Semifinalist, 2026/2027 Top Tier Competition
Finalist, 2025 JumpStart Writing Competition
BIO
J.R. Spaulding Jr. grew up in Michigan's Upper Peninsula and currently lives in Detroit. He received an M.A. in theatre history from Michigan State University and has worked as an actor, director, technical director, and guest instructor at theatres in Alaska, Maine and various locations in between.
As a playwright his works have been performed and staged across the country and across the pond. As a screenwriter his first screenplay, Stoneface, was selected for the Barnstorm Fest shortlist, and the Selling Your Screenplay Budget List. It was a semi-finalist in the 2023 Madwife 100 scripts contest and was named the best overall screenplay at the Bridgefest International Film Festival. His feature Rescue Eddie was named the Best Comedy at the Bridgefest International Film Festival and was a finalist for the 2024 Scriptmatix Fellowship contest and the 2025 Mad Wife 100 contest. It was also an award winner in the 2025 Hollywood Indie Film Awards and a semifinalist at the Midwest Weirdfest in 2024. His pilot episode for the television adaptation of the script was a winner in the 2024 Reno-Tahoe Fellowship, a top five finalist in the Roadmap Writers Jumpstart Competition, and a second-rounder for the ISA Fast Track Fellowship.
A distinctly Midwestern writer, Spaulding's works are typically grounded with a blue collar mentality and filled with characters who confront their circumstances and solve their problems through a mixture of practicality, ingenuity and a good deal of hard work.