The Golden List of 2024
The Best Unproduced Screenplays of the Year
Features
01
no ghosts tonight
By Adele Smaill
In a desperate bid to return home, a young woman forces her way aboard a tiny boat full of refugees who must band together to evade capture and survive a deadly Channel crossing.
- Genre
- thriller, drama
- Country
- australia
- Representation
- NONE
02
ICE CREAM DON'T MELT IN ENGLEWOOD
By Richard Ehrenreich
After a prominent African-American businessman witnesses a fatal police shooting, he must choose between corroborating the police department’s version of events or the painful cost of telling the truth.
- Genre
- drama, family
- Country
- united states
- Representation
- NONE
03
hail daisy
By oliver arnoldi
As a teenager prepares for Catholic confirmation in a conservative English fishing village, she confronts two family secrets: her own sexual abuse, and her father’s exploration of his gender identity behind closed doors. Their shared truths forge a powerful bond, but threaten to tear the family apart.
- Genre
- DRAMA, COMING OF AGE, LGBTQ+
- Country
- united kingdom
- Representation
- NONE
04
GET THE ELF OUT
By Catherine McKenzie
When Jimmy Miller loses his job as an elf at Santa’s Village on his 70th birthday, he decides to rob a bank to secure his financial future.
- Genre
- drama, heist
- Country
- canada
- Representation
- Brooke Lindley, Gotham Group
05
hidden sparks
By Joseph J Davis
In 1980s Florida, a doctor redefines his Jewish identity as he fights to save a dying neo-Nazi teen, while a tormented skinhead battles with his love for the boy and his failure to protect him.
- Genre
- Drama, Medical Drama, LGBTQ+
- Country
- ireland
- Representation
- none
06
FAMILY BUSINESS
By Paul Vogel
Grieving her mother's death, bullied 17-year-old Max moves in with her estranged father to a small town, only to uncover a dark secret: her violent instincts are part of a sinister family legacy.
- Genre
- Horror, Slasher, Coming of Age, Dark Comedy
- Country
- united states
- Representation
- NONE
07
life $upport
By Noah Edelson
Facing lifelong alimony and financial ruin, Josh offers $250K on Craigslist to anyone who’ll marry his ex-wife before his investor’s deadline.
- Genre
- comedy, rom-com, dark comedy
- Country
- United states
- Representation
- NONE
08
Nice eggs
By Sandi Farkas
An attractive teenage girl in a poor New England town learns to break a bad cycle with men by learning about her mother's past.
- Genre
- drama, family
- Country
- united states
- Representation
- Allen Fischer, Adriana Alberghetti
09
dark mother
By Josh Miller
Desperate for a family, a couple turns to a surrogate for a child, however, complications arise when suspicions fuel a descent into madness.
- Genre
- psychological thriller, mystery
- Country
- canada
- Representation
- NONE
10
safe waters
By Stanislav Zalmanov
The intersecting storylines follow a bounty hunter, a peacekeeping soldier, a Greek fisherman and an African refugee, set along the Central Mediterranean migration route.
- Genre
- drama, action
- Country
- estonia
- Representation
- NONE
11
the company
By James Rodney
For decades, African Americans worked under a daily barrage of overt racist acts within The Company's LaVergne Tennessee factory. But none more than Charlotte Gray - a happily married woman of twenty-four years, brutally assaulted on the factory floor, thus shattering every aspect of her life as she knew it.
- Genre
- drama, true story
- Country
- united states
- Representation
- NONE
12
avenue of regrets
By Rogelio Pineiro
What would you do if you discovered that the violent death of your family seven years ago was not as it had seemed?
- Genre
- drama, mystery
- Country
- united states
- Representation
- NONE
13
black sun
By Rick Rowley
An ambitious but war-scarred junior reporter gets a big break covering a neo-Nazi attack. But when her reporting enables the group’s rise, she must face her nightmares, risk her career, and finally take a stand.
- Genre
- drama, thriller
- Country
- UNITED states
- Representation
- NONE
14
the diamond sutra
By paul yung
Haunted by a failed mission, an FBI agent is reassigned to the Art Crimes Team and sent across continents to confront a web of smugglers, forgers and killers to recover the Diamond Sutra, the world’s oldest printed book.
- Genre
- action, suspense, thriller
- Country
- UNITED STATES
- Representation
- NONE
15
direct action
By Tor Kristoffersen
When a teenage environmentalist uncovers plans to open a coal mine in her hometown, she fights tooth and nail to stop it, placing her on a collision course with her father, the police, and the courts.
- Genre
- drama, coming of age, environment
- Country
- united kingdom
- Representation
- none
TV Pilots
01
tales of the southern gothic
By Patrick Groff
FBI Agent Fatima Morgan is coming home after ten long years, but when an urban legend threatens her hometown, she must face the personal demons that caused her to leave.
- Genre
- drama, horror
- Country
- United states
- Representation
- NONE
02
bait
By Christopher Holt
Internet sleuth Megan Mooney uses herself as bait to lure a killer and find a missing girl. The hunt forces her to confront past wrongs in this intense, twist-filled psychological thriller.
- Genre
- thriller, mystery, dramA
- Country
- UNITED kingdom
- Representation
- Simon Williamson, SWA
03
lone star three
By Wendy Richardson
In 1969, three University of Texas students risk felony charges and their educations to fight for birth control access and illegal abortions, leading to the Roe v. Wade case.
- Genre
- drama, historical
- Country
- UNITED STATES
- Representation
- NONE
04
Heat Lightning
By Brandi Powell
Jude Gyasi is Formula 1’s legendary hero, but when he suddenly finds himself teammates with his young reckless rival, Jude grapples with the possibility of aging out of the only life he’s ever known.
- Genre
- DRAMA, SPORTS
- Country
- UNITED STATES
- Representation
- NONE
05
sexually speaking
By Danielle Tjoelker
In the spring of 1980, Dr. Ruth Westheimer began the radio show that would make her the most famous sex therapist in the world.
- Genre
- DRAMA, COMEDY
- Country
- united STATES
- Representation
- none
06
Camouflage and Lipstick
By Lawrence Daly
At the height of the Don't Ask, Don't Tell era, a queer college Army cadet, struggling with his gender identity, must secretly become a drag queen to support his disabled parents.
- Genre
- coming of age, dramedy
- Country
- united states
- Representation
- NONE
07
NAN'S GUIDE TO RETIREMENT
By Teresa Bass
When an Alzheimer’s diagnosis forces a frustrated grandmother out of her tenured professorship and into a care facility, she rebels by developing an exciting new hobby: serial killing!
- Genre
- black comedy, drama
- Country
- united STATES, new zealand
- Representation
- NONE
08
women come to judgement
By Nate Bynum
In 1927, a trailblazing attorney pursues a rape cast that threatens to disturb the status quo of her male-dominated society and town and ruin her family relationships.
- Genre
- Drama, historical
- Country
- united states
- Representation
- NONE
09
summit
By Heidi Lewis, Taylor Lewis
In the heart of Park City, Utah, a group of winter Paralympic athletes must overcome physical and emotional obstacles as they strive for greatness in the highly competitive world of adaptive sports.
- Genre
- sports, drama
- Country
- united states
- Representation
- NONE
Shorts
01
phantom questions
By Andreas Mortensen
After his mom's funeral, Benny digs up her body to take it to a haunted house he's found online, hoping the place will reanimate her spirit. But in the spooky house he instead meets the ghost who already haunts it.
- Genre
- horror, comedy
- Country
- sweden
- Representation
- NONE
02
a6
By Akevo Jeremy Jenkins
A soda bottle discovers love inside a vending machine and begins to question its existence. As its relationship with another bottle grows, it must confront the ultimate sacrifice and come to terms with the fleeting nature of life.
- Genre
- animation, romantic fantasy
- Country
- united states
- Representation
- NONE
03
burro
By Hannah Lerner
A nurse's quest for motherhood spirals into a dark journey that challenges her rationality and unveils the depths of her longing.
- Genre
- horror, drama
- Country
- united states
- Representation
- NONE
04
yield
By Ned Farr
A young girl learns the REAL rules of the road from a demented instructor.
- Genre
- comedy
- Country
- UNITED states
- Representation
- none
05
defining moment
By Sarantis Raftopoulos
While recounting the darkest night of his life, a man enters a psychological maze, blurring the lines between past atrocities and present realities.
- Genre
- Thriller, Psychological Thriller, Mystery
- Country
- GREECE
- Representation
- NONE
06
noa's place
By Nova Hynes
Threatened with eviction due to coastal erosion, a mime artist unable to speak about her past takes her landlord on a boat trip to the heart of her trauma.
- Genre
- DRAMA, magical realism
- Country
- ireland
- Representation
- NONE
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