VIRGINIA FILM OFFICE ANNOUNCES 2022
VIRGINIA SCREENWRITING COMPETITION WINNERS
~Winners are from Richmond, Charlottesville, and Norfolk ~
RICHMOND, VA — The Virginia Film Office has announced the three winners of the 2022 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 Carolyn Schaumburg (Charlottesville) for MINE, Clyde Santana (Norfolk) for A PLAYGROUND MIRACLE, and Heather Louise Morgan (Richmond) for RIVER BLUFF, 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. The competition accepts both feature-length screenplays, and hour-long pilot teleplay submissions as a reflection of the evolving 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 a filled audience of moviegoers and filmmakers at the 2022 Virginia Film Festival in Charlottesville on Saturday, November 5, prior to a screening of the acclaimed feature film Women Talking, followed by a discussion with actor Judith Ivey.
2022 VIRGINIA SCREENWRITING COMPETITION WINNERS
Carolyn Schaumburg (Charlottesville)
MINE. An unhinged stalker intertwines herself into the life of a graduate student, while fighting the efforts of a protective boyfriend and a creepy professor.
Clyde Santana (Norfolk)
A PLAYGROUND MIRACLE. While coaching a group of wayward kids from an impoverished downtown Norfolk housing project, a caring cop collides with a ghost with a past that he can’t remember, which may be the secret to saving the old neighborhood playground and the housing projects from being demolished by a land developer.
Heather Louise Morgan (Richmond)
RIVER BLUFF. After a hurricane hits her small town, a wounded warrior finds a new way to serve and reconnect with her community when a neighbor’s death brings them together.
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.
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