2024 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.

2024 WINNER

UNDEAD PASSAGE

written by Matteo Giordano

When a dapper, but thirsty, group of vampires awaken on the Titanic, two disparate passengers must unite to save their fellow passengers on the ship's maiden voyage.

2024 OFFICIAL SELECTIONS

DREAM A LITTLE by William Arendt. Desolated by a lifetime of missed opportunity and tragedy, a former prodigy learns just how much he impacted the lives of those around him.

DRY HEAT by Ryan Douglas Gore. On a road trip across the New Mexico desert, a family of three are terrorized and kidnapped by a motorcycle gang after a deadly highway incident.

FISH FAVOR by Daniel Flint. A scruffy college student finds himself grappling with the pressures of academia when his friend proposes a spontaneous party in his dorm. | Website: BeartoonStudios.com | X: @beartoonstudio | Instagram @beartoonstudios | IMDb

FOOL-COURTING PRESS (Episode 1) by Daryl Malarry Davidson, Marc Olson & Iggy Cossman. When a white pro basketball player feels unappreciated and issues a challenge - the top five white basketball players, he says, could beat the top five Black ones - the game is on.

GUN by Dana St. Amand. When a private detective goes missing, his gun comes to life with the task of finding him. | Website: DanaStAmand.com | Instagram: @danast.amand

HOW TO SELL PAINT TO LIZARDS by Cecelia Hutnick. A paint salesman's chance encounter with aliens leads him on a journey of self-discovery.

LAST FLING by Stephanie Jayich Röst. When a woman accepts an invitation to a childhood frenemy's bachelorette weekend just to poke fun at vacuous women and old bullies, she finds herself in a far more hellish predicament than a silly party game.

NOCNITSA (The Serpent's Seed) by Richard Guimond. When a demonic spirit, known as Nocnitsa, secretly infiltrates a small-town, a woman must try to stop it - because what she has is what the evil wants and needs.

PIGSU by Mercy Malarvizhi Dasan. Due to her incapability, a clever mom-pig provides a trustful human-mom and sibling to her baby piglet.

POOR PLAYERS by Ron Kaehler. A struggling actor receives a call summoning him to an out-of-the-way theater, at a rather inconvenient time, for a rather peculiar audition - one in which there’s more at stake than just getting the part. | Website: RonKaehler.com and PoorPlayersOnstage.com

SCORCHED EARTH by Anthony Moore. In his bid for power, a would-be mafia boss sells a new biological weapon to terrorists, which sets off WWIII, but in the aftermath, he must team up with the planet's top criminals to prevent human extinction. | X: @techrat_0 | Stage32: @AnthonyMoore | IMDb

SET IN STONE by Andrea Nocchetti. A promising young artist enrolls in a cutthroat Sculpting Academy, where his dreams of greatness are nurtured by an instructor who will stop at nothing to unleash a student's potential.

THE COMPLAINT by Anita Osuigwe-Spencer. In 1918, Greensville, South Carolina, an ordinance is introduced that requires Black women to carry a labor identification card proving they are regularly and usefully employed, or they will be fined or put in jail. (Based on a true story.)

THE DEVIL'S RING (Pilot) by Sandra Hughes. When a rookie federal agent is assigned to the brutal murder of a small-town coroner, the routine investigation takes a dark turn as she uncovers a sinister child trafficking ring, and her own son is kidnapped.

THE FISHERMAN'S WIFE by Gabriella Michele Bedsworth. A depressed, suicidal fisherman kidnaps the doppelganger of his dead fiancée, but must face the agonizing decision to let her go. | Facebook: @gabriella.bedsworth

THE LOST GOSPEL by James M. Freeman. An anthropology professor discovers, loses, and battles to recover a priceless antiquity proclaiming that Jesus visited India during his lost years, as Indian terrorist-bandits, religious zealots, and a jealous professor and ex-lover chase her for the relic.

WHITE HAWK RISING by Claudia Dato. While serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole, an ex-Native American gang member attempts to overcome an abusive childhood and a violent life of crime. (Inspired by a true story.) | Website: cddato.wixsite.com/claudiadato