Acclaim Film and TV Announces Spring 2002 Competition Winners

It’s always fascinating to see what’s going on in the minds of screenwriters every year. For our Spring 2002 competition, we received an incredible influx of entries lovingly set in locales from the jungles of New Guinea to the streets of South Philly to a surreal solar system light years away. Scripts featured characters from inept mobsters and almost-human Minotaurs to voodoo-charmed ballplayers and lovelorn octogenarians.

SPRING 2002 ACCLAIM FILM COMPETITION WINNERS

WINNER
NO GOOD DEED by Andrew Smith
In this comedy, Patsy, a South Philly mob wannabe gets involved in a museum heist where his partner Bennie shoots a security cop. Patsy’s conscience compels him to return to the scene to help the fallen officer, who as it turns out, had designs on taking the gold himself.


RUNNERS UP
VISI’S COLA NUTS by Annie Cerillo
A transplanted New Yorker comes west to run a coffee shop where “no one under 70 is allowed” and gets more than he bargained for.


NO CLUE by Thomas Voorhies
A detective tries to solve his first case, the kidnapping of a family friend, with the help of the sole witness, a schizophrenic old lady.


FINALISTS
CHAOS DAWN by Rod Surratt
When a disgruntled knight overthrows the kingdom that banished him, Eric Draco, the King’s Royal Guardian, must sacrifice to Hades what he prizes most to earn revenge.


THE WEIGHTING GAME by Andrew Simonian
An arrogant ad exec must compete for an inheritance by doubling his weight in thirty days then losing it all back in thirty more.


CHICK, SALLIE, MO AND ANGIE by Tim Camponeschi
A struggling jazz musician finds love and redemption when he is unwittingly involved in a music business scam.


JOURNAL OF AN EX-SMOKER by Claresa J. Mandola
Struggles with control, friendship and intimacy lead to one painfully humorous experience after the next for a single workaholic female in extreme pursuit of wellness.


THE CLIPPER COURAGEOUS by Lemar R. Fooks
An ex-racing pilot must fly a passenger seaplane around the word at the outbreak of World War II.


MANHATTAN TRANSFER by Martin M. Zuckerman
Set in WWI-era New York, it interweaves the stories of Jimmy, a disgruntled reporter who grows to abhor the city; Ellen, a rising stage actress unhappy with her marriage to an older, eccentric actor and George, a womanizing attorney who has everything he wants—except Ellen.


A SAILOR’S UNIVERSE by Jay Craft
A cog in the corporate machine becomes an unlikely hero on mankind’s first mission to another solar system.


SEMI-FINALISTS
NOWHERE FAST by Greg Sandquist
An unemployed copywriter takes a job at an eccentric talent agency.


THE SEEKERS by Alan H. Brown
A Marine pilot searches the jungle for her missing husband.


SUMMERSQUASH by Luci Westphal-Solary
A young punk rock grrrl and an old woman clash and bond in a Florida college town.


FOOL MOON by Gail L. Fiorini-Jenner
When a female drifter arrives in a California Depression-era town, she becomes involved with two men—one a handsome Mexican-American, the other a wealthy landowner—and old issues of jealousy, racism and betrayed friendships surface.


TAKE-DOWN by Barbara Gaillard
When a Waco-style siege goes bad, an undercover US Marshal is blamed for the death of the militia leader’s young daughter. He must fight the system he has sworn to serve to discover the truth about what happened—before the real killer takes him down.


DIAMOND MAGIC by Paul Loeschke and Walter Bauer
A minor leaguer acquires the virtues of a voodoo charm that catapults him into a stratospheric major league career, but his personal life spins out of control.


THE HUNT by David Ullendorff
A group of American Boys in post-WWII Germany search for Hitler.


SPRING 2002 ACCLAIM TV COMPETITION--PILOT/MOW CATEGORY

WINNER
Everybody's Life by Wanda Hite-Lista Hour long drama
A young couple, mourning the death of their only daughter, mysteriously receives a thoroughbred which slowly turns their lives around.


RUNNER UP
Heaven Help Us by Dan D'Amelio MOW
A man finds out that his wife is literally an angel in disguise, put here to earn back her wings. Can he put his life back in order before the media finds out, and before she finds herself having too much fun with her date with a Harley riding Devil?


FINALISTS
Dentally Challenged by James P. Donnelly Hour long comedy
A dentist hopes to rebuild his practice after his philandering fiancee/business partner sends him to a mental hospital. He enlists the help of some old friends--his fellow patients from the psych ward!


Galaxy Kids by Ryan Harris
Half-hour animation
Six unsuspecting students of a space academy crash land on earth after an evil alien invades their world.

View Park by Angela Winters
Hour long drama
Steven Chase heads one of the wealthiest African-American families in L.A. Beneath their cool exteriors, the emotions of Chase's sons and daughters boil over as they fight outside forces (and each other) to maintain their wealth and power.

Cold Case by Lorelei Armstrong
Hour long drama
Two Chicago detectives have the dubious distinction of trying to solve the Windy City's coldest cases.


The Music Maker by Howard Rog
Hour long drama
When a songwriter kills a young female fan, he swears off the music business forever but travels the country lending his talent to budding musicians of all types.


Two Men and a Truck by Robert L. Smith
Half hour comedy
Richard and Jamall are brothers trying to make ends meet for their family in this funny urban comedy.


SEMI-FINALISTS
Timetrotters by David Dietz III
Hour long sci-fi/drama
Upon discovering a mysterious device, two high school students begin an amazing odyssey through history and the universe.


The Mile High Club by Patricia Reeds and Peter Rickards
Half hour comedy
What is a virgin doing in the Mile High Club, Denver's hottest soap opera of a health club?


Cable TV by Jack Davis
Hour long comedy
Rob Darrington loses the lifelong trust fund that has supported his eccentric lifestyle since the day he was born. Rob is forced to live with his estranged wife and takes a job for the first time in his life.


E-Z Stay Terrace by David Nemetz
Half hour comedy
Somewhere in rural America, a low-class teen runs into a newly homeless rich girl he once loved from afar. He agrees to take her in and introduces her to the raunchy and eccentric inhabitants of the trailer park he calls home.


The Indies by Lizbeth A. Finn-Arnold
Hour long drama
By working and living together, six aspiring filmmakers hope to increase their odds for making it in show business.


Virus by Eric Shaar
Half hour comedy
Virus is a mock-reality game show that follows twenty "patients" in a hospital as they compete against genetically synthesized viruses and each other for a one million dollar prize.


Gordon Heights by Rachel Dues
Hour long drama
Seven young adults come of age through trials and tribulations, triumphs and tragedies.


SPEC SCRIPT CATOGORY


WINNER
SCRUBS, “My Lame Phobia,” by Julia P. Shih
J.D.’s phobia of cheerleaders interferes with his work while Elliot deals with a victim of hazing.


RUNNER UP
SOPARANOS, “Up Yours,” by Randi Vaughan
Tony finds out how much his family, friends and associates care about him.


FINALISTS
CHARMED, “…And Paige Created Man,” by Ronnie Koenig


SIX FEET UNDER, “John Doe,” by Ursula Holloman


CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM, “The Bar Mitzvah,” by John Lawler & Ellen Hulkower


THE X-FILES, “Come Again,” by Scott Easley


SEX AND THE CITY, “A Religious Experience,” Amy Portnoy


BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER, “Where Angels Dwell,” by Nick Diaz


EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND, “The Great Divide,” Brenda Pontiff


SEMI-FINALISTS
THE PRACTICE, “Informed Consent,” by David Schapiro


JUST SHOOT ME, “Moon Over Maya,” by Helen Skantzikas


THE WEST WING, “Unbroken,” Beth Danesco


SEX AND THE CITY, “Opposite Behavior,” by John Broker


SOPRANOS, “Family Business,” by Howard Skora


THE PRACTICE, “Rights,” by Renae Manigault


FRIENDS, “The One With All The Keys,” by H. Patrick Bonner

Updated: 07/02/2002

Additional Contest Info: