VIRGINIA SCREENWRITING COMPETITION WINNERS

~Winners are from Roanoke, Richmond, and Falls Church ~

RICHMOND, VA — The Virginia Film Office has announced the three winners of the 2021 Virginia Screenwriting Competition, an annual event founded in 1989 as a way to promote Virginia’s in-state talent and give exposure to aspiring screenwriters.

The winners and their screenplays are Rachel Weatherly (Richmond) for Take Off, Daniel Pulido (Falls Church) for Children of All Ages, and four-time winner Neil Harvey (Roanoke) for Herald, a television pilot episode.

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.  Four years ago, 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. Well-known past winners include Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul creator Vince Gilligan, who won in 1989 for his screenplay Home Fries and went on to produce with frequent competition judge Mark Johnson; and winner Megan Holley, who won for her screenplay Sunshine Cleaning.

Virginia Film Office director Andy Edmunds acknowledged the winners in front of an audience of moviegoers and filmmakers at the 2021Virginia Film Festival in Charlottesville on Saturday, October 30, prior to a screening of Virginia-filmed Dopesick, followed by a discussion with showrunner, writer and producer Danny Strong (Empire) and author, producer and writer Beth Macy.

2021 VIRGINIA SCREENWRITING COMPETITION WINNERS

Rachel Weatherly (Richmond)

TAKE OFF (Feature Film). After defaulting on her student loans, a baggage handler recruits a group of airline workers to help her rob a flight of its precious cargo and use it to pay off her debts.

Neil Harvey (Roanoke)

HERALD (Television pilot). Part comedy, part drama, HERALD show follows various reporters, editors and photographers for a large Virginia newspaper across two decades, as they work to cover news, even as their industry undergoes profound changes.

Daniel Pulido (Falls Church)

CHILDREN OF ALL AGES (Feature Film). CHILDREN OF ALL AGES, tells the story of a girl who runs away from an abusive home, joins a dysfunctional circus, and must overcome her fear of heights to save her newfound family with the help of a fortune-teller, a clown, and a monkey.

Note: Daniel Pulido was unable to attend the screening and announcement event.

The Virginia Screenwriting Competition is held annually and is open to Virginia residents.  Most of the script must take place in Virginia or at locations that could reasonably be filmed in Virginia.  For further information on the competition visit www.filmvirginia.org.

Award announcement and screening photos

Captions and credit in folder

###