, a woman raised in a traditional Indian family, Cody must endure karma as her traditional parents visit America for the first time, causing Cody and Padma's two kids to be torn between two very different cultures.
Bio: Sai Saripella is rumored to have been born in an exotic, uncharted land known as India, but growing up in Dallas and obtaining American citizenship has silenced those whispers. Learning English was the first barrier he needed to overcome which led to countless hours of binging early 2000’s sitcoms as his Rosetta stone. It wasn’t until halfway through an engineering degree when he realized that television writing is his ingrained first love that his mind will possibly never be able to shake. He immediately set off to write a pilot which made the Launch Pad Top 75, but his competitive nature has him writing better pilots, desperate to reach number 1. Sai has never so much as taken one of those rip-off online courses in screenwriting or even googled for blogs claiming to have the secrets to writing great stories. His philosophy is that to break the rules you never learn them. Currently, he’s convinced a large tech company into giving him a cushy position in LA where he can secretly work on his craft at night while pretending to code during the day. His reflexes to close fantasy football blogs whenever a coworker walks by are impressively quick. His weekend time is spent on his side project of journalistic video sessions with rappers and artists in LA as penance to that most evil of N-words: networking. Having just turned 25 his goal is to say he made a few people laugh, think, or both by the time he reaches retirement age at 30.
PACHUCOS
written by Robert M. Cuen
Genre: Drama
Logline: In 1979, Michael Garcia was out of the gang life, but like the low-rider oldies music that resonates in his life, he can't escape the violence in East Los Angeles.
Bio: Robert M. Cuen is Hispanic, and grew up in Los Angeles in the 1970s. He witnessed first-hand numerous Chicano and Black gangs in the area, including the Hells Angels and other motorcycle gangs. Robert went to UCLA studying history and law. For the past 20 years, he has been a staff attorney for the Los Angeles Unified School District.
PRESSURE POINT
written by Mia Thompson & Richard Blomberg
Genre: Action | Drama
Logline: When an airliner full of diplomats is hijacked, a task force team has 48 hours to locate the missing women and children aboard before lives are lost and countries go to war.
Bio: Dr. Richard Blomberg served as a U.S. Navy Hospital Corpsman in Washington D.C. and aboard ship during the 1970s. His wife’s Assiniboine Sioux ancestors fought alongside Sitting Bull at the battle of Little Big Horn. His extended family of patriots and warriors have served on a variety of U.S. Special Forces teams including the SEALs and Delta Force. He has lived in Minnesota for the last thirty years where he still enjoys writing and practicing anesthesia.
Mia Thompson is a Swedish-born author living in California with her husband and daughter. Prior to her life as a novelist, Mia studied Filmmaking in Europe, and Screenwriting in Los Angeles.
SKULDIG
written by Andrew Matthew-Goth
Genre: Dark Political Thriller
Logline: A damaged woman and her cohorts take a family hostage and subject them to trial by social media, encouraging everyone to become judge, jury and executioner.
Bio: Andrew’s debut film, as writer/director, was the tough and uncompromising EVERYBODY LOVES SUNSHINE (‘BUSTED’ US version). Starring David Bowie and Goldie, the film’s original screenplay was awarded a prize by the Carl Forman BAFTA committee and went on to be selected as the opening film for the Tokyo Film Festival. Domestic rights were acquired by Lionsgate. Moving into the thriller/horror genre, Andrew directed COLD & DARK. The film sold into thirty-three territories and the Domestic rights were acquired by First Look Films. The film became a cult hit in France and on the festival circuit. Andrew then co-wrote and directed GALLOWWALKERS, a gothic western, starring Wesley Snipes. MINDGAMERS, a sci-fi/thriller starring Sam Neill and Tom Payne, is set against the world of quantum bio-technology. The film was released in the US April 2017 by Fathom Events then picked up by Universal. Andrew is currently developing his feature project ‘SKULDIG’, a home-invasion thriller with a political twist. Affiliations: Directors UK Film Education: Academy of Live and Recorded Arts (London)
2020 OFFICIAL SELECTIONS
AMERICAN HATE directed by Daniel Brea, written by Alexander Dean Williams, Shawn Parikh & Nellie Christine
AT THE MERCY OF FAITH written by Samuel Lee Taylor
BERMUDA written by Laura Puccia Valtorta
BLIND JUSTICE written by Ramona L. Taylor
BRUEHM'S CLOSET written, produced & directed by Ramona L. Taylor
DISCLOSURE written and directed by Chris English, produced by Chris English & Elena Altman
HEAVY (Pilot Episode) written by Collette Legault
INDIAN SUMMER written by Madhu Powar Garg
KARACHI DREAMS written by Alex Devereaux
KIDS STILL written by Robert C. Bonfiglio
LA LENGUAR written by Rob Fatal
LOTUS written by Saffy Laurio
METACOM (The Last King of America) written by Richard Guimond
MOLEHILL INTO MOUNTAIN written by Jaclyn Natoli
NO OTHER WAY (Chapter One: Public Diplomacy) written by James Dinkins
PHANTOM HEART written by Elijah Sarinana
PROJECT OMEGA (Pilot: Nina Blacke) written by P James Norris
RHYTHM & BREW (Bump in the Road) written by Nicole Chrysostom-Murray
STEERS AND AMIR written by Sai Saripella
STYLIST TO THE STARS written by Melissa Darch
TAMALE written by Leo Maselli
THE AMERICAN DREAM directed by Baldev Sandhu, written by Fernando A. Funes, produced by Valerie Vasilas
THE ART OF WORSHIP written, directed & produced by Ahmed Khairat
THE BIG IDEA written by DJ Schroeder
THE BROTHERS BOUDINOT (Annabel Lee and the Confederate Gold) written by Philip Lombardi
THE DIALOGUE directed by Cathrine Hatcher, written by Colin Ross
THE FORGE written by Howard W. Robertson
THE MOOR written by Andrew Matthew-Goth
THE OPEN WINDOW written by Marcia L. McNair
THE ROACH RISES written by Rhett C. Bruno & Christopher J. Valin
THREE SQUARED written by Frank Wood
SUBMISSION STATISTICS
Writer Gender
Male: 66%
Female: 31.7%
Identify as "Other": 2.3%
Genre
Drama: 24.3%
Comedy: 21.9%
Action/Adventure: 12%
Thriller/Mystery/Crime: 11%
Family: 9.7%
Inspirational/Faith-Based: 7.4%
Sci-Fi/Fantasy: 7.1%
Bio/History: 4.5%
Horror: 2.1%
Submission Location
United States: 73.2%
Europe: 5%
Middle East: 4.8%
Canada: 2.4%
Unspecified: 14.6%
Format
Television Script or Short Script: 45.5%
Feature Screenplay: 36.4%
Short Film or Web Episode: 11.4%
Feature Film: 6.7%
