ISA Staff Picks: March 2025

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

Staff Picks:

PRODIGAL by Chris Courtney Martin (Feature)

Logline: A repressed grad student's life implodes when her troubled stepbrother's return from rehab disrupts the stability of their political family.

Selected by: ISA Staff Member Molly Kasch

Comments: This is a story that revolves around power, secrets, lies, and second chances, all wrapped up in love/sex triangles and abuse. The characters are all trying to find their way through their messy, intertwined lives: some grappling with new sexual orientation, others in full denial. Once you start reading, you won't be able to put it down. The characters pop off the page and suck you into the drama and dysfunction, topped off with some hair-raising twists. A must read.

ISA Connection: ISA Development Slate writer, ISA Top 25 Screenwriter to Watch in 2019

Awards:

Diverse Voices - Finalist;

Creative World Awards - Quarter Finalist

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DEVIL'S RIDGE by Callum Williams (Feature)

Logline: When his wife is murdered by a criminal gang, Tyrell, a young Black London youth worker and his infant son must go into hiding on his father in-law's farm in the mountains of West Wales, while awaiting trial to testify against them. As the gang catch up to him, he comes face to face with his father in-law's dark past.

Selected by: ISA Staff Member Max Timm

Comments: This project came to me through a submission to an Executive Evaluation and notes call that the writer opted to experience. I’m very glad he did. We worked through a rewrite together, though the script was already in great shape. It’s now one of the strongest thrillers and emotional dramas I’ve read in a long time. The writer does an excellent job transporting us to the rural locations of Wales, and sweeps us up into a family drama that I’ve never seen before.

ISA Connection: Executive Evaluation and Notes

Awards:

"Best No Budget Short" award for SOMETIMES THEY REMEMBER.

His feature script REBEKAH has been selected and nominated in numerous film festivals including Shepperton and Cardiff.

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RHAPSODIST by Anna Wright (Pilot)

Logline: After a traumatic break-up, an aspiring young beat-poet vows to become the first black female Poet Laureate of the UK in order to fight racism, misogyny, and to find her own voice.

Selected by: ISA Staff Member Stephanie Schellerup

Comments: These characters leap off the page and attain major depth just within the pilot. Although some of the subject matter is dark and challenging, it works really beautifully with a poetry component, subverting expectations and keeping the tone grounded and brutally honest. Weaving another art form (music, comedy, poetry, etc) into a screenplay can be incredibly difficult, but this writer has pulled it off effortlessly. Above all else, the writer's voice absolutely sings-- it's so easy to want to keep reading.

ISA Connection: Emerging Screenwriters Screenplay Competition 2025 Finalist

Awards:

Previously known as TOXIC, NEEDY, RHAPSODIST was Runner Up in the Scriptwriters & Co International Screenwriting Festival, 2024;

Honourable Mention for the New York Script Awards 2024;

Official Selection for both Berlin International Screenwriting Festival, 2024, and for Oxford Script Awards, 2024;

Finalist for Cambridge Script Festival, 2024;

Semi-Finalist for London International Scriptwriting Competition.

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OPEN by Travis J. Opgenorth (Pilot)

Logline: When the principal of a prestigious Christian school and her fiancé receive a sexual invite from their ethically non-monogamous neighbors, the temptation becomes overpowering along with their need to keep their newly opened relationship from public scrutiny.

Selected by: ISA Staff Member Felicity Wren

Comments: With the success of BABY GIRL there has been a lot more interest in erotic stories and this pilot with its healthy dose of delicious dalliances is an enjoyable exploration of the dance between temptation and morality. The lead characters are impossibly beautiful and the thrill of breaking the rules with each other is the main ‘thrust’ of this pilot episode. 

The script masterfully intertwines elements of domestic drama with societal commentary, crafting a complex narrative that captivates and stimulates thoughtful reflection. It compels the audience to challenge their preconceived notions about sexuality, privacy, and community norms. Throughout, the characters' professional lives act as a reflective surface for their personal struggles, effectively highlighting the tension between internal desires and external perceptions. This nuanced portrayal underscores the impact of societal expectations on individual behavior, emphasizing the visibility and scrutiny of one’s actions within their community. It is sexy and smart.

ISA Connection: ISA Development Slate & Top 25 Screenwriter to Watch.

Awards:

Top 100 of the Launchpad Pilot Competition.

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CONCEALED by Nikolai Von Keller & Teal Greyhaven (Thriller Feature) 

Logline: A lonely man teetering on the brink of violence discovers that a homeless woman has actually been living inside his house for more than a year. At first he is horrified, but then he begins to form a strange, tenuous bond with her, and their unlikely friendship becomes his last shred of hope for a normal life.

Selected by: ISA Staff Member Shayna Weber

Comments: CONCEALED follows Garrett, a loner with a worrying gun obsession who discovers that a homeless woman has been living in his closet. What starts as a home invasion quickly evolves into something far more complex, as two damaged people form a strange bond while battling their own personal demons.This script is smart, tense, and heartbreaking, exploring themes of isolation and mental illness all while making us sympathize with two completely unsympathetic characters as the story unravels. 

ISA Connection: ISA Development Slate, ISA Top 25 Screenwriters to Watch 2023

Interested in reading any of these projects?
Please email Felicity@NetworkISA.org 

To request the screenplay via the ISA platform, you must be an ISA-vetted Industry Pro. Please apply here in your profile.

To be considered for our monthly ISA Staff Picks, please complete your profiles, add your projects, post your success stories, apply to writing gigs, fellowships, contests, and the ISA Diversity Initiative. You don't need to apply to all resources, you just need to be proactive as we are actively scanning the entire ISA platform for our next month's picks.