First, the entire staff here at Scriptmatix wants to thank the record number of students who participated this screenplay contest season.
Scriptmatix is well-known for our quality support of filmmakers in the past, and we decided to change our approach to screenplay contests this year as we pivot the company. The Student Filmmaker Spotlight has now completed its first screenplay contest season ever, and we’re thrilled with the results. It’s the students who are the storytellers of tomorrow, and it’s our mission to help each and every one of you get your story into the world.
There’s a global shift happening right now, and filmmakers are being impacted. We’re leading the technological charge with AI screenwriting tools like Scriptmatix Story Engine, and aim to lead the change that is necessary so that each of you has the resources you need to get your stories seen, heard, and shared with the marketplace.
To celebrate our first-ever Student Filmmaker Spotlight, we gave away analysis (free of charge) to all students who participated and gave some extra giveaways to all who placed in this screenplay contest. We had over 700 entries in our first season (amazing!). So if you were selected, congrats. If you weren’t, this is just the beginning of a prosperous road for all of us.
Before you rush to see the results, our Founder & CEO Mikhael Bassilli wants to share some words with you:
Screenplay contests will never be the same again. We do not believe that screenplay contests – as they have been – are functional any longer.
There’s a sensible and ethical approach to it that we will be upholding going forward. As a filmmaker and executive who has been there and done that, I’ve seen scripts that won but couldn’t get made, and I’ve seen scripts that couldn’t place in a contest get produced.
Where you place in a contest doesn’t matter anymore. Period. What matters is that you have the drive and confidence to put your work into the world. Everything we do here at Scriptmatix is focused on giving you, the screenwriter and filmmaker, the ability to put your art into the world without having to be crushed under the pressure of raising 6- or 7-figure budgets.
I’ll venture to say that the screenplay marketplace won’t exist in a couple of years — and that’s good news. Why? Because the tools to make a prototype or an audio/visual representation of your story will be available to you… and we’ll be releasing those tools for you to use in the coming months. It’s an exciting time for you, and I can only encourage you to keep writing and creating the stories that tell your truth and inspire others. Your talent is on display, and your ability to share with the world is here. Don’t wait, just create. – MB
SCREENPLAY CONTEST RESULTS
The winner of this season’s Student Filmmaker Spotlight is Theo Siver for “The Fate of the Screenwriter.” This is a brilliant dark — yet comedic — piece about a screenwriter who receives his flowers from the afterlife. Poetic, timely, and we simply loved it. Theo is going to connect with a manager shortly, as well as get VIP access to our Studio Composer beta where he’ll be supported in the production of this project.
Below are our selections. Remember, all winners and selections are totally subjective (don’t let any contests try and convince you that anything is objective… it’s not). Screenplay contests are not some objective measure of quality… they are based on the tastes and sensibilities of the Scriptmatix staff. Congratulations to all of you.
| TITLE | Last Name | First Name |
| 28 DAYS INSIDE | Kumar | Harshit |
| A Novel Arrangement | Downing | Madeleine |
| A RIGHT TO FREEDOM. | Allan | Wamala |
| All About Hana | Neeman | Doron |
| ANTS | Wool | nich |
| Blossom City Blues | Nguyen | Minh |
| Bruno | Botha | Hanu |
| Certain moments | Silva | P.H |
| Clipped wings | Habibi | Mostafa |
| Come Sunrise – Short Screenplay | Vasion | Ben |
| Conviction | Iljina | Lilija |
| Dance with the Dealer | Blackie | Adam |
| Dancing in Chains | Habibi | Mostafa |
| DANGEROUS NEIGHBORHOOD | Yahyapaşa | Kağan |
| Dapper | Johnson | Chris |
| Dealing with Death | Smilgainis | Valters |
| Dinner With Diseases | Ramabu | Ruby |
| EMERGENCY CALL. | Allan | Wamala |
| End the Dream:Part.I | Liu | Harry |
| ESTER: Pilot | Riverton | JT |
| ETHER | Scott | Samarie |
| Flowers | Guerrero | Matt |
| for me or for you | Shafiei dehaghani | Zahra |
| Full Grown | Edwards | Charlie |
| Funny Cemetery | Caayupan | Sherry |
| Half… | Shafiei dehaghani | Zahra |
| Hall Pass | de Anda | Charlotte |
| Hayfever Script | Telnack | Valerie |
| He’s Doing well | Roche | Dalian |
| Horrors of The Bike trail | Sabala | Tyler |
| How the socks hurried to the birthday party | Andre | Sizov |
| Insomnia | Farzolahi | Majid |
| Into the Ring | Martinez | Matthew |
| ITS HAPPENING. | Allan | Wamala |
| Jeremy and his Toilet | Kozlov | Kostiantyn |
| Jugin | Carlton | Devian |
| Lake Shore Drive | Oyer | Sean |
| Leaving Soon | None | Kai kai life |
| Lia’s Lens | Drucker | Tomi |
| Lilia | ritchie | jenna |
| Lira and Cruz | Mowen | Yang |
| Love, Unfiltered | Lowery | Kam |
| Mills | Downing | Madeleine |
| Mina and Nadine | S. | Winifred |
| NECRONOMICON | Lassi | Sophia |
| Neurodivergent Society | Strickland | Esabella |
| Never’s Treasure | Riverton | JT |
| next world war | poursabah | daniel |
| Ode To Lucas | Kimmel | Mady |
| One Day on the Island | Reis | S. |
| Organica | Telnack | Valerie |
| peephole | goodwin | j. edward |
| pinky | Javan | Inaz |
| Playing Opossum | hanlan | rhiannon |
| POLITICAL TRAGEDY. | Allan | Wamala |
| Royal Blood | McMillen | Lexie |
| Rust | Dougherty | Julia |
| Rutherford Academy | Cooke | Charisse |
| Sedentary | km | shira |
| SENDING ME TO THE CLOUDS | Shixue Zhang | Ada |
| SESAM·∫∏ | None | Joseph DiMare |
| Shopping at the end of the world | Javan | Inaz |
| Slash Thrashem Tells All | Bennett | Colton |
| Slaughterhouse for Five: A Child’s Crusade | Briggs | Jakob |
| Stars | Cannon | Abigail |
| System Error | Wu | Fiona (Yubai) |
| The Call | Farzolahi | Majid |
| The Confession | Pal | Sayambhu |
| The Cry Between Walls | Bahmani | Behyad |
| The Deadtectives | Allen | Samuel |
| The Fallen Wings of the Angels | Martinez | Mario |
| the hands | poursabah | daniel |
| THE MALL. | Allan | Wamala |
| The Path of Yeumi | Roe | Vivienne |
| The Post NIC YOU Inspirational | (My-low) Milow-Russell | Dijon |
| The Retreat | Brant | Mikhail |
| The Secret Chamber of El Dorado (Pilot) | Thompson | AJ |
| The Unfamiliar Grandfather | Huang | Yingliang |
| The Unlucky Charm | Mingoia | Matthew |
| Union | Briggs | Jakob |
| Unique | melo | ana eliza |
| UNILATERAL | Selo | Peter |
| Unsolved Problem | cao | Doris |
| Vaudeville! | Maultsbu | Claire |
| WAR LIFE | Kumar | Harshit |
| What never was? | Sajadi | Rana |
| Where The Stars Meet | Martin | Benjamin |
| Who am i | None | Allahabadi dost |
| WIDOW’S HOUSE. | Allan | Wamala |
| Wooden man | Farzolahi | Majid |
| World Of Hurt | Lavigne | Ethan |
| Zigzag | zamany | siavash |
On a final note, please check out Story Engine, the world’s most powerful ai screenwriting software. To take your screenwriting to the next level, join the 14-day First Draft Challenge where you will be challenged to write a TV or Feature screenplay in 14 days alongside Mikhael Bassilli, our CEO/Founder, and a producer/writer/director and executive at Media Artists Group the agency. It’s a great opportunity to get involved, connect with others, and be amongst the first in our community.
I also urge all of you to join our Discord community. This is where you can make requests for new analysis types. We want to build free analysis tools for you so that you can up your game, turn your projects into top-tier content, and then produce it through our platform. Our long game is to invest in you. So please join, invite your friends from filmschool, screenwriting groups, or online forums. We’re here to support you!
BE BLESSED!
