UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television’s Professional Programs has revealed the winners of its 2023 Feature Screenplay, Television Pilot and Acting for the Camera Pitch competitions.
The winners are determined by a panel of industry experts and UCLA alumni. The first-place laureates in each category were awarded $1,000 in recognition of their achievements.
Rashel Mereness is the Advanced Competition winner. Mereness astounded with her supernaturally charged comedy, The Scottish Play. In it, a heroic young woman fights against otherworldly entities to save her mother’s beloved small-town community theater when she discovers there is a curse on one of Shakespeare’s most revered plays.
Ellen Lichius was the Screenwriting Competition winner for her comedy-drama Sarasota. This heartfelt narrative follows a woman whose world is turned upside down when she discovers her husband in a compromising position. In a bold move, she trades her antidepressants for tequila, accepts an ex-boyfriend’s holiday invitation and stumbles upon the possibility of reignited love.
Mariah ‘Moe’ Guillmette was the Television Drama Pilot Competition winner with her gripping drama Night Shift. The series introduces viewers to an ex-con and a trust fund baby who, in a fateful twist, murder a police officer and transform into vigilantes with the aid of a teenage drug dealer. They unravel a vast corruption network while outsmarting a tenacious rookie detective.
Charmaine Colina was the Writing for Television Comedy Pilot Competition winner with the comedy Austentatious, a playful comedy steeped in literary charm. It takes audiences on a journey with an English professor who unexpectedly finds herself in the era of Jane Austen, where she must dismantle Austen’s engagement to safeguard her invaluable literary legacy.
Jonathan Inman was the Acting for the Camera Pitch Competition winner with his dark comedy The Midsingles Ward. The narrative examines the trials and tribulations of a group of Mormon singles navigating their faith and culture in their 30s and 40s, uniquely presented from the perspective of a grieving gay member mourning his lost love.
The event also awarded honorable mentions to the following promising talents:
Michael Alter, for his action/drama Boomerang, in the Screenwriting Competition. Boomerang follows Captain Kip Takamuri as he survives his fall off the catwalk of his B-24 bomber over Lille, France. As Takamuri attempts to escape back to England, love pulls him to stay and continue to fight with the French Resistance.
Forrest Love, for his enthralling drama City of Roses, in the Writing for Television Drama Pilot Competition. Oregon Bureau of Investigation’s only African-American female special agent struggles to get her brother out of prison while investigating her best friend’s murder, bringing the Portland Police Bureau to its knees.
Eva Holman, for her comedic My Third Cult, in the Writing for Television Comedy Pilot Competition. My Third Cult follows a clueless woman as she pursues her dream of being a barista while wrestling with basic life skills now that she is finally on her own.
Fozhan Khamsehpour, for her touching drama Talk Soon, in the Acting for the Camera Pitch Competition. The drama explores the unconventional bond between a girl with a sheltered upbringing and a prisoner when they meet through a pen pal website.