GRAND PRIZE WINNER - Mine by Anita Justice Skibski, Algonquin IL  LOGLINE: A wealthy and respected coal mine owner spirals into dangerous obsession over the wife of his best employee in small town, 1950s Kentucky.  CONTACT INFO askibski@yahoo.com

2nd Place - Lying on the floor dead by Marjory Kaptanoglu (Belmont CA)  LOGLINE: Emma, an over-achieving Silicon Valley girl geek, would rather die than lose a dare. But when she takes on the biggest challenge of her life – proving her project leader innocent of murdering the VP from hell – she may have to lose in order to win. The killer would rather she die.  CONTACT INFO margiebk@comcast.net In my life before screenwriting, I was a software engineer at Apple Computer. Since I had majored in English, they must’ve hired me by accident, but the money was good so I stayed on. Eventually, like any decent English major, I came to my senses, quit my job and switched to a career with no guaranteed income or opportunity for advancement.     First I co-wrote a science fiction novel with my husband, but somehow a story about an incurable ice age didn’t manage to sell in this era of global warming. My agent suggested I turn it into a screenplay (without mentioning there was another ice age film almost done), and having nothing else to do at the time (aside from taking care of the kids), I dove into the task. Several classes and a billion screenwriting books later, I had something that bore no resemblance to our novel, except the names were the same and there was still an ice age. I promptly sent my script off to Nicholl’s for a fellowship. When the letter came informing me I didn’t make the quarterfinals, I found the words “In the next 10 %” scribbled at the bottom. Instantly I lowered my expectations by several orders of magnitude, and decided this was enough encouragement to write another screenplay or two.     My second effort resulted in Lying on the Floor Dead. For this I drew on my experiences working in high tech (except, for the record, there was no murder, though we came close a few times). The engineers I knew were a smart, cynical, egotistical, childlike, and brutally honest breed, making them ripe for satire. But underneath it all, they have a passion for greatness, an incredible drive to create something new and unique that we writers can relate to. Thus, having found something to admire, I began to plot how I would tear it to shreds.      A comic murder mystery, Lying on the Floor Dead tells the story of Emma, a software engineer who must find out who done it to clear her project leader of the crime. She’s a fun-loving pathological over-achiever who hopes to invent the next most ubiquitous technology since the cell phone. But the murderer and Emma’s own shortcomings as an amateur detective keep getting in the way, until she faces the prospect of complete failure for the first time ever. Not to mention imminent death. What’s a pathological over-achiever to do?     Thank you, American Screenwriters Association, for selecting Lying on the Floor Dead as the second place winner in your 9th annual contest, and for all your efforts to promote the finalists. Your recognition has boosted my motivation by several orders of magnitude.

3rd Place - The Big Orange  by David Kline (Los Angeles CA)  LOGLINE: An aging private detective is called to investigate a celebrity murder in Los Angeles.  CONTACT INFO dhkline@hotmail.com

4th Place (tie) - Burn Card by Katharine O'Brien (Venice CA) LOGLINE: A Native American youth resists the commercialization a new casino brings to his destitute reservation. CONTACT INFO katharine.obrien@gmail.com The inspiration to write this script first came during one of many hazy and indistinguishable late night trips to my town’s local casino.  I’m sure anyone who’s been to Vegas has experienced a moment of vertigo on the gambling floors.  Air quality of an LA freeway.  No door in sight.  Not a clock on the wall.  You have no idea if it’s night or day and you’re going through the last of your ATM withdrawal like you’re giving it away.  This casino was a reservation casino and it sold itself as ‘injun’.  It was adorned with murals and totem poles such as you might find in a Wild Bill tent, a mish mash of various tribe motifs that lacked authenticity.  BURN CARD is about an individual, as well as his greater community, struggling to piece together an identity from pop culture clichés.  It struck me as terribly sad that a people traditionally so in tune with the natural world would be forced to survive on means which brought them so far away from it.  I wanted to tell a story of a youth searching for his spirituality and dignity long buried in a casino’s stale environment.  His conflict reflects the Native American plight, caught between a rock and a slot machine.  It’s a story about a person who strives for his ideals, but has to settle for reality.       I added this concept to the list of “things to accomplish perhaps in the near future” tacked to the back of my brain and didn’t revisit it until it came time to write my Wellesley College thesis.  I approached the task of writing a thesis thinking of it as two semesters worth of extra periods to independently study my pillow.  I procrastinated until I feared that my thesis advisor, a new professor that year, would think that I had dropped out or was some error made in the registration office, then I brought in an outline.  My advisor turned out to be an angel in the form of a brusque New Yorker.  Alicia Erian, author of the acclaimed novel TOWEL HEAD, had taken a visiting professorship at Wellesley that year.  With her guidance I navigated my way through my first screenplay writing experience, learning the fundamentals of story and form as I went.  Slowly, as I began to dwell more and more in the world I was creating, my thesis project evolved into something bigger than just another college assignment, and since graduating last year it has become one of my first affirmations in the real world of ‘not college’.  Placing in this competition has been a great honor and encouragement.       I currently live in Venice, CA working as a writer/director’s assistant.  I recently finished my second script and am enthusiastic about going out with it.  The opportunities this competition has made available are very real, and I thank ASA for running a truly outstanding organization dedicated to helping screenwriters get their work out there. 4th Place (tie) - Quarantine Zone by Greg Hittelman (Sonoma CA) LOGLINE: An action thriller set in a failed state war zone in 2013. A war correspondent hunts for a kidnapped scientist, in a journey that leads him into a modern heart of darkness.  CONTACT INFO ghittelman@earthlink.net

5th Place (tie) - Reach for the Sun by Louis Felder (Studio City, CA) LOGLINE: An African-American high school student invents a solar cell so powerful it could replace oil, coal and natural gas as the world's energy source. Frantic  forces want to exploit it, others to destroy it.  But the kid forgot how he made it so he's got the only one!  Gangs, cops, FBI, CIA, and agents from North Korea chase the ultimate American Inventor. CONTACT INFO louisfelder@aol.com   Flipping through magazines in my dentist’s waiting room, I came across an article on solar voltaic energy.  Until recently all energy was produced with nineteenth century technology by turning a wheel (water wheels, steam engines, hydroelectric turbines, nuclear plants to produce heat, to boil water to make steam to turn a wheel, old stuff.)  But solar power was revolutionary -- electricity directly from the sun (photons into electrons).  And I wondered – what if?  What if  someone developed a solar cell with sufficient power to make oil, coal and natural gas obsolete?  Cheap, clean energy for the world!    But suppose some kid did it, perhaps an African American genius kid in South Central Los Angeles.  Would anyone pay attention?  And if they did, what would happen to the kid?  And that became the story of REACH FOR THE SUN.  I get a lot of ideas for my stage plays from the morning newspapers (especially the Wall Street Journal).  When I read that President Bush believes that life begins at the moment of conception and that a zygote (fertilized ovum) is a person, that impelled me to follow the logic.  If an embryologist discarded a fertilized ovum, he could be indicted for manslaughter – and a conviction could put that belief into law.  And suppose a pro-choice Assistant DA had to prosecute?  The Grand Jury decision could affect stem cell research and the abortion issue.  The basis of the play TAKING ISSUE.  For me, stories come from real events caused by real people who are sometimes desperate, sometimes visionary, always passionate. 5th Place (tie) - Isobel by Carley Andrews (Malvern East Australia)  LOGLINE: Orphaned as a baby and raised by her grandmother who has recently died, Isobel feels completely alone in the world. Through her grandmother's will, Isobel discovers that her mother is alive and needs a bone marrow transplant. Will Isobel save the life of the woman who abandoned her? CONTACT INFO carley.andrews@gmail.com After completing a Bachelor of Contemporary Arts / Media Arts majoring in Film Studies and Photography, I was feeling uninspired about what area of the film industry I wanted to delve into.  I had always written for myself, but had never considered it as a serious career option. Since it was the only thing that I was truly passionate about, I thought I should give it a go, so I took myself to New York and did an 8 week Screenwriting Course at the New York Film Academy. As I embarked on my first screenplay, I thought I had a good solid idea, but what I soon learned was that all I had was a good solid first act. I was overwhelmed and felt it impossible that I would ever complete a feature length script. But with the encouragement of my teacher and friends and the golden phrase “just get it out, you can fix it later” I persevered. Finally, after many drafts and more time than I’d like to think about “Isobel” came to life.  I am so grateful to the ASA for this amazing opportunity.  I know that it is rare for a young, first time screenwriter to get such a break and I am excited to gain everything I possibly can from it. This whole process has been an incredible learning experience for me and I looking forward to putting all knowledge into my future work. All Right Reserved © 1997-2007  American Screenwriters Association