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From Scriptapalooza to Festival Premiere

Early-career screenwriters often enter competitions as a way to gauge where their work fits within the industry.

In 2010, screenwriter Vasilios Bouzas submitted his script The Curse to several U.S.-based competitions after researching the field and identifying Scriptapalooza as a long-running and well-established program. The submission was made on March 29, 2010.

The script did not advance to the quarterfinal round, but the experience proved memorable for Bouzas. After following up with the competition regarding his submission, Contest Director Mark Andrushko responded directly.

"That gesture meant the world to me," Bouzas says. "It showed me that Mark genuinely cares about every writer who enters his competition - even complete newcomers."

For Bouzas, the response stood out less as validation than as an example of how some competitions engage with writers at early stages. "That personal touch gave me faith and confidence to continue pursuing writing," he adds.

In subsequent years, Bouzas came to view Scriptapalooza as more than a contest submission point. "They didn’t just run a competition - they helped launch my career in the industry," he says. "In many ways, they’ve been like a big brother in this business, offering feedback, answering questions, and being present when guidance was needed."

Deathkeeper
Bouzas's most recent produced work is Deathkeeper, a supernatural thriller built around a stark moral exchange:

He can save a life by touch, but doing so causes him to age.
To reverse the process, he must take a life.
The film was directed by Tristan Barr and stars Charles Cottier as Luke, alongside George Pullar as Makagor.

Worldwide sales are being handled by SC Films International (Simon Crowe).

Deathkeeper will have its world premiere at the Glasgow Film Festival – FrightFest on March 7, 2026.

Taken together, Bouzas's trajectory—from early competition submissions to a festival premiere—reflects a path familiar to many working screenwriters: incremental progress, intermittent encouragement, and long stretches of development between visible milestones.

Updated: 02/03/2026

Additional Contest Info: Scriptapalooza Features & Shorts Competition

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