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Ohio Independent Screenplay Award Semifinalists Announced

CLEVELAND, OHIO – The longest running screenplay competition in Ohio keeps growing with every year. Our pool of submissions has been slowly whittled down to 25 semi-finalists; the finalists will be announced next week.

Sponsored by Independent Pictures (IP) as part of the Ohio Independent Film Festival, over 70 readers across three states took part in reading and judging the preliminary round of entries. New to the Ohio Independent Screenplay Awards last year, entrants may receive feedback from reader evaluations as a way to improve their work.

The next step is screenplay scrutiny of the finalists (which will be announced next week) from our panel of industry professionals; film producers Jane Alsobrook, TC Rice, Dawn Wolfrom, and Sandra Birnhak.

In addition to her producing work, Ms. Alsobrook has been a senior VP at Columbia Pictures and the president of Australia's largest independent film production and distribution company. Mr. Rice is VP Distribution for Manhattan Pictures Intl., a distribution and production company founded by Paul E. Cohen; he has also worked with Stephen Baldwin's Next Millennium Entertainment and Stratosphere Entertainment. In addition to her work producing films (recently NEVER AGAIN released by USA Films this past July), Ms. Wolfrom has also moved into television, having sold shows to Paramount with Kelsey Grammer's company Gramnet. Ms. Birnhak is CEO of Worldview Entertainment in addition to her award-winning work as a film and television producer.

As part of the 2002 Ohio Independent Film Festival this November 2- 10, a winning screenwriter's work will feature at Script Mill, IP's professionally directed and acted unstaged screenplay reading program.

True to Independent Pictures' form as supporters of local film and video artists, there is also a category for best screenplay for a story set mainly in the Northeastern Ohio region.

The list of the finalists is as follows:

Bullet with Butterfly Wings Bill Balas

Norikaeru Tom Slattery

Running for you, David Chris Bunsey

Her Majesty's Magician David Pinzino

Lifted Elizabeth Nelson

Coach Mom Sharon Felder Roth

Waters of the Heart Merle Goldberg & William Gerald Hamby

Iron Princes Patrick Ryan

All Rise Tommy Bryant

Inugami Rich Figel

A Crazy Situation Chryshallis N. Brooks

Fugitive Slave Dick Croy & Henry Burke

Amazon Tails Camille Cruse

Woman of the Open Hand Jacqueline Frazier

Diamond Event Julie Williams

Benevolence Carla Robinson

Mad Money William Reid

Of Dreams & Destinies Christy Paxton

The Sun in Your Eyes Kirk Lindsey & Michael Lind

Quo Vadis, Sean? Ethan Mayer Smith

10 Minutes From Paradise Janyce Lapore

The Clear Horizon Bill Flannigan

Five Full Moons Mary Joy McMachen

Zaytoun Nader Rizq

Treasure Recovered Jesse van der Schaaf

OISA honorable mentions include:

The Prom From Hell Devi Snively

A Crack in Time Carol Strickland

Einstein's Soup Glen Merzer

Elvis is Dead James B. Sweeney

Mute Swan Beth-Anne Blue

The Sleaze Adrianne Ambrose

Under the Lights Douglas Stark

Lemon Tea Marcia L. Sinclair

Nicolo Paganini George Borelli

Stomping Embers, Releasing Butterflies And Unmasking family Secrets Lora L. Hyler

Independent Pictures supports emerging media artists and the exhibition of their films and video projects to a wider audience through the Ohio Independent Film Festival and other programs such as the Ohio Independent Screenplay Awards, Script Mill, film training programs, and workshops.

SUPPORTERS: The George Gund Foundation, The Cleveland Foundation, Ohio Arts Council, Writers Guild of America East, Sherwin Williams, IBM, Association of Independent Video and Filmmakers, Filmmaker Magazine, Media Design Imaging, TVWriter.com, Hollywood.com Indie Films, FilmStew.com, WritersScriptNetwork.com, WriteSafe.com, Final Draft, Scr(i)pt Magazine, Cleveland Public Theatre.

Updated: 09/22/2002

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