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Virginia Film Office Announces 2002 Governor's Screenwriting Competition Winners

RICHMOND, VA — The Virginia Film Office announced the three winners of the eleventh Governor's Screenwriting Competition. They are Rebecca Rogers from Orange and Rex Bowman and Laura Scott, both of Roanoke.

The Governor’s Screenwriting Competition was created to celebrate the accomplishments of Virginia writers, as well as to promote the future of filmmaking in Virginia. It provides screenwriters with a forum for their work and an opportunity to present their scripts to decision-makers in the film industry. Each writer submits a full length screenplay or television script to be evaluated by a panel of Virginia judges. Finalists from the first round of judging are then sent on to a second panel comprised of active professionals in the film or television industry.

Rex Bowman is a reporter for the Richmond Times Dispatch covering Southwest Virginia. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Maryland, and former Russian Translator for the US Air Force, he grew up in Roanoke where he currently lives. His screenplay, “Otis Mooney’s Resurrection” is a bluegrass comedy set in Virginia’s Appalachian region. Laura Scott was a fashion and pubishing entrepreneur in Toronto, Cananda before moving to Roanoke with her husband where she worked in marketing and communications before taking a sabbatical to write. Her winning entry, “Brigid’s Wake” tells the story of Brigid Conway, a healthy 49-year old woman who, adrift in the year after her beloved husband’s death, decides to plan her own funeral. Rebecca Scott was born and raised in Virginia and received a BA in Dramatic Arts from Mary Washington College. After ten years acting in commercials and Off-Boradway in New York, she returned home to attend the Masters program at Regent University in Virginia Beach. Her screenplay, “Chincoteague Run” tells the sotry of a New York City social worker who witnesses a drug deal with a young inner-city kid. They both flee to Chincoteague Island to escape both the police and the drug dealers.

Eighty-five screenplays were submitted to the competition and ten finalists were selected to go to the second round of judging. In addition to the winners, the finalists were: D. Kirk Richardson. Richmond; David Rachels, Lexington; Christopher Delli CArpini, Arlington; Felicia Ansty, Alexandria; Douglas Smith, Virginia Beach; Ann McLauchlin, Mindlothian.

The Governor’s Screenwriting Competition is held annually and is open to Virginia residents. The majority of the script must take place in Virginia or at locations which could reasonably be found in Virginia. For further information on the competition contact the Film Office at (800) 854-6233, or visit the Film Office website at www.film.virginia.org.

WINNERS

Brigid's Wake
Ms. Laura Scott
Roanoke


Brigid Conway, a healthy 49-year-old woman adrift in the year after her beloved husband's death, decides to plan her own funeral.

Otis Mooney's Resurrection
Mr. Rex Bowman
Roanoke


Otis Mooney's Resurrection is a bluegrass comedy set in Virginia’s Appalachian region. It tells the story of an aging and dying convict who returns to his hometown from prison, vowing to rise from the dead if the townsfolk will place his coffin in the middle of Main Street. What folks don't know is that Otis Mooney has something more interesting in mind than mere resurrection.

Chincoteague Run
Ms. Rebecca Rogers
Orange


Francis Foster is a feisty NYC social worker who doesn't play by the rules. If you don't play by the rules in the Bronx, people get hurt. Frannie and her charge, Travis Cooper, a big mouth, inner-city kid, too smart for his own good, witness a drug deal gone wrong. Now, they must escape the drug lord and the cops, as they flee to Chincoteague Island, a place known for nothing but its beautiful rugged landscapes and a bunch of wild ponies. Here Frannie finds it's not too hard to come "back home" after all.

FINALISTS

Meredith's Wish
Ms. Felicia Ansty
Alexandria


Career woman Meredith Montgomery was on her way to the top. Only one more account to secure and the vice-presidency and all her career goals were within her grasp. There was only one problem: her prospective client would only deal with married women and Meredith was decidedly single. She needed a man, and fast. Enter Jim, a genie who lives in her cell phone with a career agenda of his own and his life at stake. As both human and mystical forces conspire against them, Meredith and Jim discover that when true love and magic collide, anything can happen.

What Are Friends For?
Mr. Baron Blakley
Sandston


Rick leads a double life as a violent criminal whose closest companions are his lifelong, law-abiding friends. When a tragic chain of events slam his two worlds together and friends on both sides of the law cut down around him, Rick must decide where his true loyalties lie.

Distinguished Service
Mr. Christopher Delli Carpini
Arlington


Once he was a decorated veteran, but now he's just a bum on the street. When he stumbles upon a murdered bicycle courier, he's inspired to make some quick cash by impersonating the courier and making his deliveries. The money doesn't come easy, though, especially with an organized-crime thug out to intercept a certain package in the courier's bag. But in making his rounds our new courier does aquire the dignity that comes from doing a good job well -- something he didn't know how much he missed. By the end of the day, he’s ready to give his life for the job that gave him a reason to live.

Out of Focus
Ms. Anne McLaughlin
Midlothian


Public Defender Charlie Dormont witnesses a murder that never happened, then escapes a bullet from his girlfriend's kidnapper. Tying the two events together, he must change his perception of the most important people he knows in order to save his own life. But can a man who sees only the good in people really understand the evil that comes so easily to others?

Bowzer
Mr. David Rachels
Mr. Kurt Ayau
Lexington


Phillip Jenkins, an affable 30-something psychiatrist, is a man on a mission. Holding out against the encroachment of the rapacious Tender Loving Care, Inc., the largest HMO in Virginia, he treats the angry children of Richmond with his specialty: counting therapy. Faced with bankruptcy as the HMO takes increasingly more patients from him, Phillip believes he has been saved when his rich Uncle Cedric dies, but Cedric has left Phillip only one thing: an English Bulldog named Bowzer. Thinking that Uncle Cedric is playing a joke from beyond the grave and that the dog must be some kind of movie-esque test, Phillip accepts Bowzer and finds he has gotten much more he bargained for. The soccer-loving, beer-guzzling bulldog can talk, and when he opens his sometimes foul mouth, he turns Phillip's life upside down, with implications for his love life, his career, and the treatment of Richmond's angry children.

Bite the Hand
Mr. D. Kirk Richardson
Richmond


A fast food restaurant crew hijacks their restaurant and sells everything for themselves.

Once to Every Man
Mr. Douglas Smith
Virginia Beach


Two foreigners arrive at a train station in the Shenandoah Valley, 1920: the Reverend Peter Denby, a man bearing news of a paradise beyond the stars; and George Preston, a man bent on selling his paradise under the stars. Each claims his own from the "Daughter of the Stars" until the government seizes her by eminent domain.

Updated: 11/22/2002

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