Dallas Screenplay Competition Announces Contest Winners

(S)hit Squad, by Harry Hunsicker, has been announced as the winning short script to be produced and premiered at the 2022 Dallas International Film Festival.

Hunsicker is a creative writing teacher, the author of eight crime thrillers and creator of numerous short stories. His crime comedy, (S)hit Squad, will be produced by Torfoot Films' Carrie Sternberg, Event Horizon Films' Jodi Frizzell and IdeaMan Studios with legal partners, Litwin Law Group, PLLC, and The Law Office of LaToya L. Blakely. Award-winning filmmaker Johnathan Brownlee will produce, direct and develop the short film.

"Our team is dedicated to helping writers get their works developed and produced," said Johnathan Brownlee, CEO & President of Torfoot Films. "It's great to write these short and feature scripts, but you must get them made and seen by an audience and that is our ultimate goal."

Dallas Screenwriting Competition is dedicated to helping emerging writers break into the industry. Alongside Hunsicker's (S)hit Squad, the competition also recognized the award-winning work of K. Jennifer Llagan for the feature script, BFF's Never Die; Haley Dercher for the TV pilot, The Ties that Bind; and Kristy Budding for the short script, Happy Ending Retirement Home.

The competition also honored several top-quality finalists, including:

Feature Scripts
Van 59 by Brian Trotter
Scuppernongs by Lynne Ashe
Don't You Know who I am? by Izzy Mariano
The Gates by John Burr

TV Pilots
Half-Assed by Tracie Laymon
Betsy and the Emperor by Staton Rabin
Invincible by Andreas Nelander
A Family by Cid Weinberg

Shorts
Identification by Larry Collins
The Last Prophet by Christopher Celestin
Green Love by Penny Jackson
Milo & Milly by Douglas Spaltro

Each script that entered the competition was vetted by readers from the industry's top talent agencies and management companies based on strength of characterization, dialogue, theme, concept and marketability. The winning scripts were selected by three time Oscar-winner Jana Memel; Billy Kelly, veteran screenwriter of Disney's Enchanted; Disney Channel-writer Jonathan Hurwitz; and award-winning director Johnathan Brownlee.

The winning screenwriters receive a writer's enrichment cruise, professional feedback, access to industry networking platforms and festival passes.

Updated: 11/22/2021

Additional Contest Info: Dallas International Film Festival