Before we announce the semifinalists, we’re very excited to announce that everyone who submitted their work helped WeScreenplay raise $3,096 for the ARRAY! Founded by Ava DuVernay, Array is an independent film distribution and resource collective comprised of artist advocacy organizations, and maverick volunteers worldwide. Their work is dedicated to the amplification of independent films by people of color and women filmmakers globally. Since Diverse Voices has launched in 2016 we’ve raised nearly $20,000 for charity.
The mission of Diverse Voices is to encourage stories that are told from perspectives that are often underrepresented in Hollywood today. This includes writers of color, women writers, writers with disabilities, writers over 40, writers in the LGBTQ+ community, and any other voices that have historically been ignored by Hollywood.
There were many talented writers who did not advance. The competition was fierce and just because a project may not have advanced doesn’t at all mean that it isn’t a fantastic story. In fact, we’re certain that some scripts not advancing will bring their writer success in the very near future.
We also want to extend a sincere congratulations to the writers who are advancing. If you are advancing it means that after two reads, your judges agreed that this is a stand our story that needs to be told. Please make sure to congratulate these writers on the Facebook announcement and Twitter announcement — they deserve it!
Finally, click here to receive a notification via Coverfly when Diverse Voices re-opens later in the year.
And now, the Diverse Voices Semifinalists:
A Note from an Old Acquaintance | Bill Walker |
A Turban & A Beard | Jaskaran Singh |
Aces | Derrick Vaughan |
Adulting | Suhashini Krishnan |
Ahura | Atefeh Nouri |
Ajay Wants a Circumcision | Arvin Crowell |
All The Way Happy | Melinda Hicks |
American Psyche | Richard Nguyen & Vinita Mehta |
Amok | Leanne Mangan |
Another Day | Norman Hill |
Another Gay Laramie Romance | Richard Morell |
Arranged | Felicia Ho |
Badass | Kelly Beck-Byrnes |
Bark Club | Kathleen Eccles |
Better Left Unsaid | Laurie Mona |
Bill | Lucas Miller |
Black and Blue | LaKesa Cox |
Black Boys Learn To Speak No Evil | Ali Askari |
Black White Blue | Murry Peeters |
Blessed | Nick Ellis |
Blood Sisters | Jasmin Tenucci |
Blue Comedy | Vincent Accettola |
Book of Morgan | Darla Phillips |
Breaker Cats | Reynard Alli &. Patrick Foy |
Caledonia | Daniel Snoddy |
Camden | Valesca Van Rees |
Captain C! | John Paul Su |
Cards to Die For | Derrick Coy |
Carpe Diem | Peter Gazdag |
Catching the Bus | Rebecca Wackler & Eddie Levi Lee |
Changing Views | Kari Mote |
Chenille | Amy Pankenier |
Cherry Hill Blues | Shay Ball |
Circle of Illumination | Trisha DiFazio |
Cold and burning | Daniela Rodrigues-Henry |
Conundrums Loop | Sam C.y. Yu |
Corportate: The Musical | Kerry Ann Reid |
Cost of Austin | Jocelyn Manns & Ryan Manns |
Cultured | Eddie Leavy |
Danika Brewster | Heather Spiegel |
Death Cult | Peter Gazdag |
Derobees | Myra Taylor |
Desert Eyes | Michael Kallal |
Disenfranchised | Edith Cheng |
Disfluency | Anna Baumgarten |
Dragonfly | Julia Morizawa |
Dream | Trevin Hartwell |
Emergency | Nicole Shante White |
Emery | Tanya Lemke |
Every Inch a King | Kristina Poe |
Exposed | Martina Chaconas |
Fabulosity | Jesse Klein |
Fempires | Michelle Gilson |
First Gem | Kim Tran |
Flying Lessons | Sarah Waldron |
For Pete’s Sake | Katterina Powers |
Forbearance | Sophia Castuera |
Freedom Soldier | Armelle Lajus |
Freefall | Denise Meyers |
From the Wilderness | Christina Tucker |
Funny Accent | Barbara Shulgasser-Parker |
Game Life | Odin Ozdil |
Gbenga | Adesola Thomas |
Ghettocyrano | Marcia McNair |
Girl Trouble | Devi Snively |
Goodbye Iraq | Anonymous |
Got Your Back | Katy Dore |
Growing Up Crazy | Peters Jane |
Gun, Fire | Miriam Rahimi-Cholensky |
Harold’s Harbor | Kyle de Villafane |
Heaven | Oleguer Homs |
Henrietta | Harry Aspinwall |
Hex | Joey Capuana |
Holding On To You | Anich D’Jae |
Homegrown | Ahmed Glover |
Hush, Little Baby | Sh’Kia Augustin |
In Eden | Holly Beck |
Incarnations | Albert M. Chan |
Jackpot | Christina Ye Rim Jun |
Jackrabbit | David Schlow |
June In Autumn | Wendy Okoi-Obuli |
Lady Mozart | Michelle Sarkany |
Life Forces | Marcia Buhler |
Little Black Doll | Danielle Holman |
Long Haul | William Welles |
Loop | Steve Miranda |
Lords of the Second Sphere | Angela Jorgensen |
Love’s Story | Estefania Pineres |
Luna | Dana Verde |
M-otherland | Emily Ross |
Mad City | Amelia Swedeen |
Malick | Armelle Lajus |
Marred | Dallas Rico |
Master of Ceremonies | Lane Lyle |
Matriarchs | Tiffany Black |
Meet Me in a Dark Alley | Jessy Lauren Smith |
Men in the Water | Kathleen Caslin |
Men Who Love ME | Monica Lucas |
Mermaid Slayers | Tiana Warner & Stephanie Warner |
Michigan in Me | Mark Rashid |
Mischa | Darko Antic |
Mission Colle | Jasmine Leyva |
Mizrahi’s Party Palace | Lindsey Dier |
Modernists of Matchbook Art | Calvin Beckett |
Mommin’ Ain’t Easy | Imani Lukunku |
Monique Kelly Investigates | Christopher Aronsten |
Morning Glory | William R. Winston |
Mosaic Blues | Danielle Tillman |
Motel Verse | Dallas Rico |
My Father’s Dream | Iyanna Terrell |
Nancy Boys | Nicholas Fernandes |
Need To Time Travel? | Michael Kuya |
Ness | Elizabeth Pfeiffer |
New Deal Road | Mark Rashid |
Nobody Gives a F**k | Valeri Lilov |
NOVA: First Flight | Rachel Farrell Fischer |
On Tour | Jocelyn Manns & Ryan Manns |
Once Upon Ever After | Wendy Okoi-Obuli |
Orphan Brotherhood | Celina Dobson |
Outlaws | J Stifle |
Over It | Joy Goodwin |
Pachuke | Kendra Arimoto |
Passing Ships | Andrew Quailes |
Patient No More | Mugs Cahill |
Peculiar Animals | Obiageli Odimegwu |
Petty Crime | Helen Yenser |
Phallacy | Tasha Cerny |
Pharma | Dori Zavala |
Polaroid | Erica Mountain |
Prae For The Dead | Ryan Porter |
Praise to the Man | Drew Toop |
Prosperous | Jorge Zuniga |
Quicksand | Jennifer Bianchi |
Racket | Adam Sleper |
Red Flag | Suzanne Slack-Smith |
Redcoats on the Hudson | Carole Ryavec |
Robert Smalls | John Harris |
Rubber Room | Jason Nieves |
Sanctified | Bryan Days |
Santa Claus Incorporated | Arun Narayanan |
Savage | David Schlow |
Saved | Julian Renner |
Scuppernongs | Lynne Ashe |
Seen, Unseen | Anita Palathingal |
Self-Help Me! | Carolyn Tetaz & Charlie Turner |
Sex & Death | Thomas Thonson |
She Touched Me | Timothy fFolsome |
Show Me the Heat | Richard Pacia |
Sinclair | Teresa Duran |
Sins of Our Fathers | J Stifle |
Sister Rosalee Jones | Asya Perkins |
Skin | David Chang |
Small Kine – 1X01 | Samuel Nuñez |
Space Homey | William Maxwell |
Steve | Jay Furby |
Str8 to the Altar | Devin Lotfi |
Strange Magic | Wendy Urrico |
Street Lights | Terrence Thompson |
Stretched: A Year Inside | jamal dedeaux |
Student Body | Helen Yenser |
Stuffed | Laurie Magers |
Sundown | Maggie Colligan, Jessica Cloud & Patrick Gough |
Super Hot Girl | Margaret Kaminski |
T&T Power | Arthur Glenn |
Ten Daze in LA | David Aguilar |
That Sister Thang | Dale Winton & Lindiwe Mueller-Westernhagen |
That’s Our Girl | Dante Orange |
The Accessory | Joe Borg |
The Apostle | John Martins III |
The Birdhouse Maker | Dale Janda |
The Bullring | Luke Garza |
The Canary Code | Suzanne Mattson |
The Choice Image | Richard Winzeler |
The Consumed | Dania Bennett |
The Cost of Liberty | Stacy McDonald |
The Cowbird | Keith and Cassie Hayasaka |
The Delivery | Gil Seltzer |
The Forgotten Skeleton | Dilpreet Kaur Walia |
The Fourth Psalm | John Martins III |
The Girl in the Navy Blue Sweater | Laura Carrione |
The Harvest | Doua Moua |
The Homestudy | Derek Nicoletto |
The Kidnap | LaTorie Martin & Shane Mcclendon |
The Late Night Creep | jamal dedeaux |
The Lobbyist | Brent Lewis |
The M&M Boys | Gino DeMarco |
The Muckrakers | Luis de Leon |
The Myrtles | Diana Zollicoffer |
The Nug | Hilah Johnson |
The Peragro Project | Nabil Chowdhary |
The Pugilist | Margeaux Francois |
The Queen Of Caspary | Laura Solow |
The Reckoning | Jocelyn Osier |
The Resurrected | Kim Garland |
The Road out of Afghanistan | Artur |
The Slave and the Prophet | Jawaad Mohiuddin |
The Summer of a Thousand Weddings | Aditya Joshi & Sidharth Gopinath |
The Waltz | Patrick Morgan |
The White Mouse: Witch | Heather Farlinger |
The Wonder Pill | Jacqueline Rodriguez |
Thornbush | Ivo de Jager |
Those We Leave Behind | Will Stewart |
Those Who Hear It | Charles Hopkins |
Tinder No Filter | Mal Merpi |
To The End | Chris Hicks |
Traveling Light | Melanie Williams |
Uncatchable | Kofi Oliver |
Untouchable | Dhruv Kanungo |
Unvali-Dated | Joe Borg |
Uprising | Derrick Vaughan |
Valid | Sefi Atta |
Variant | Molly Vogel |
Vault | Roni Brown |
Veils of Justice | Tita Anntares |
Veldt | Madison Flannery |
Vizion | Angelica Weaver |
Wake Up Becky | Jorge Barboza |
Walk Into My Parlour | Myra Taylor |
Warrior Girl | Laurie Whitaker |
White Lie Wedding | Whitney Powell |
White Walls | Ivo de Jager |
Wilcox Park | Omar Willis |
Without Apology | Jackie Hedeman, Molly Olguín |
Wonderful World | Melissa Kong |
XX | Miriam Rahimi-Cholensky |
Year Without Summer | Amanda Caitlyn Eberhardt |
Yule Logs & Snow Balls | Don Ammon |
For all the latest from WeScreenplay, be sure to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.Congrats to all these fantastic writers! All placements have been updated on Coverfly.