Sunday, November 4 at 1 PM OAC Gallery
Ojai Film Festival received over 70 entries from across America and Europe for the third annual Screenplay Competition. A panel of judges read each entry in order to name twenty finalists. The grand prize for the winning script includes a LIVE READ on November 4 featuring many talented Ojai area actors. The winning script will also have a Teaser Scene, produced by John Branagan, for the writers to use in their promotion of the script..
The Winning Script — Matadora, by Lisa Cole, Rick Najera, and Mark Monroe
Set in Mexico during the time of the Mexican Revolution, Matadora tells the story of a brave young woman, who disguises herself as a man and becomes a bullfighter to save her family from ruin. The screenplay is full of action, adventure, and memorable characters – particularly 20-year-old Esperanza, a strong female protagonist who faces an often-brutal world with unflinching courage and determination.
The Screenplay Writers
Lisa Cole
California born and Arkansas bred, Lisa is an honor graduate of Loyola Marymount School of Cinema & Television in Los Angeles where her work earned The Samuel Arkoff Filmmaker’s Award and Student Academy Awards finalist. Her narrative screenplay Girl Named Sue, co-written with Mark Monroe, has won numerous writing awards including the 2015 Page Awards and is currently under option with producer Laura Bickford with actress Lily Rabe attached to star.
Lisa resides in east Los Angeles with Mark and their two young children.
Mark Monroe
Mark Monroe is an award-winning documentary filmmaker whose career in storytelling spans two decades. His extensive writing and producing credits include films at Sundance every year for the last 10 years.
A journalism graduate from the University of Oklahoma, Monroe began his career as a writer for CNN in Atlanta. Before writing theatrical documentaries, he produced more than 200 hours of biography-style television. Mark is a founder of Diamond Docs and resides in Los Angeles.
Rick Najera
Rick Najera is an American screenwriter, director, producer, actor, author, playwright, speaker, host and comedian with an expansive portfolio of credits in all forms of entertainment.
As a professional screenwriter, Najera has written for television, film, new media, theater and Broadway, from East Los High, MADtv, In Living Color, to the feature film Nothing Like the Holidays starring Debra Messing, Alfred Molina, John Leguizamo and Luis Guzman, for which he won an ALMA Award.
2018 Judges
Peter Bellwood
Peter has enjoyed a thirty-plus year career in Hollywood as actor, screenwriter, artist and musician. As a screenwriter, his films include the cult hit, Highlander and its sequel, Highlander 2: The Quickening. His next project is Monster Butler, with Malcolm McDowell and Gary Oldman. Television credits include La Femme Nikita and an Emmy-Award-winning CBS comedy special starring Anne Bancroft.
Valerie Levett
Valerie recently retired from a 33-year career with Warner Brothers where she worked in the Feature Film Story Department as both a Story Analyst and Story Editor. She was the first to read Harry Potter for Warner (and, yes, recommended it!). Now she pursues her own writing and feels grateful for the time to devote to it.
Michael Ewing
Michael is partnered with director Peter Segal in Callahan Filmworks and oversees the development and production of numerous feature film and television projects. Their nine movies have grossed over $1.2 Billion at the World Wide Box Office. Most recently, he produced Grudge Match starring Robert Deniro and Sylvester Stallone, Get Smart starring Steve Carell and Anne Hathaway. Segal executive produced and directed the box office hits The Longest Yard, starring Adam Sandler, Chris Rock and Burt Reynolds; 50 First Dates; and co-produced and directed Anger Management.
Many thanks to the readers who scored the first round of judging:
John Garcia
Sam Kurd
Bob Ehrhardt
Sarah Howery Hart
Louise Wilding
Zach Abdallah
2018 Semi-finalists this year:
American Love Story by Laura Wexler, Baltimore, MD
Colorblind by Pamela Peak, Lake Forest, CA
Connect by John Pisano-Thomsen
Cool New Town by Julie Sharbutt, Los Angeles, CA
Eddie the King by Philip Lombardi, Tahlequah, OK
Father Ferrante by Daniel Killman, Nashville, TN
Go-Go Boy by Vance Walker, Studio City, CA
Hawk’s Hitmen by Marvin Wolf, Asheville, NC
In the Shadow of a Saint by Sophie Dab
Land of Enchantment by Eric Juhola, New York, NY
Legacy by Jodi Levitan
One White Crow by Dale Stamos, Santa Barbara, CA
Shocks by David Baugnon
Six Letter Word by Lisanne Sartor, Los Angeles, CA
Survival Skills by Scott Kirkpatrick
The Clever Girl by David Carren, Edinburg, TX
The Confessions of Deacon Jim by Jason Aaron Goldberg, Henderson, NV
The Marketplace by Adrian Prospero
Warrior Girl by Laurie Whitaker, Palm Springs, CA
