Virginia screenwriting winners named for 2016

The Virginia Film Office has announced the three winners of the 2016 Virginia Screenwriting Competition.  The winners and their screenplays are:  Ron Basso (Virginia Beach) FOR LOVE OF COUNTRY, Eric Carlson (Williamsburg) REACH FOR THE SKY, and Jesse Robinson (Alexandria) WHERE TEARDROPS FALL.

The Virginia Screenwriting Competition was created by the Virginia Film Office to celebrate the accomplishments of Virginia writers, as well as to promote the future of filmmaking in Virginia.  It provides screenwriters with a forum for their work and an opportunity to present their scripts to decision makers in the film industry.  Last year, the competition began accepting hour-long pilot episode submissions as a reflection of the changing content-creation landscape.

The competition is one of the few in the nation requiring no entrance fee, and all entries receive a written evaluation from the first round judges.  Well-known past winners include Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan, who won in 1989 for his screenplay Home Fries, and Megan Holley, who won in 2003 for her screenplay Sunshine Cleaning.

Each writer submits a screenplay to be evaluated by a panel of Virginia judges.  Final scripts from the first round of judging are then sent to a second panel comprised of professionals active in the film or television industry.  The winners were presented with their awards during the 2016 Virginia Film Festival in Charlottesville on Saturday, November 5th, prior to the screening of Wakefield at the Paramount Theater.

The competition is held annually and is open to Virginia residents.  The majority of the script must take place in Virginia or at locations which could reasonably be found in Virginia.  For further information on the competition, contact the Virginia Film Office at (804) 545-5530 or visit http://www.filmvirginia.org