Here is the list of 2023 screenplay winners from the COMEDY Festival.
Watch the 17 winning screenplay best scene readings:
2 Short Scripts:
The Paranormal Prankster: Casefile 001 – Bigfoot. by Sean Whitley
Short Script
When a notorious Internet troll appears on a live streaming video podcast to debate the existence of Sasquatch with Bigfoot believers, the fur flies when he’s challenged by an ape-suited prankster claiming to be the legendary beast!
COMEDY Festival 1st Scene: The Paranormal Prankster: Casefile 001 – Bigfoot. by Sean Whitley
Biscuit Bombshell, by Mary Beth McDaniel
Short Script
In this comedic scene, a family is gathered around a diner table enjoying a meal. The centerpiece of the table is a basket of Grandma’s Homemade Butter Biscuits, with only one remaining. Tension arises as each family member tries to claim the last biscuit for themselves. Arguments and taunting ensue, eventually escalating into a physical fight.
COMEDY Festival SHORT Script: Biscuit Bombshell, by Mary Beth McDaniel
7 TV PIlots:
Group Therapy, by Jaycee J. Brill
TV Pilot
In this dark comedy, 7 unique and relatable characters venture out of their comfort zone through group exercises, exposure therapy, and dialectical behavioral therapy. Following each of the characters in their personal lives, (Carmen in the pilot episode) we see how they interact with the world outside and inside therapy, and how their personalities and symptoms vary.
LETHAL WEAPONS, by Adam Hopwood
TV Pilot
Disillusioned with his day job as an engineer, Ken Hammer fights to be accepted in the offbeat world of professional swordsmithing.
Winning COMEDY Festival Best Scene: LETHAL WEAPONS, by Adam Hopwood
JUST THE SIX OF US, by Jimmy Sanders
TV Pilot
Four sisters, suddenly reunited, try to make a better future for themselves by reconnecting to their past.
COMEDY Festival 1st Scene: JUST THE SIX OF US, by Jimmy Sanders
SMOKEEASY, by Amy Copperman, Courtney Thomas
TV Pilot
SmokeEasy is a stoner-buddy comedy about two ebony and ivory millennials, Jill and Red, disrupting the cannabis industry one “woke” misadventure at a time. First order of business: Get their THC tampon prototype into the hands of potential investor and festival headliner, Rihanna.
COMEDY Festival 1st Scene Script: SMOKEEASY, by Amy Copperman, Courtney Thomas
BELLADONNA, by Danielle Tjoelker
TV Pilot
In 1750 London, sisters Mary and Bella Roberts are accidental stowaways on a pirate ship, which sets them on a path towards a life of crime.
COMEDY Festival TV Best Scene Screenplay: BELLADONNA, by Danielle Tjoelker
MUNCIPAL COURT, by Ross Fischer, Erin Higginbotham
TV Pilot
“Parks & Rec” meets “Law & Order”
COMEDY Festival 1st Scene TV: MUNCIPAL COURT, by Ross Fischer, Erin Higginbotham
YOU MUST BE THIS TALL, by Randall R. Reese
TV Pilot
Workers of a run down amusement park rush to save the park before an evil developer buys the land.
COMEDY Festival 1st Scene: YOU MUST BE THIS TALL, by Randall R. Reese
8 Feature Scripts:
Down at the Val, by Neil Goodchild
Feature Script
The grandson of a golf course owner loses his job and has to return to the course, where his grandfather and two surprising new employees inspire him to try and help save it from bankruptcy.
COMEDY Festival 1st Scene Script: Down at the Val, by Neil Goodchild
FEELING JUNG, by Lauren Kettler
Feature Script
Tara and Glen can’t afford a divorce so they take week’s vacation, with 10-year-old son Ned in tow, to find new, better-heeled spouses.
COMEDY Festival BEST Scene Script Reading: FEELING JUNG, by Lauren Kettler
DRAG ME TO CHRISTMAS, by Tennessee Martin
Feature Script
When Scrooge-like tech-whiz, Chip Webber, finds out that her mother has passed away a few days before Christmas, she begrudgingly returns to her small hometown after a decade away to pay her respects. Upon learning she has inherited her mother’s pride and joy, a dilapidated community recreation center, she decides to liquidate it against the wishes of her younger brother, SIMON.
COMEDY Festival Best Scene Reading: DRAG ME TO CHRISTMAS, by Tennessee Martin
SHELTER, by Janna Jones
Feature Script
A smart, but indecisive movie theater owner is about to lose her husband, movie theater and her family’s legacy, but when two forces of nature sweep into her life–a violent tropical storm and a gorgeous and compassionate man–she finally jumps into action to get what she wants.
GENDER SWITCH, by Tristan Venture
Feature Script
When a newly installed 5G Cellular Tower malfunctions and causes a career-oriented woman and eternal man-child to switch bodies they must learn to accept their differences before destroying each other’s lives.
COMEDY Festival BEST Scene Reading: GENDER SWITCH, by Tristan Venture
Le Tour Kashmir, by David H. Miller
Feature Script
East beats West when Punjab’s fastest rick-shaw driver covertly enters the sub-continent’s biggest cycling race, but her road to victory is fraught with colorful contenders, scheming politicians, and a ruthless American coach.
COMEDY Festival Best Scene Script: Le Tour Kashmir, by David H. Miller
THIS GUY’S NUTS,, by Max Lehman
Feature Script
In a small New England college town, a PhD biology candidate, Chester, is studying genetic code to domesticate wildlife by starting with the creature he fears most, the squirrel. Though he is a man of science, Chester can’t be convinced otherwise that squirrels are after a particular pair of nuts, his testicles.
SHITSTORM by Adrian Cunningham
Feature Script
A Berlin-based plumber is forced to play a part in the final, chaotic hours of Hitler’s Third Reich when he’s summoned to unblock the toilets in the Fuhrer’s bunker.
Comedy FESTIVAL 