Screenplay Competition Winners

Australian writer, James Mayson has won the 2019 Byron Bay Film Festival Screenplay Contest for his screenplay entitled FEAR SUM.  The screenplay, which won $1500 US prize money, plus the latest screenwriting software from Final Draft, tells the story of a quiz show writer in midlife crisis who has his world upended when his old punk bandmates - a drug addled nihilist, a sex fiend, and a mentally unstable conspiracist - turn up to help him win back the love of his life.“This was such a beautifully crafted, character-driven black comedy,” said Contest Director, Pim Hendrix. “In a field of extremely good scripts, this one really shone through for the judging panel.”Second place, winning the latest screenwriting software from Final Draft, was awarded to New York writer, Anderson Boyd for his gripping drama entitled THE LEASE OF NATURE.“The Lease of Nature was an incredibly well written and polished script, by a very talented writer,” said Hendrix. It tells the story of a woman in search of vengeance who infiltrates a dark crime syndicate that traffics in human organs and dangerous technology. As she pivots to use their weapons against them, her gambit hits closer to home than she could ever have imagined.In third place, all the way from Toronto, Canada, also winning the latest screenwriting software from Final Draft, was John Pisano-Thomsen, for his heartfelt screenplay entitled THE POLITICS OF LOVE AND DANCE.In this story, a flamboyant old man recounts his years as a ballet dancer in the Third Reich and his impossible relationship with a conflicted childhood friend, forced by his stepfather to become a Nazi officer.Congratulations to all the finalists and all those who entered. “This was an amazing year for the contest,” said Hendrix. “It just keeps growing in leaps and bounds, and the standard of writing gets better every year.”Hendrix gave a special thanks to Final Draft for their continued and valued support of the contest. “Final Draft has been with us from day one and we really wouldn’t be where we are today if it were not for its generous support.”Entries will open for the 2020 BBFF Screenplay Contest in November.