Before we announce the semi-finalist, we're very excited to announce that Diverse Voices and WeScreenplay raised $1,437 for the Books for Kids Foundation! Thank you to everyone who entered and we're extremely excited to support this amazing organization. We encourage everyone to check out this program and all they're doing.
The mission of Diverse Voices is to provide a contest that is purely focused on promoting and encouraging diverse voices and stories. The contest's hope was to find stories that are told from perspectives – through the author and/or characters – that are often underrepresented in Hollywood today. We're so happy to say that the response to this contest was unbelievable.
This inagural Diverse Voices contest has brought together so much amazing talent and so many incredible stories that we've doubled the size of our semi-finalist group to 100 scripts, because it was impossible to cut down the list to 50. However, there were still so many extremely 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 everyone advancing. If you are advancing it means that after two reads, your judges agreed that this is a stand out story that needs to be told. Please make sure to congratulate these writers on the Facebook announcement — they deserve it!
And now, the Diverse Voices Semi-Finalists:
| 147 written by David Baugnon |
| 'Til We Meet Again written by Russell Chan |
| 48 States of Grandpa written by Paul Jury |
| A Gentleman of Good Hope written by Christina Hulen |
| A Hundred Realities written by Karel Coates |
| Allahu Akbar written by Joe Leone |
| Ana Limic: A "True" Story of Silence written by michael pica |
| Another River written by Kimba Henderson |
| B.F.F. (or Lil' Wang) written by Sean Ericson Quetulio |
| Becoming Quanah Parker written by Steve Warren |
| BIG FIRE written by Daniel Judson |
| BLACK MITZVAH written by JACQUELINE FRAZIER |
| Black-Hearted Bitch written by Lynn Kear |
| Bobby written by Edwin Sánchez |
| BODEY'S BANNER written by Ernestina Juarez |
| Bog Walk written by Dominique Holmes |
| Borderline written by Philip Tarl Denson |
| Brave Hearts written by Lynda Lemberg & Jeffrey Allen Russel |
| Burn the Floor written by Chloe Weinberg |
| Butterfly Children written by Melanie Schiele |
| Buzz Cut Season written by Tatiana Bears |
| CHASING RAINBOWS written by Micah Cohen |
| Chennai 2040 written by Vishnu Sekar |
| Children of the Gods written by Barbara Chepaitis |
| Civilian written by Gina Scanlon |
| Cured written by Joe Osborn |
| Darling written by Aaron Yeung |
| DEAN THE DRUMMER written by Tannaz Hazemi |
| Dietrich Danzig written by John Pisano-Thomsen |
| DIVORCE PARTY written by Lauren Manes |
| Don't Call Me Sir written by Bo Svenson |
| EVE written by Micah Cohen |
| EZEKIEL SCROOGE: An American Christmas Carol written by Bob Canning |
| Finding Jane written by Virginia Shaffer |
| Foxy Naught written by Karen Rouse |
| Frankie saves the World written by Christine McVie |
| Gauguin's Garden written by Brandon Rosin |
| God's Three Tricks written by stefano bozzo |
| Going Home written by Nir Shelter |
| Grace in the West written by Odin Ozdil |
| GRANT'S CROSS written by Ernestina Juarez |
| Harboring written by Russell Nichols |
| Heaven's Mistake written by Brandon Montgomery |
| How to Date Couples written by Sunny Monroe |
| In-Between written by Sandra Smith |
| Isabelle's Family written by Sid Pand |
| It Gets Worse written by Samuel Spitale |
| IT TOLLS FOR THEE written by Tommy Clohessy |
| Je Fait written by Edward Jordan |
| Lakota written by Alexander Major |
| Little Kid, Big Fears written by Kentrell Liddell |
| Lost & Found written by Jabari Howard |
| Love Supreme written by Kimba Henderson |
| MARS written by Tara Pinley |
| MERCY written by Amanda Norman |
| MoneyGripp written by Addison Bhuyan |
| Mr. Anchovy written by Angela Page |
| MY STARDUST written by J.J. Hillard |
| My Stupid Libido written by Mel DuPont |
| Never Leave Your Vehicle written by Paul Clarke |
| NIGHT CLAN – "Identity" written by Felicia Ansty |
| O, Inc. written by Tim Prott |
| Olé: Rising Above Mith written by kelly karam |
| PATCHWORK SOLDIERS written by Geoff Holder |
| Pocono Heaven Lodge written by T Gordon Stanley |
| Powder Burns written by T Watkins |
| Power & Light written by Mark Jones |
| RAGHEAD written by Tom Coash |
| Rainy Season written by Vanessa Wright |
| Rooms Of Experience written by Steffany Lohn-Sommers |
| San Francisco Sandinista written by David Cupples |
| SECOND WIND WOMAN written by Edwin Turner |
| Shooting Stars – "Play With Fire" written by Jorge Perez |
| Singing in Shorthand written by Wayne & Terry Baltz |
| Stone Woman written by Veronica Tabares |
| Stone's Compass written by Ramona Taylor |
| SUPREMACY written by Rosalyn Rosen |
| The Body Electric written by Amy Thorstenson |
| THE CLERIC written by Tim & Martin Marks |
| The Golden Age written by Jon Davis |
| The Hunter written by Angela Berliner |
| The Interview written by James M. Freeman & Karsten Freeman |
| The Lavender Mafia written by Luke Yankee |
| The Local written by Christina Pamies |
| The New Mrs Campbell written by Paul Mahoney |
| The Other Woman written by Elizabeth Dwyer Sandlin |
| THE RELUCTANT PROPHET written by Edwin Turner |
| The Talented Uncle Julien written by SiewFeng (Kaede) Loh |
| The Tear Collector written by Linda Niccol |
| The Trill Nikkia written by Leon Chills |
| The unheard flute written by Paul Gross |
| The Want Ads written by Michael Rhodes |
| TIES written by Joanne Brouard |
| To Walk Among Wolves written by Carol Hoffman |
| Union Station written by Sid Pand |
| Warrior written by Aimee Dansereau |
| White Lily written by Preston Poulter |
| White Sage written by Sean Freelon |
| With All Deliberate Speed written by Marcus Herzberg |
| You're My Best Friend written by Karol Ruth Silverstein |
Congrats to all these fantastic writers!
Also, don't forget to check out WISC 2016. With $20,000 in cash & prizes, 3 amazing industry mentors including Dave Green and Tracy Mercer, and massive distribution to interested industry contacts, this is one of the best feature contests out there. MovieBytes has named WISC one of the best 20 contests to enter this year and until May 20th, entry is only $29.
