Top 25 Pilots - 2023 JumpStart Writing Competition
Roadmap Writers is thrilled to announce the Top 25 Pilots from our 2023 JumpStart Writing Competition.
JumpStart leverages the reach and resources of Roadmap Writers to advocate for these exciting emerging voices. This year's judging panel includes execs and reps from companies such as Good Fear Content, Odenkirk Provissiero, Heroes and Villananthology-styles, Writ Large, and more,
And now we’re pleased to announce the...
TOP 25 PILOTS
Script Title | Writer(s) | Logline |
AIN'T DEAD YET | Kari Barlas | A fed-up widow and a divorced Death Doula rattle convention in an assisted living facility. |
ASTROLINGUA | Kyle Acosta | After losing his wife, a fraudulent English teacher must teach a mishmash of hilarious aliens at an intergalactic university without being discovered as a phony or risk being sent back to Earth. |
B. O. B. (BATTERY OPERATED BOYFRIEND) | L. A. Hunt | A teacher in the 70s has a nervous breakdown, loses her job, and struggles to find a replacement career. After visiting Eve’s Garden in NYC—the nation's first feminist sex-toy shop—she decides to become a sex educator back in her hometown where she must overcome traditional small-town beliefs to become a sex-positive pioneer. |
BABYLON: AN ANCIENT COMEDY | Anthony "Z" Zonfrelli | A raunchy, referential mockumentary set in the unique (and shockingly horny) world of Ancient Babylon, complete with supernatural mythology, King Nebuchadnezzar II's eccentric royal family, and, you know, the occasional murdered insolent civilian. |
BLOODY NOSES | Matilda Corley Schulman | What's the cost of winning? After the assault of one of their own, a team of female collegiate soccer players are about to find out, and make others find out as well, whether they want to or not... |
CHATTAHOOCHEE | Clint Williams | Two runaway slaves, journeying to a sanctuary for hundreds of liberated individuals guarded by cannons abandoned after the War of 1812, find themselves compelled to protect their newfound haven from invading U.S. troops before they can establish new lives. |
CRAPSHOOT | Drew McInturff | When LA’s most feared food critic watches his career implode from a Crohn’s disease diagnosis, he's forced to team up with his chef ex-girlfriend to create a new restaurant for people with dietary restrictions. |
DAD BOD | Michael Brewer | A goofy and not-always-honest attorney's unique--and illegal--plan to have an old friend carry his baby hits a literal bump in the road when a pregnant ex reappears. |
FAEFYRE | Dalila Ali Rajah | In a realm where magic collides with the mundane, Natalie, a Black Queer Hybrid Fae, and her wild-child Trans sister, Naomi, navigate their Faerie cannabis business, unexpected family visits, budding romance, and the unraveling of treaties with hostile Clans. |
FISH HEAD | Yasmine Gomez | When a Filipino-American woman moves back in with her immigrant parents after losing her husband and her job, she struggles to open a Filipino bakery and prove to the conservative locals that her food is as American as apple pie. |
MIDDLE AGED MAGICIAN | Debra Kirschner | A forty-something magician juggles her oddball NYC gigs with taking care of her aging parents and fighting for the survival of her family’s restaurant. And also she’s a witch. |
MOST WANTED | Cat Youell & Brad Crowe | A broke married couple decides to track down one of the FBI's 10 Most Wanted criminals for the reward money so they can pay their rent (and of course fall back in love along the way). |
ON-AIR | Mitch Brown | When an optimistic college grad lands a job at a struggling small-town radio station, he must motivate his jaded boss and eccentric co-workers to keep the record-spinning mainstay from going completely extinct. |
PUBLIC ACCESS | Jordan Cipolla | Set in 1973, when a passionate project manager is assigned to co-run the local Public Access TV station, Hal, the studio's apathetic leader, must sabotage their marketing plan in order to avoid the one question he’s been running from: what it means to feel personally successful in the arts? |
QUEENS VILLAGE | Samantha Lavin | When a suburban realtor's wife has a mental breakdown, his mother in law cuts him off financially, forcing him to return to his sketchy Queens Village roots to manage a building of questionable tenants in order to retain custody of his kids during the glory years of the early 1980’s. |
RIDGEVALE | Jordana Howard | In the pilot episode of this anthology style series, a young man, Cody moves into the eerily placid housing community called Ridgevale. Upon arrival, Cody develops a strange growth, a cord, that forces him to reconcile his own violent nature. |
RIVER RATS | Bryce Berkowitz | A 12-year-old graffiti artist takes down a local drug dealer to avenge his brother and becomes a trailer park kingpin. *This is adapted from an award-winning short story.* |
SHE FLIES WITH HER OWN WINGS | Stephen Hoover | The guilt-ridden sister of a missing woman must take the investigation into her own hands when new evidence surfaces in a cold case. |
SNOOTWOOD | Daniel Callaghan | Snootwood, a small, purple, furry creature, finds himself an unlikely hero in a fantastical realm that prizes size and strength. He embarks on epic quests, battles the vile sorcerer Vael'Korin, and learns the true meaning of heroism while navigating the challenges of friendship and the absurdities of his magical world. (Adult Animation) |
STUCK | Gabriella Font | STUCK is a 30-minute dramedy about Sammie Pax, a no-sabo Latina in her early 20s, who gets locked in a psychiatric hospital after accidentally being a little too honest with a nurse. After Sammie’s placed on a 5150 hold, she’s forced to go to therapy, take medication, and confront the skeletons in her closet. She hits rock bottom, and the only place left to go is up. |
THE FLEA MARKET: EVERY NOOK AND CRANNY | Nikhil Emmadi & Mark Dudley | Michelle, a writer struggling with maladaptive daydreaming, has her life upended when she inherits a Midwestern flea market from her quirky aunt. Rescuing it from her estranged uncle will save the livelihood of the market’s denizens and lead to a fat $500,000 payday if she can keep it operational for a year. |
THE MONSTER HYPOTHESIS | Romily Bernard | WEDNESDAY goes southern gothic when a 12 year old misfit takes a page out of her con-artist grandmother's book and pretends to be psychic--with hilarious and spooky results as she gains the friends she's always wanted, but also finds herself pulled into the swamp town's dark secret. |
THE POD | Saraphina Redalieu | After managing to stay alive during the first year of the apocalypse, a podcast host must assume the identity of her dead scientist wife in order to help rebuild society and ensure her own survival. |
THEY'RE THERE | Jared Januschka | When a therapist’s savior complex destroys his life by chasing his patients’ delusional conspiracies, he must forgive his schizophrenic father for inflicting childhood psychological torture if he’s ever going to accept his own schizophrenic tendencies. |
WESTERN DEVILS | Seth Andrews | Devils roam amongst the violence of outlaws and lawmen in unincorporated Las Cruces, New Mexico. A stoic priest sets out to exorcise them, all the while running from his devilish past. |
TOP 25 PILOT WRITERS
