Tuesday, June 10, 2025 at 7:00 pm
James Bridges Theater, Melnitz Hall, UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television
Student Hosts: Kelsey Gilmore & Anika Hundal
Words, words, words!
The Screenwriters Showcase spotlights the boldest, sharpest, and most cinematic voices from the Screenwriting MFA Program. Designed to introduce outstanding student scripts to the industry, the event celebrates the talent and dedication behind the page.
Throughout the year, students craft feature-length screenplays and TV pilots, which are submitted for review by top industry professionals. Their feedback helps identify the very best—and at the Showcase on Tuesday, June 10, 2025, those standout scripts will be honored in an exciting awards ceremony recognizing the highest-rated features and pilots.
For many past Showcase participants, this event has been a launchpad—leading to representation, staff writing gigs, script options, and major industry accolades.
As part of the evening, we’re thrilled to present the Distinguished Screenwriting Award to Kirsten “Kiwi” Smith in recognition of her influential body of work and lasting impact on the screenwriting community. Smith, best known for iconic films such as Legally Blonde, 10 Things I Hate About You, and She’s the Man, continues to inspire emerging writers with her fearless storytelling and enduring characters.
To learn more about the finalists and the graduating class, visit the UCLA TFT Screenwriters’ website
Come celebrate the next wave of screenwriting talent and honor one of the industry’s most cherished voices.
Distinguished Screenwriting Award honoree: Kirsten “Kiwi” Smith
K
IRSTEN “KIWI” SMITH co-wrote the hit films Legally Blonde, 10 Things I Hate About You, She’s the Man, Ella Enchanted and The House Bunny. She is also the author of two YA novels, The Geography of Girlhood and Trinkets, the latter of which she co-created and executive producer into a multi-Emmy-winning YA series for Netflix. Her recent projects include an original romantic comedy for Amazon and a sports comedy for producer Jason Blum. She also has multiple projects in development with talent such as Noah Centineo, Kiernan Shipka, Maisy Stella, Madelyn Cline, Karen Gillan and Kathryn Newton.
SCREENWRITERS SHOWCASE – FINALISTS
ADAPTATION
The Blue Hotel by Rudy Jansen
Logline: At the mercy of a frigid blizzard in 1899, three travelers find shelter and suspicion at an opulent hotel in the Sand Hills of Western Nebraska. Based on the short story by Stephen Crane.
The Judgement by Matthew Evans
Logline: In this adaptation of Franz Kafka’s surreal short story, a nervous, bumbling son of an immigrant in 1913 New York struggles to balance his father’s company with the love of his life as his world falls increasingly into absurdism.
Wait, Wait, Wait by Emma Shaw
Logline: When an aloof teen girl in post-war Pittsburgh can no longer handle the bleakness of her world, she sets off for California, hoping to claim the life she believes she’s meant to live and find the alluring woman who opened her eyes to the possibility. Based on “Paul’s Case” by Willa Cather.
FEATURE COMEDY
Kane by John Marchi
Logline: A mute, undead slasher is forced to go on a road trip to pursue his prey, teaming up with a tenacious and chatty teenage runaway for an odyssey through the horror pantheon.
One Star by George Lanigan
Logline: A failed Broadway actress begins to unknowingly fall for the critic who ruined her career.
Searching for Junior by Felix McEnroy
Logline: A son and father put their feud on pause to travel to the West of Ireland and find what a beloved family member buried for them there.
FEATURE DRAMA
A Beast in the Woods by Jacob Shivers
Logline: On a planet where a single night lasts a year, citizens of a northern keep gather for the winter’s solstice. Famine looms, a foreign threat has appeared on the horizon, and the full moon rises, calling forth the Beast in the Woods.
Baskets by Hector Coles
Logline: A struggling and frustrated actress embarks on a killing spree of people standing in the way of her success, convinced that a magical force guarded by three witches will bring her fame and adulation.
Blind Items by Julia Moser
Logline: In 1920s Los Angeles, a hard-boiled crime reporter and bubbly gossip columnist must work together to track down a suspected murderer – hiding her from the police to get an exclusive interview. In the process, the two women discover a web of corruption at City Hall and the newspaper where they both work.
TV HALF-HOUR
Foreigners by Anika Hundal
Logline: A fiery Indian girl must pretend to be a normal Canadian teenager while hiding the fact that her neurotic father is spying on the federal government.
Smokeshow by Julia Moser
Logline: After nuclear war breaks out, the producers of a popular Reality TV dating show filming on a remote island have to decide whether or not to tell the cast, or to keep the cameras rolling on these hot dummies and keep the folks back home in the bunkers entertained.
Tapped by Ellie Hunt
Logline: Nora has always dreamed of getting the ‘tap on the shoulder’ to become a spy while studying at the University of Cambridge – but her best friend Bea gets tapped instead. So when Bea suddenly goes missing, Nora sets out to find her… and prove to MI6 that she’s got what it takes.
TV HOUR
Apocalypsis by Matthew Evans
Logline: When a traveling preacher who claims to have psychic powers comes to a troubled frontier town in the 1840s, a pair of sisters must weather the chaos and face the demons in their own relationship as his cultish influence over the town and appetite for violence grows.
Cash | Cow by Ellie Hunt
Logline: A frustrated actor leaves his Hollywood lifestyle behind after he inherits his grandfather’s farm in Northern Ireland – much to the annoyance of his hardworking sisters. But when they discover a stash of cocaine hidden under the barn, they must set aside their differences in order to untangle a dangerous web of secrets.
Hot at Night by Jacob Shivers
Logline: The year is 2055, and the United States has collapsed amidst climate change, plague, and civil conflict; in the Great Lakes Basin, a group of off-grid settlements coexist to survive, but fracture after an act of violence from within.