ISA Staff Picks: November 2024

These screenplays and their writers were selected by ISA staff members as standouts in their genres and formats for the month of November 2024. They are being submitted to agents, managers, producers and production companies actively looking for writers to rep or projects to produce. 

ETERNAL PURSUIT by Benjamin Font (Feature)

Logline: A man attempts to recover from a breakup by using an alternative dating service that finds your perfect match and manufactures a meet-cute and other romantic coincidences with the help of their vast network of Love Associates who operate under Cupid's Code: "In the eternal pursuit of The One, love is the only law."

Selected by: ISA Staff Member Shayna Weber

Comments: Ben Font’s ETERNAL PURSUIT is a quirky romantic comedy that puts a new spin on the concept of “falling in love” by adding in the element of forced coincidence. What if a dating company could create the illusion of happenstance? This film thrusts it’s main character into a wild adventure finding his soulmate and trying to unravel what is really happening to him. Is it their doing or is it fate all along? 

Ben has completed three feature films as well as a number of short films, music videos and sketches and is the author of ten books. https://www.benjaminfont.com/

ISA Connection: Ben placed in the Top 10 of Table Read My Screenplay and was selected for the ISA Development Slate and the Top 25 Screenwriters to Watch.

Awards:
Filmmatic Screenplay Awards - Genre Winner
Table Read My Screenplay - Top 10
ISA Development Slate
ISA Top 25 Screenwriters to Watch

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PURE by Dr. Nava Silton (Television) 

Logline: PURE is a dramatically gripping portrayal of a young woman’s escape from her experience of harrowing domestic abuse and is a powerful LGBT coming out story as she finally embraces her true sexual identity, which she must reconcile with her devout Jewish faith.

Selected by: The ISA Reading Team

Comments: This is an incredibly strong pilot. The writing is excellent, the characters stand out, and the subject matter and execution punches the reader in the face. Really great stuff.

ISA Connection: Nava was discovered via her 2nd Round Selection in the ISA Fast Track Fellowship.

Awards
ISA Fast Track Fellowship - 2nd Round Selection

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NEW by John Harden (Feature)

Logline: Centuries after their deaths, an elderly couple emerge from cryonic suspension to find their lives, health - and youth - totally restored. Together, they face the joys and challenges of a second life in the distant future.

Selected by: ISA Staff Member Max Timm

Comments: While it’s a story that takes place in the distant future, NEW is so relatable, gleeful while being uncomfortable, and manages to somehow present nostalgia. An elderly couple are brought back after years of being cryogenically frozen, and not only is it moving to see the two reunite, but to witness their reactions and experiences being in their 20 year-old bodies again. I kept considering my parents and how meaningful it would be for them to have such an experience, and yet the darkness of the sci-fi genre weaves its way through the senses of the reader, and delivers one of the best scripts I’ve read during my time with the ISA.

ISA Connection: John was discovered via ISA Writing Gig and competition submissions and was invited onto the ISA Development Slate.

Awards:
Final Draft Big Break - Semifinalist
ISA Development Slate
ISA Top 25 Screenwriters to Watch

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ROCK BOTTOM by Nelson Downend (Feature)

Logline: Following a chance encounter while throwing up in the same public bathroom, a fifty-five year old alcoholic and a twenty-four year old bulimic form an unlikely bond as they attempt to address their unresolved trauma, mend fences with estranged family and slowly head down the path toward recovery.

Selected by: ISA Staff Member Molly Kasch

Comments: This funny and gut wrenching story of an unlikely odd couple proves that friendship and support can see you through the darkest of times. This is the story of two people separately navigating addiction, pain, and dysfunctional family relationships, and their coming together to try to find their way through it. The story is heartfelt, the characters are endearing and relatable, and their journeys are infused with a great deal of levity and laugh out loud moments.

ISA Connection: Nelson was the Table Read My Screenplay Hollywood 2024 Grand Prize Winner.

NOTE: We are performing a portion of this screenplay at our Table Read Event on November 7th at 7pm at the Zephyr Theatre on Melrose. Register to Attend for Free

Awards:
Table Read My Screenplay - Grand Prize Winner
Austin Film Festival Screenplay Competition 2024 - Finalist

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NO REST FOR THE WICKED by Denise Meyers (Television)

Logline: A female Chicago hostage negotiator placed on administrative leave after a hostage situation ends in unspeakable tragedy, returns home to Del Rio, Texas to help care for her dying father where she uncovers a family secret so devastating it threatens to destroy everyone she has ever loved.

Selected by: ISA Staff Member Felicity Wren

Comments: MARE OF EASTTOWN meets TRUE DETECTIVE. The main character is a hostage negotiator in Chicago, the episode starts with an explosion that she is blamed for.  She is then suspended and has to go home to Del Rio, Texas. It just so happens that her Dad is dying, two birds one stone, and moreover, they have been estranged for twenty-three years. While she is there, she gets coerced into finding her missing nephew and finds clues about her absent mother, gone since she was eight. The strands of the series are all set up in this well structured, elegantly crafted pilot. We see who everyone is very clearly, old enemies, grudges, jealousy, friendships all with a dying father, and the investigation into the hostage event failure looming. It combines the engine of a procedural, centered around her role as a Chicago negotiator, with a deeper, overarching mystery rooted in the secrets of her small-town, middle-American upbringing.

ISA Connection: Denise was an ISA Fast Track Fellow and selected for the ISA Development Slate and Top 25 Screenwriters to Watch.

Awards:
Table Read My Screenplay - Grand Prize Winner (Shorts)
ISA Fast Track Fellow
ISA Development Slate
Top 25 Screenwriters to Watch

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.