ISA Staff Picks: September 2024

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

AS I AM by Stephanie Bast (Pilot)

Logline: When a car accident sends a Korean adoptee back home to her big Italian family in her small white town, she sticks out like a yellow thumb -  forcing her to open the eyes she hates, to love the Asian she refuses to be. 

Selected by: ISA Staff Member Max Timm

Comments: Maybe it’s because I’ve read so many scripts over the past 20 years, but I don’t often laugh out loud while reading. This script was a riot to read…and I loved every second of it. Not only is the comedy sharp, and the timing even sharper, but the script dapples the story with little pieces of emotion and heart and genuine care. This is a half-hour comedy that exemplifies how and where half-hour comedy can go in the future. A must-read script from a must-read writer.

ISA Connection: Stephanie was the Grand Prize Selection for the 2024 Story Farm Fellowship.

Awards:
ISA Development Slate
Austin Film Festival - Finalist
Story Farm Fellowship - Grand Prize Selection

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EIGHT DATES & NIGHTS by Tom Hartig (Feature)

Logline: Sick of her parents’ prodding, a quirky Jewish 30-something arranges eight blind dates over the eight nights of Hanukkah to quickly find a suitable husband, but discovers herself in the process

Selected by: ISA Staff Member Molly Kasch

Comments: Eight Dates and Nights is a refreshing take on the rom/com from the viewpoint of a Jewish woman trying to please her parents by finding a husband. The urgency of finding the perfect partner within the eight nights of Hanukkah produces hilarious mayhem and laugh out loud funny moments. As the lead struggles with her parents, her best friend and her job, she learns more about herself and who she wants to be. The script is endearing with strong female leads and fantastic supporting characters, and it does a great job of comically bringing light to how Judaism and holidays such as Hanukkah are often overlooked. 

ISA Connection: Tom was discovered via an ISA Writing Gig submission.

Awards:
Austin Action Fest Screenplay Competition - Second Rounder
ScreenCraft Screenwriting Fellowship - Semi Finalist

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HURTS SO GOOD by Beth Curry (Feature)

Logline: An unlikely connection ensues when Sam (recently dumped by her fiancé) hacks into Ethan’s dead wife’s Facebook account and they start chatting. A pitch black, millennial, You've Got Mail.

Selected by: ISA Staff Member Felicity Wren

Comments: When you read Sam you can only see Jennifer Lawrence on the page. An unlikable kook who is dealing with a LOT of issues, the kind of character that JLaw has made her calling card, and yet we are enchanted. It is an unlikely romance, made of even more incredible beginnings, but at its heart - this is a love story on many levels. It is our search for connection, authenticity and redemption. It is falling in love with yourself again in the most awkward way possible. Being human is hard and unpredictable, and sometimes you have to take chances, by pretending to be the possible ghost of someone’s dead wife via Facebook. Beth Curry has several films in development, most recently with Jackie Weaver and Tony Shalhoub.  Her voice is unique, funny and never boring.

ISA Connection: Beth submitted to an ISA Writing Gig Submission which led to her being invited onto the ISA Development Slate.

Awards:
ISA Development Slate
Nicholls Fellowship - Winner

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COOZE by Wendy Wilkins (Pilot)

Logline: After cheating on her husband, abandoned by her lover, and ignored by the world, a childless, overweight, ordinary, underemployed, failed Hollywood writer -- a breath away from turning fifty -- finds the courage to reset her life and start over again.

Selected by: ISA Staff Member Craig James

Comments: Maybe it’s because I live in Hollywood and have seen many give up on their dreams that this story really hits home for me. Or, it’s because Wendy writes from the heart and she’s just so damn funny. She puts it all out there. She makes the hardship of the Hollywood dream, to be a writer, a standup, a struggling actor, etc. resonate with such sincerity that you can’t not root for her. (Double negatives rule by the way.) Listen up Showrunners, Wendy is fearless. Hire her to be on staff, she is a one of a kind, bold and creative voice!

ISA Connection: Wendy was selected as an ISA Fast Track Fellow.

Awards:
ISA Fast Track Fellow
ISA Development Slate
ISA Top 25 Screenwriter to Watch
Emerging Screenwriters Genre Screenplay Competition - Grand Prize Winner

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REST STOP by Clarissa Jacobson (Feature)

Logline: 2 a.m. in the middle of the Arizona desert, a woman on the run pulls into an abandoned rest stop where her little girl disappears and a mother’s worst nightmare begins.

Selected by: ISA Staff Member Shayna Weber

Comments: If you have ever stopped at a desolate rest stop on the side of the highway and shuddered at how isolating it is, wondering if anyone would even know if you went missing, this film is for you. Rest Stop is a female-led psychological thriller that keeps you on your toes, trying to solve this mystery as the characters take you on a wild goose chase through the desert in search of a missing child. Fast paced, character driven and exciting, it explores the themes of loss, guilt and also forgiveness. It’s The Vanishing meets Identity.

ISA Connection: Clarissa is a friend of the ISA and writer of I Made a Short Film, Now WTF Do I Do WIth It.  

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.