2024 American Story Showcase
The American Story Showcase recognizes scripts, books, short stories, & stage plays in any genre that features a story that captures the American Spirit.
2024 WINNER
THE FRONTIER
written by Jake Abelman
In 1840's America, frontierman and scout Kit Carson guides John Fremont's expedition into California, before joining the Mexican-American War, and engaging in a daring rescue mission after the Battle of Pasqual.
2024 OFFICIAL SELECTIONS
4-19-95 by Matt Skuta. In the minutes and hours following a devastating bombing, civilians and professionals put their lives on the line to perform harrowing rescues in the rubble of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. (Based on true events.)
A QUIET TOWN by Staton Rabin. In 1863, four civilians - a janitor, a young war widow, an aging veteran, and a teen girl - are on a desperate mission to find and reconcile with their loved ones after their small, quiet community of Gettysburg gets caught in the crossfire of a terrifying battle on which the fate of the nation depends. (Based on true events.) | StatonRabin.com | ScreenplayMuse.com | X @StatonRabin
A SHERIFF'S WAR by J. Jermaine Jones. When the President of the United States issues a nationwide gun ban, a local county sheriff stirs up the nation to rise against him. | Instagram @jjjermaine1
AFTERMATH by Jonathan Turner Smith. During two simultaneous therapy sessions (one for students and one for staff, and guided by two grief counselors) the events of a school shooting are told through those who experienced it firsthand. | JonathanTurnerSmith.com | Facebook @jonathan.turnersmith
AT THE MERCY OF FAITH by Samuel Lee Taylor. In the wake of a terrifying and traumatic encounter, a 14-year-old preacher renounces his faith in God. | AtTheMercyOfFaith.com | Facebook @AtTheMercyofFaith
BANISHED: THE STORY OF A GREAT INJUSTICE by Cody McDevitt. In 1923 Johnstown, Pennsylvania, after a migrant steelworker shoots six police officers, racial tensions rise as the mayor of the city orders 2,000 Black and Latino residents out of town under threat of death or imprisonment. (The incident became a national scandal known as the Rosedale Banishment.) | CodyMcDevitt.com | Facebook @rosedaleoralhistory | X @codymcdevitt | Instagram @rosedale_oral_history_project
EMMA WHO? by Laura M. Edmundson. A woman, struggling with her personal demons, returns to her childhood home only to find her father suffering from dementia. | ThirdRateProductions.com | Facebook | X @ThirdRateProd | Instagram @thirdrateprod
FLYING BIRD'S DIARY by Melissa Tantaquidgeon Zobel. A nineteenth century woman from a New England Indian reservation refuses to allow her tribe to be erased. | MelissaTantaquidgeonZobel.com | Wikipedia
GALLATIN (Pilot) by Ryan Skinner. A famous author goes on a quest of revenge as he tracks down and plans to murder the priest who molested his daughter. | IMDb | Agency Profile
GHOSTWRITER (Episode One: The Fairies' Midwife") by Lawrence Wells. Ghostwriter Wells and his patron "Mrs. F," collaborate on the controversial story of Shakespeare-authorship-candidate Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, and his alleged affair with Queen Elizabeth I resulting in the secret birth of Henry Wriothesley (in reality the "Fair Youth" of Shakespeare's sonnets). | Blog | Facebook @larry.wells.397 | X @larrywells322 | Interview
GIANT ALONG THE PLAINS by Daniel Duren. In the once sleepy town of Williston, North Dakota, a roughneck, a sheriff, and a city-slicker fight for fortune, justice, and redemption during one of the most turbulent oil booms in American history. | DanielDuren.com
GRASS THROUGH PAVEMENT by Peter Trivelas. Seeking wisdom and world experience, a naive young man explores sex, war, love, and art around the globe until his PTSD-fueled self-medicating drags him to the bottom of his noble pursuit where he must get a grip or die. | PeterTrivelas.com | Facebook @trivelas
HARDSCRABBLE: THE RISE OF ULYSSES S. GRANT by William Ray. A uniquely American hero’s transformation from obscure failure - lackluster student, disgraced soldier, hapless farmer, and businessman - to General-in-Chief of all Union forces in the Civil War, confidant of Abraham Lincoln, and conqueror of legendary Robert E. Lee.
HEMINGWAY COUNTRY by Darren C. Sullivan (based on the short stories "Hills Like White Elephants", "Up in Michigan", "Indian Camp", "The End of Something", and "Soldier's Home" by Ernest Hemingway). Five vignettes: A young American man tries to convince his Latina girlfriend to have an "operation"; A drunk man forces himself upon a woman after a hunting trip; A teenage boy travels with his father, a doctor, to a remote camp to perform an emergency operation on a pregnant Native American woman; A young man ends his relationship with his girlfriend, then reconsiders his decision; A soldier struggles to adapt to life after returning home from war. | X @DsullMusic
KASHINO by Vince Matsudaira. Staff Sergeant Shiro Kashino, fighting to prove his Americanism, receives a Silver Star, two Bronze Stars, six Purple Hearts... and a court martial conviction. (Based on a true story.) | Video
LIFE, LIBERTY, AND THE PURSUIT OF MONSTERS by Timothy & Cathleen O'Rawe. Lead by Benjamin Franklin, the founding fathers (George Washington, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson) band together to investigate the supernatural, and slay monsters that are threatening America as they struggle for independence from England.
MEET HIM IN HELL by Janine Meston. When events spiral out of control at the Homestead Steel Works, Pennsylvania in 1892, its desperate workers rise up against their wealthy and oppressive employers.
NOT MRS. SINGER by John Clive Carter. During the first wave of feminism in the 1860s, a rebellious woman battles hypocrisy and corruption as she fights for her share of a sewing machine fortune. (Based on a true story.)
ORDINARY COURAGE by Richard Stansell-Gamm. On August 1, 1943, 175 B-24 bombers depart North Africa on America’s most daring aerial raid of World War II – a low-level attack against the Nazis’ oil production center at Ploesti, Romania. (With ordinary courage, a third of the airmen do not return. Five receive the Congressional Medal of Honor.)
PICKLEBALL KILLER by Jim Carroll. Brigg - an aging pickleball sensation, with supernatural speed, and dark mysterious origin - becomes the target of the Cartel after he inadvertently rescues a young trafficked girl from their clutches.
POINT OF CHANGE by Tom Lambert. When he moves to Louisiana with his father in the fall of 1962, a shy boy bonds with three other outsiders, and finds creative ways to deal with difficulties at school as he heads toward a showdown with change. | LinkedIn @thomasrlambert
RUNNING by Sean Chandler. When a married, closeted-gay mayoral candidate is outed in a lewd and public manner, he and his family struggle to pick up the pieces and move forward. | SeanWChandler.com
SACRED SUN by Michael Louis Gould. A horrific animal experiment at a U.S. desert solar energy plant draws unearthly native forces into weird life, as a sun god visits sun-themed vengeance upon all who insult him, sending a veiled message of portent to all America and all the New World. | Film Freeway Profile | LinkedIn
SAFE PASSAGE GUARANTEED by Pete Torrey. A team of Black teenagers and a team of White teenagers arrange a series of secret summer basketball games in 1970s Indiana with unexpected results.
SILAS by Daisy Weaver. Unlikely friends set out for treasure but find something much more important to American history, a wrongly accused hero of the American Revolution, Silas Deane. | Facebook @DaisysScripts
SOMEWHERE, SOMETIME IN AMERICA by Matt Lewis. Four individuals, with very different lives, cross paths at a diner as they connect in ways they never expected, and help one another overcome their biggest fears. | Network ISA Profile
SUPER ULTRA BIG BLUE SKY COUNTRY by Tony Bustamante & Michael Conley. A young Japanese businessman leaves his high-pressure job in Tokyo and moves his family to Montana to pursue his childhood dream of becoming an American cowboy. | SuperUltraBBSky.com
TELEMACHUS '76 by K.C. Wilson. A young songwriter's Bicentennial year on the road ends on a four-day bus ride home to face his father as a man.
THE ADVENTURES OF HARRIS & JERMAINE by Amber White. A mental patient comes face-to-face with his failures, and attempts to move on.
THE BROKEN ROAD by Tommy Anderson. A homeless combat veteran with PTSD finds recovery and love with a woman ranch owner while working with her horses. | X @TommyAnderson12
THE ENGINE OF OUR DISRUPTION by Patricia Milton. Bubble's chief ethics officer learns about a destructive, secret AI project and must decide if she will she stay and fight it or try to bring down the company.
THE LAST SQUADRON by Bryce Hatch. After a devastating EMP attack, a determined CAP-teen rallies a motley crew of war veterans to form a last-ditch resistance against a formidable foe. | BryceHatch.com
THE LEAVEN by The Old Coat Society (Sarah Ann Bass, Andrew Juran Bass, Rachel Danae Bass & Catherine Grace Bass). A family struggles to keep a curse from devouring them from within.
THE STAR THROWER by Kathleen Welton (inspired by the essay "The Star Thrower" by Loren Eiseley). After a company dumps chemicals into the ocean, three friends race against time to save the sea turtles' nests, and to discover the “how” and "why" of the incident so they can ensure the eggs safely hatch. | AkaBooks.com
THE TRIALS OF THOMAS(INE) HALL by Vaughn Roste. In 1629 Jamestown, Virginia, Thomas(ine) Hall becomes the first recorded case of an intersex person in America. (Based on a true story.) | X @Vaughn09187022
THINGAMAJIGS: AN AMERICAN FAIRY TALE by A.S. Templeton (based on the short story "The Girl Who Owned a Bear" by Lyman Frank Baum). As an act of proxy revenge, a little girl is given a book filled with unexpectedly vivid illustrations. | IMDb
TIC TALK: LIVING WITH TOURETTE SYNDROME by Dylan Peters. A 9-year-old boy learns - and teaches others - tolerance and acceptance during the five years he has Tourette Syndrome.
WAY OF THE NORTH by Brian Morgan. An American student studying in China is kidnapped and sold to North Korea for his language skills. (Inspired by the disappearance of David Sneddon.)
SUBMISSIONS STATISTICS
Writer Gender
Male: 74%
Female: 26%
Genre
Drama: 24%
Action/Adventure: 14%
Comedy: 14%
Crime/Mystery/Thriller: 14%
Horror/Supernatural: 11.5%
War/Military: 11.5%
Science Fiction & Fantasy: 4.5%
Sports: 4.5%
Western: 2%
Submission Location
United States: 88%
United Kingdom: 7%
Not Specified: 5%
Format
Feature Screenplay, Television Script or Short Script: 69%
Stage Play: 19%
Book, Manuscript or Short Story: 12%
