ISA Staff Picks: April 2025

Felicity Wren
.April 3, 2025

The ISA staff has selected these screenplays and their writers as outstanding examples in their genres and formats for April 2025. These scripts are being considered for submission to ISA approved agents, managers, producers, and production companies actively seeking talented writers to represent or compelling projects to produce.

Staff Picks for April 2025:

The Big Sneeze by Jen Butler

Logline: When a clinically depressed middle school science teacher accidentally discovers that our existence is merely the result of a very slow-motion cosmic sneeze and that time is about to speed back up and kill us all, she fights between psychosis and reality as she tries to warn people and fix her relationships before the universe is wiped away.

Selected by ISA Staff Member Shayna Weber

Comments: Jen Butler is not only hilarious, she is also a deeply poignant and wildly inspirational comedian and storyteller with a social media following of 275K and growing - (@jenbutlersays).

The Big Sneeze is Jen’s heart on the page. It touches on some big topics such as emotional repression, mental health, and the power of honesty. The dialogue pops with natural wit, and I love how it balances its weird premise with genuine emotional moments. The characters feel authentic and complex, even in their most absurd situations. It's definitely different from the usual end-of-world stories - smarter and more heartfelt, but still completely entertaining.

ISA Connection: ISA Top 25 Screenwriters to Watch 2025, ISA Development Slate

Awards:

TOP 10 FINALIST for the Unique Voices Creative Screenwriting Competition

The Second Prom of Willy Strom by Jim Spivey

Logline: When a listless and frustrated middle-aged D&D nerd receives an invite to his 25-year high school reunion, his rebellious and equally frustrated best friend convinces him to summon a demon to ruin the reunion and exact revenge on their past bullies, only to find they’ve accidentally summoned the real Devil and no ex-classmate is safe…including his long-lost high school sweetheart.

Selected by ISA Staff Member Max Timm.

Comments: This is such a fun script. It’s completely ridiculous, and yet has a lot of heart, thematic message, and plainly speaking it’s just a great read. It’s completely over the top and ridiculous, and a fantastic example of a problem that gets so out of hand, the characters find themselves overwhelmed one moment after another. This is much more “comedy” than “horror”, and with the add-on of lost love refound, it will become even more of an audience favorite the more this script gets out around town.

ISA Connection: Jim has been an ISA member for a long time, having placed in multiple ISA contests (finalist in the Emerging Screenwriter Competition and Top 10 in Table Read My Screenplay among many others). Jim is also a long-time Story Farm writer with Max Timm’s coaching and consulting service, continuously educating himself and improving his craft every week.

Awards:

Category Winner - ISA Fast Track

Genre Finalist - Emerging Screenwriters

Semi-Finalist - Creative Screenwriting Pilot Competition

Trending by Nick Hagen & Dana Speer

Logline: A news anchor, known for the media empire she has built on the despicable actions of one serial killer, is roped into his madness when he offers her the choice of volunteering her own life as his last victim in exchange for a slew of others' freedom, and the masses on social media berate her to self-sacrifice.

Selected by ISA Staff Member Felicity Wren.

Comments: A chilling, timely thriller exploring the sinister underbelly of social media, where the line between heroism and complicity blurs amidst escalating public hysteria. Rich with visceral horror and thought-provoking moral dilemmas, this story is a sharp reflection on fame, virtue signaling, and the dangerous illusion of control in a digital age.

When mob mentality and moral righteousness collide, an uncomfortable question emerges: If given the power to end a killer’s reign of terror by offering your own life, would you take it? And if you refuse, does that refusal make you responsible for the blood spilled thereafter?

Part meditation, part savage indictment of modern voyeurism, this thriller is a provocative exploration of the price of fame, the manipulative power of public opinion, and the unsettling ease with which society can slip into collective madness.

ISA Connection: ISA Development Slate, ISA Top 25 Screenwriters to Watch

Awards:

Genre Winner - Table Read My Screenplay

Admissions by Sonali Mehta

Logline: ADMISSIONS is a murder mystery about the slaying of a student at an isolated Northeast girls’ boarding school. The discovery of her body on the grounds of the neighboring all boys’ Military school puts a cadre of the school’s most mischievous boys right at the top of everyone’s suspect list. Only - they didn’t do it. Are the friendships and cleverness of these teenagers strong enough to uncover decades of hidden secrets and unveil the real monster on campus?

Selected by ISA Staff Member Molly Kasch.

Comments: Sonali does a fantastic job of painting a vivid picture of the world of a high end boarding school and dropping us right in the middle of the lives and minds of the teenagers who live there. Strong themes of power, status, wealth, and good old fashioned high school angst carry us through this fun whodunnit, narrated by the unknown killer. The eerie sense of mystery right at the beginning quickly morphs into a murder mystery that has us on the edge of our seats and begging to get to the next episode. This was a very fun read with wonderfully relatable characters and a strong engine that will drive a successful series.

ISA Connection: ISA Development Slate, ISA Top 25 Screenwriters to Watch

Awards:

8 overall on the BlackList

Running The Asylum by Richard Garry

Logline: A cop, with a heart condition and death wish, must fight his way through an asylum overrun by its criminally insane inmates to get to his daughter’s killer.

Selected by ISA Staff Member Craig James.

Comments: What I love about this script is its ability to deliver a tightly-paced thriller with inventive kill sequences that keep the energy high throughout. The protagonist really stood out to me—not just as a traditionally strong, masculine figure, but as a character layered with surprising depth and complexity, which added a lot to the story. Overall, this script merges suspense, high stakes, and emotional depth in a way that truly impressed me! Watch out JOHN WICK!

Awards:

Grand Prize Winner – Emerging Screenwriters Suspense Screenplay Competition

2nd Round – ISA Fast Track Fellowship

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