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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.The film was directed by Tristan Barr and stars Charles Cottier as Luke, alongside George Pullar as Makagor.
To reverse the process, he must take a life.
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
ScriptLinks
Post Your Script Here!Untouchable!
A blonde bombshell in stainless steel becomes a femme fatale, a relentless tiger with razor-sharp-toothed-pen spilling blood across the pages leaving nowhere, for the perpetrators of the nation's greatest corporate crime to turn or hide - no 'out'.
THE FAT LADY SINGS
When a small time private investigator gets a chance at the big time taking on a prominent politician’s wife’s case; neither realizes they are in way over their heads, the political party has been shadowing her, and will do anything to protect her husband, a presumed future presidential candidate.
PORTAL TO HELL
In the beginning of the 1980’s a teenage boy starts to experience paranormal activity in his home, from hallucinations to physical marks.
CURRENCY
An idealistic police officer takes on the dangerous task of escorting millions of dollars in cash to fund his child's life-saving surgery.
HALLUCINATIONS
An ambitious astronaut, determined to prove his revolutionary rocket pack, partners with a powerful corporation in a perilous race to the Moon to recover their stolen bonds —only to discover an AI-driven conspiracy that turns his ambition into survival.
THE JACKPOT
A remorseful getaway driver races to claim a deceased hostage’s winning lottery ticket before it expires, while pursued by a vengeful accomplice and a corrupt parole officer intent on ending his second chance.
The Imbalance TV Series Season 1
Best friends Sally and Celeste dive back into acting after years away, only to discover the industry — and life — are more ridiculous than ever.
Nina and Flossie
Three European sisters, in their 70's, scheme to dump a dead body that the eldest shot in the middle of the night as a result of a break-in.
Psycho-Hearts
A world-class heart transplant surgeon is an absolute magician at finding compatible hearts for wealthy clients.
Psychotic USA
A dramedy. A razor-sharp satiric view of the laughable state of modern psychiatric treatment as seen through the lens of four patients in an asylum.
