2023 First 10 Pages Showcase
The First 10 Pages Showcase recognizes scripts, books, short stories & stage plays in any genre that set up an exciting and compelling story capable of "hooking" a reader within the first 10 pages.
2023 WINNER
EL PERRITO
written by Piper Shackleford
When a juvenile-delinquent teenager receives a community-service sentence at a local animal shelter for unwanted and abused dogs, she learns what's truly worth fighting for.
2023 OFFICIAL SELECTIONS
23 HOURS TO KILL by C. McCloud. A down-n-out queer comic struggles against boredom, the bitterness of a recent breakup, and death at the hands of a desperate drug kingpin while waiting to perform at a hole in the wall comedy club.
ANIMALAND by Charline Odiot. When the corrupt World Commander of a sanctuary for endangered species - located in the middle of the savannah - plunges it into chaos, Jalal, a young Malayan tiger, has an idea to save Animaland. | IMDb
BLINK OF AN EYE by Karen Matthews. Charlie Beaumont returns home after ten years to attend the funerals of her older sister and brother-in-law, who have left her their ad agency, house, the housekeeper and two teenage daughters to raise - only to have to deal with her sister's ghost returning while Charlie attempts to repair the broken family.
BROKEN BRANCH by Richard Guimond. A husband’s secret compulsion moves his family to what appears to be a serene, coastal estate. Once there, they suffer the consequences of a mysterious ancestral menace, all while the townspeople stand as silent witness to the horror all around them.
DOWN TO THE FELT by Dino Tripodis, Jon Osbeck, and Ralph Scott. A compulsive underdog gambler makes a deal with a sociopathic hitman to kill him in two weeks. But when he starts winning and falls in love with a mysterious woman, life becomes a race against time to call off the deadly hand that's been dealt. | BigDealPictures.com | DownToTheFeltMovie.com
FROM THE STREETS by Zaric Reed. Flash, at one-time the fastest man in New York City who is now running from the police, is taken off the streets by Kansas, whose love contributes to him eventually being recognized as the fastest running man on earth.
IF TREES HAD EYES by Denys Bastov. A recently engaged young couple have their commitment tested by a tempting hostess at a private campsite getaway.
LABRADOR by Anna Nazzari. Living in an autocratic climate altered world, in which depression is rife, Hanna Woolfe is subject to an animal welfare investigation after the mysterious death of her pedigree therapist dog. | AnnaNazzari.com.au
LIVING AMONG SHADOWS by Ty Jones (story by Ty Jones and Leilani R. Hinyard). After returning from the Iraq War, a Veteran mother suffering the effects of P.T.S.D., is forced to confront her demons, when she finds herself embroiled in a legal battle to maintain custody of her two young children.
MARAH FROM EILAT by Leiter Daniellson. A decorated cop’s life spirals out of control after he makes a one-sided deal with a female demon he refuses to repay.
MEL OF ASTORIA by Maggie McMeans. A heartbroken hairdresser is forced to move from Manhattan to Astoria, where a Greek family takes her under their wing. | Instagram: @CoolBeansMcMeans
MEN OF COLOR by Mike Kearby. A wrongly accused man fights to survive in a dystopian society where the legal system has collapsed and has been replaced by a system where the convicted are dyed red, blue, green, or yellow for their crimes. | Twitter
MISS GLORIA by Nancy Hashim (based on the nonfiction book "Miss Gloria" by Ellen Bomer). The story chronicles Ellen Bomer's experiences following the U.S. Embassy bombing in Nairobi by Al Qaeda in 1998. Blinded by the explosion, Ellen's story is one of inspiration, challenge, remarkable courage, and hope.
MYSTIC CASTLE by Lori Marra. Reporter John Ehrlich gets a feature story that could save the newspaper - an interview with “Genesee River Killer” Arthur Shawcross, a child-killer from his hometown. As he grapples with becoming a father, John finds himself conversing with the unpredictable mind of a serial killer. | LoriMarra.com
NEVER THE SAME MIRA by Michael Thomas Yahn. A quirky young girl, Mira, has an incredible gift - the ability to shape shift. The only problem is her complete lack of control of what and when she shifts. When Mira and her brother get in too deep trying to expose a local crime ring, Mira must trust her gifts to get them out of hot water.
OUT OF TIME by Tane Uribarren. After receiving unexpected life or death news during Christmas time, a determined woman must re-evaluate her priorities in life.
RICKY BENES by John Paul James. With his first child due in nine days, a deeply flawed man - who straddles the line between reality and psychosis in a mental institution - is challenged by the spirits of his two favorite screenwriters to save his soul, and the world, before his baby is born.
THE BOY WHO WOULD NOT SEE by Elisa Medhus. After his mother dies in a tragic car accident and his father, an ex-Marine loses his sight, a middle schooler must learn how to see the most important perspectives of life. | ChannelingErik.com | Facebook: @ChannelingErik | Twitter: @ChannelilngErik | Instagram: @Channeling_Erik
THE CLOSED TUNNEL by Anthony Harold. After a 19-year-old New Yorker ends up in a network of underground cities connected by a system of ancient tunnels at a depth of 2,000 feet - where he encounters new subterranean cities of the elite with restaurants, cutting-edge architecture, and state-of-the-art physics labs - he finds trees that store the genes of dead investors, and tries to solve the great mystery of genius scientists. | Instagram: @TheClosedTunnel | Twitter: @TheClosedTunnel
THE WITNESS by Frank Battaglia & Toby Osborne (story by Frank Battaglia). After being busted for selling guns and drugs, an NYC Sanitation Worker is forced to rat out his powerful mob associates and is placed into witness relocation with his wife, but his marriage and faith is soon shaken when he falls back into his old ways disrupting their new life.
WHACK-A-MOLE by Amanda Boyden and Tana Parry. A small-town woman, who lives a mundane existence until DNA testing reveals her dad isn’t her father, arrives at mid-life crises two-point-oh-fuck, after having tick-borne diseases, her mother’s erupting Alzheimer’s, and mayhem and deaths thrown into the mix. Inspired by true events.
WHITE-WASHED by Navdeep Bains. A south-Asian woman must confront a corrupt police force and her own demons as she attempts to overcome her guilt-ridden grief when seeking justice for a race-related killing.
SUBMISSIONS STATISTICS
Writer Gender
Male: 64%
Female: 36%
Genre
Drama: 26%
Comedy: 17%
Romance: 11%
Crime: 8%
Horror: 8%
Thriller: 7.5%
Science Fiction & Fantasy: 7%
Family: 6.5%
Action/Adventure: 5%
Faith-Based: 4%
Submission Location
United States: 71%
Australia: 11%
Canada: 9%
UK/Europe: 6%
Other: 3%
Format
Feature Screenplay, Television Script or Short Script: 85.7%
Book, Manuscript or Short Story: 9.5%
Stage Play: 4.8%
