The following screenplays are the Top 30% Feature Screenplay Semi-Finalists, Top 40% Feature Screenplay Quarter-Finalists, Top 30% Short Screenplay Semi-Finalists, and Top 50% Short Screenplay Quarter-Finalists for the 2026 FilmQuest Best Un-produced Screenplay Competition. The Pilots were right near the top, placing in at least the Top 50% Long Form Pilots and Top 50% Short Form Pilots. We are honored to recognize these talented writers and screenplays. While these screenplays are not Finalists or formal Official Selections, they are all worthy of further attention and praise. If you would like to find out more about the screenplays for potential production opportunities, please feel free to reach out and we will put you in contact with the writers.
Feature Screenplay Semi-Finalists (Top 30%) (listed alphabetically)
A Strange Town by James David Ingalls
Adventures in Serial Killing by Jack Warner
Blood 4 Blood by Richard B. Pierre
Crapshoot at Darkness Falls by Adam Scamvougeras & Anton Scamvougeras
Dead Moon Night by Charles John Von Potthoff
Don Hustle by Josh Kirk
Hacked by Jonathan Ruppert & Toby Osborne
HOA by Michael Ferrara
Keep Your Powder Dry! by Cinque Lee
Luz by Kieran Shea & David Osorio
Murder, Darling by Matteo Wolfwood
Only Evil Lives by Jackson Roberts
Our Little Block Universe by Nicholas Vlahos-Sten
Pieces of You by Jack Warner
Quantum Highway by Stu Webster
Recess by Matthew Valvardi
Sanquis Septem by Carpice Castano
Schisma by Cameron A. Straughan
Shadow Self by Tom Zimmerman
Square Grouper by Jonathan Levy & Danny Erickson
Tender Young Creatures by Emily Brubaker
The Favorite by Steven Raney
The Finality of the Infinite by Nick Leigh Etie
The Head of John the Baptist by Juan Coello Hollebecq
The Kessler Report by Julie Lilly-Belote & Paul Beckwith
The Kite and the Stone by Kazimiera Szyperski
The Person You Were Before by Mark Jonathan Landau & Ali Reza Tafreshi
The Red, White, and Boom by Hymnson Chan
The Vacuum We Return To by Tsung-Long Wu
The Wanderers by Gary Reimer
The Winter of King Henry by Alec Klusza & Emily Cerutti
This Machine Loves You by Michael Ray LeGrande
Untethered by AJ Sykes
Within These Walls by Adan A. Fuentes
Yulecide by Alisa Stern
Feature Screenplay Quarter-Finalists (Top 40%) (listed alphabetically)
Alice and The Land of Wonder by Danielle R. Erlich
Beyond the Yellow Brick Road by J.M. Sorensen
Bigfoot Trophy Hunters by Dean Alioto
Bloodroot by Alyssa Malloy
Cetacean by Lee Ross
Cloud Zero by Julie Lilly-Belote, Michael Shultz & Duance Humeyestewa
Cold Dead Fingers by Jack Warner
Dead East: Patient Zero 1918 by Paul Alan Gober
Do You Know Your Name by Judah Ray
Emo Kids vs. The Lizard Mayor by Lyndsey Morgan Anderson
Gehenna by Aizen Malki
Getting Even Steven by Jeff Bassetti
Inerrant by Paul Sliwinski
It’s Hard Not to be Romantic About Time Travel by Michael Charron
Janus by Kristin Ilagen
Killjoy by Joe Day
Merlin’s Magic Ride by The Burbank Brothers
New Spark by Michael Smallwood
Peter, Liminal by Jamie Parslow
Porter Rockwell and the Mark of Cain by Kohl Glass
Shunned by Donnalyn Vojta
Siamese Dream by Johnny Coffeen
So Long ‘Fishies’ by Lara Genovese
Synestia by Michael Dougals Tuthill & Julie Ellizabeth Kashamnian
The Contestant by Nicholas Payne Santos
The Ladies Improvement Society by Rachel Thomas-Medwid
The Last Trick by Heath Papkov
The Uncredited Feature Screenplay by Nicholas Burchard
Urges by Aaron Alexander Bergen
What the Devil Fears by Lee Copeland
White Coat by Josh Kirk
Short Screenplay Semi-Finalists (Top 30%) (listed alphabetically)
(it’s giving) Shower Head by Jonathan Riles
Afterimage by Kurt Choate
American Values by Ryan Mekenian
Bloody Ruthless by Michelle Campbell
Cherry by Christopher Rogers
Classification: Human by Michael H. Moore
Coventry Carol by Matilda Szydagis
Cytokine Storm Chasers by Patrick JT Flanagan
Double Double by Eric Swiz
Dover by Nathan D. Ludwig & Jonathan Straiton
Felehuhuni by Tevita T. Livai
Final Draft by Michael H. Moore
Harvest Room by Michelle Campbell
Horse Girl by Zac Taylor
Lo Que Florece (What Blooms) by Alycya Magaña
Node 0: The Anchor by Zhixi Liu
Not There by Jenny Popovich
Party Hard by Andrew Stussie
Podcasters Don’t Die by R.S. Tiemstra
Radio Contact by Kevin Machate
Rebrand by Tammy L Klein
Second Choice by Shaun Foley
That’s ‘Nuff by Cynthia He
Thaw by Jim McGee, Rebekah Otis & Zach Stone
The Ballad of B9-G by Ari Donnelly
Short Screenplay Quarter-Finalists (Top 50%) (listed alphabetically)
A Huge F*cking Spider! by Shane Thompson
Big Bad Wolf by Chris Donald Griffin
Don’t Wake Up the House by Hunter Wayne
Electa by Kenny Kistner
Foundling by Adam William Galassi
Gay Panic by Christopher W. Lawrie
Iterference by Kevin Machate
Linked by Dion Aralihalli
Little Shoes by Kinan Kotrash
Passenger by Evan Neill
Phil’s Diner by James Abroms
Pruned by Narmar Hanna
Speed Bump by Lynda Hilliker
Summer by Robert Fitl & Lee Taylor
The Anatomy Lesson by John Hintz
The Door Is Locked by Rafael De Leon Jr.
The Leak by Sabina Friedman Seitz
The Negative by Nouha Benjelloun
They Come at Night by Tony Archer
Under the Room by Kurt Choate
Pilots – Long Form Semi-Finalists (Top 50%) (listed alphabetically)
Báthory by Brenna N. Penrod
Godhood by Walter Maduro
Heartline by Michael H. Moore
High Strangeness by Kristin Noriega
Jackrabbit by David Schlow
Lineage by Michael Crews
Somewhere Out There by Patrick Brady
Tell Me About It by Jack Maxwell
The Lost Tribe of Shaolin by David Todd Ocvirk
Whistler’s Bend by Alex Furnas
Will I Never by William Paul Clayton
Pilots – Short Form Semi-Finalists (Top 50%) (listed alphabetically)
A Wizard Did It by Stirling McLaughlin & Wilder Konschak
Athryn and the Errant Worlds by Samuel T. Weston
R.I.P. Inc. by Harim Sanchez
The Bristlecones by Nick Jerry Garrett
Zaug, Slayer of Joy by Matthew Moen
