The Golden List of 2022
The Best Unproduced Screenplays of the Year
Features
01
HADLEYVILLE
By zach jansen
In a rough old west town, a young Easterner gets hard lessons in the ways of the world when he falls for an innocent whore and his idealism sparks the wrath of the town's power brokers.
- Genre
- WESTERN, DRAMA
- Country
- UNITED STATES
- Representation
- NONE
02
walking in iowa
By Alex Murawski
After her son accidentally drowns, a reclusive photographer moves to Montana to rebuild her life but struggles to reconcile with a secret shame as she falls in love with a kind widower.
- Genre
- DRAMA, ROMANCE
- Country
- United states
- Representation
- NONE
03
co2
By Katherine O'Mahoney
Following mysterious deaths in the Amazon, an anthropologist's search for answers becomes a race against time when she discovers a mutant plant that inverts photosynthesis and poisons the air with CO2.
- Genre
- SCI-FI, THRILLER, DISASTER
- Country
- United KINGDOM
- Representation
- NONE
04
MAJOR HACKER'S WAR
By STEVE BLAME
Desperate to buy more time for the Resistance to rebuild before D-Day, a closeted American soldier chosen by the Allies to lead WW2’s first queer spy unit, must face his sexuality and his feelings for his ex-lover when they are sent to France to seduce a gay Nazi who’s decimating French fighters using information from a mole he controls.
- Genre
- war, LGBTQ, DRAMA
- Country
- GERMANY
- Representation
- NONE
05
MATING
By Rae Shaw
A pensive girl on the edge of puberty strives to protect other young girls from a child predator as she struggles with nightmares of her own burgeoning sexuality.
- Genre
- DRAMA, thriller, coming of age, family
- Country
- united states
- Representation
- Allard Cantor, Epicenter
06
THE guns at cowra
By Vir Srinivas
In World War II, over 1000 Japanese POWs held in Australia will stop at nothing to flee their captors and uphold their fanatical sense of honour. To stop the reckless and fatal escape attempts, the leader of the Japanese soldiers is driven to orchestrate a daring plan for a mass breakout.
- Genre
- drama, historical, war
- Country
- australia
- Representation
- NONE
07
cambados, nj
By thomas rivera montes
The discovery of a Galician cultural center in Newark, NJ, sets seventeen year-old Jordan on a path to uncover his immigrant roots and family's past, despite his father's commitment to keep it all secret.
- Genre
- drama, family
- Country
- United states
- Representation
- NONE
08
mestengo
By Theresa Carey
In this high-seas adventure, a young orphan’s life is forever changed when he joins forces with a wild mustang in order to survive untold dangers aboard a Spanish Galleon bound for the New World, forging a magical friendship along the way.
- Genre
- action, adventure, family
- Country
- united states
- Representation
- NONE
09
the VIRGIN
By Trysta A. Bissett
While searching for a missing child, a nun with a troubled past uncovers dark secrets that trigger a series of mysterious deaths at an isolated Catholic orphanage in the 1950s.
- Genre
- HORROR, mystery
- Country
- united states
- Representation
- NONE
10
IMPALA
By Robert Wooldridge
A gay man moving from Dallas to Denver in hopes of reuniting with his ex-lover, enlists the help of a weed dealer to drive him, only to get caught up in the danger when a deal goes bad.
- Genre
- drama, comedy, adventure
- Country
- united states
- Representation
- NONE
11
3 Faces of Hunger & Thirst
By HF Crum
Based on a true story, the 116 minutes leading up to the assassination of a visionary Mexican presidential candidate from the POVs of three would-be assassins.
- Genre
- thriller, true crime
- Country
- united states
- Representation
- NONE
12
the clever girl
By David Carren
It’s love in the time of yellow fever as a young woman fights to save a Texas town from a relentless plague.
- Genre
- western, thriller
- Country
- united states
- Representation
- NONE
13
STILL WATERS
By James Everett
In Virginia 1958, John Shaw admits himself into a Gay Aversion Therapy Program with the hopes of a cure. Undergoing harrowing therapy, John slowly learns that there may be no cure and grapples with whether he can come to terms with this truth or continue along his path of toxic self-denial.
- Genre
- coming of age, lgbtq, drama, historical
- Country
- UNITED kingdom
- Representation
- NONE
14
PORTLAND
By Michael Weinreb
After a horrific white supremacist murder in 1980s Portland, Oregon, a successful but jaded Jewish attorney joins the case against a powerful racist tied to the crime, and puts his safety and livelihood in danger, while coming to terms with his own tragic family story. Inspired by true events.
- Genre
- HISTORICAL DRAMA, LEGAL DRAMA
- Country
- UNITED STATES
- Representation
- NONE
15
the invisible boy
By Arun Narayanan
Faith and family ties are tested in small-town Maryland when a pre-teen girl announces that she’s pregnant – and that the father is her imaginary friend.
- Genre
- adult family drama, magical realism
- Country
- united states
- Representation
- Joel Millner, Larchmont Literary Agency
TV Pilots
01
EON
By Marine Mondelot
In the rigid society of the 18th century, a low-rank nobleman is game for anything to marry the woman he loves. Even if it means changing gender.
- Genre
- drama, comedy, historical
- Country
- United kingdom
- Representation
- NONE
02
FEAR FAMILY
By Craig Hillman
What if all the paranormally afflicted households (from Poltergeist, The Amityville Horror, Pet Sematary, etc.) were in fact a single, ill-fated family who can't avoid moving from one nightmarish location to the next? Meet the Whitakers, and witness their latest, jaded (but horror-trope-savvy) attempt to rebuild their life in yet another new home.
- Genre
- comedy, horror
- Country
- UNITED STATES
- Representation
- NONE
03
EN TOURNANT
By Victoria DeMartin
A country girl turned ballerina finds herself thrust into the cutthroat world of belle époque Paris and the Paris Opera, where ballerinas make their living as secret mistresses to the elite patrons. En Tournant explores the evolution of ballet, then considered lowbrow becoming highbrow, and art versus ambition - asking how far these girls will push themselves in order to survive.
- Genre
- drama, period drama
- Country
- UNITED STATES
- Representation
- NONE
04
COLD HEAT
By John McCloskey
A 41 year-old murder case just won’t die. Because a cold case detective won’t let it, even as her life spirals out of control. Meanwhile, the killer, now a family man on the other side of the country, longs to redeem himself while suffering agonies of conscience.
- Genre
- drama, crime, family
- Country
- united states
- Representation
- NONE
05
sutton holler
By Tennessee Martin
When stunt-woman and modern day cowgirl, McClane Thatcher, learns that her twin brother Travis has gone missing, she returns home to Sutton Holler after ten years of absence to uncover the truth about his disappearance. McClane must go toe-to-toe with the dregs of Southern society -- backwoods good ol' boys, corrupt county cops, and the most terrifying of them all... her own family. Will McClane risk revealing the dark secret about why she left all those years ago to save her brother's life?
- Genre
- drama, modern western
- Country
- united states
- Representation
- sheryl Petersen (APA) / Colleen Washington (Fourth Wall Management)
06
AND CALL ME IN THE MORNING
By Richard Willett
In this limited series based on true events, six very different people around the world in the early 1960s – doctors, scientists, mothers, fathers -- are confronted with the birth of deformed babies and struggle to find out why this has happened, eventually pitting them against the pharmaceutical giant whose prescription medication caused the epidemic.
- Genre
- drama, true story
- Country
- UNITED states, canada
- Representation
- NONE
07
BLOOD AND DREAMS
By Suzanne griffin
When a brilliant Frankish queen sees her husband's ruthless holy war against the Spanish Muslims spiral into madness, she risks her life and kingdom by secretly allying with a Muslim queen to end the bloodshed.
- Genre
- ADVENTURE, drama
- Country
- united STATES
- Representation
- NONE
08
OBSESSED
By Morani Kornberg
A Palestinian artist and an Israeli college lecturer are forced to confront their clashing national identities, navigate their careers and relationships, and – above all – cope with their mental health, as they develop an unexpected friendship during OCD group therapy in Downtown L.A.
- Genre
- Drama, Magical Realism
- Country
- UNITED STATES
- Representation
- NONE
09
FAIRVIEW
By MIA VOLTA
In 1950s Silicon Valley, a programmer-turned-housewife searching for her lost dog befriends her eccentric neighbors and uncovers the evil plans of a local sci-fi club.
- Genre
- Dramedy, mystery, historical
- Country
- United states
- Representation
- NONE
Shorts
01
GOING
By Brad Brookes
At the end of the world, a couple live in an imaginary bubble inside of their camper van, but only one of them knows it. With her entering the early onset of dementia, he struggles to keep them alive without revealing the horrific reality outside.
- Genre
- Post-apocalyptic, relationship-drama
- Country
- united kingdom
- Representation
- NONE
02
heartstrings
By J.D. Zelman, Matthew Dushkes
A lonely spirit inhabiting a third-hand violin helps his new owner, a young boy named Lucas, navigate the struggles of learning the instrument and fitting-in with the school band.
- Genre
- animated, family
- Country
- united states
- Representation
- NONE
03
LOUELLA
By Erin Cantelo
A neglected twelve year old girl runs away from home, only to be picked up by a charming man who emotionally manipulates her into prostitution in the underbelly of Las Vegas.
- Genre
- drama, suspense
- Country
- United states
- Representation
- NONE
04
candle dodgers
By richard scott
Fifty years after a dystopian nation voted to enforce euthanization of the elderly, Death Days have become a celebrated tradition. Julia, the family’s resident pushover, is given the impossible task of choosing how her mother will die - but she has other plans altogether.
- Genre
- comedy, horror
- Country
- UNITED kingdom
- Representation
- none
05
a town dressed in black
By Gregory Fishwick
In the American Old West, a young woman arrives in a mysterious town where men come to die; her intent, to stop just such a fate befalling a loved one. In confronting the strange goings on of the town, however, she faces not only resistance from its inhabitants but danger from forces that may not be of this world.
- Genre
- Western, Supernatural, Horror
- Country
- united kingdom
- Representation
- none
06
sourdough
By Rachel Rios
During the sweatiest summer in Washington DC's history, a socially awkward receptionist searches for connection and belonging in the transient-filled city-- as well as the District's last box of Monistat.
- Genre
- Comedy, drama
- Country
- united states
- Representation
- NONE
To be considered for the GOLDEN LIST, one must simply submit to our competition.