Video Contests, Film Festivals, and Awards

The Austin Film Festival (AFF) has announced its 2011 Screenplay and Teleplay Competition winners. A record number of over 5,800 submissions were received this year and the Finalists were reviewed by an industry jury including: Jim Herzfeld (screenwriter, Meet the Parents, Meet the Fockers), Alvaro Rodriguez (screenwriter, Machete, Shorts), Herschel Weingrod (producer, Falling Down and screenwriter, Trading Places, Twins, and Kindergarten Cop), Noah Hawley (showrunner, "My Generation" and executive producer, "The Unusuals"), Kyle Killen (showrunner, "Lonestar" and the upcoming "Awake"), and Peter Murrieta (showrunner and creator, "Wizards of Waverly Place" and "Hope and Faith").

The following winners were selected by category:

* Drama Screenplay: Dion Cook - "Cutter"
* Comedy Screenplay: Max Taxe - "Goodbye, Felix Chester"
* Latitude Productions Screenplay Award: Adam Gyngell and Fred Fernandez-Armesto - "Deep Burial" (This award is sponsored by Los Angeles-based motion picture production company Latitude Productions, which was founded by company President Curtis Burch.)
* Dark Hero Studios Sci-Fi Award: Lemuel James, "Melissa's Kaleidoscope" (This award is sponsored by Dark Hero Studios, a new production company co-founded by company President David Hayter)
* One-Hour Teleplay Pilot: Patrick Kevin Day and Andrew Hanson - "Haunted"
* Sitcom Teleplay Pilot: Matthew Kellard - "Back to Normal"
* One-Hour Teleplay Spec: James Bogdanksi - Boardwalk Empire: "This Side of Paradise"
* Sitcom Teleplay Spec: Tracy Reilly - Curb Your Enthusiasm: "Spic 'N' Span"

In its 18-year history, the AFF Screenplay and Teleplay Competition has served to jumpstart many writing careers. In the competition's first year, screenplay competition winner Max Adams' script Excess Baggage was optioned by Columbia and made into a film starring Alicia Silverstone and Benicio Del Toro. Matthew Federman and Stephen Scaia, 2003 Drama Teleplay Winners, began careers in writing for TV after their trip to Austin in 2003. The pair has written for shows including CBS' "Judging Amy," ABC's "E-ring," and the entire run of "Jericho." Rachel Long and Brian Pittman's 2008 Semifinalist script Stranded was recently acquired in 2010 by Enderby Entertainment (Daniel Petrie, Jr. and Rick Dugdale's production company). The project is currently in pre-production with Petrie set to direct. Julie Howe, 2010 Comedy Screenplay Award Winner for Jasper Milliken, signed an exclusive deal with Experience Media Studios after last year's Conference through a contact from an AFF judge and panelist. This week the producers of the film have officially signed on veteran director Jonathan Lynn (My Cousin Vinny, The Whole Nine Yards) to helm the film. Shooting will being in the second quarter of 2012.

Resources:

www.austinfilmfestival.com