Top 50 Pilots - 2023 JumpStart Writing Competition

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.

AUSTENTATIOUS

Charmaine Colina

An English professor's birthday wish transports her back to the age of JANE AUSTEN--whose engagement she must break up to save the literary icon's legacy.

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

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.  

Based on actual events.

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

DECODE SWITCH PILOT

April Denise 

Chaos ensues when two unapologetically Black interns become diversity hires for WYT, a defamed media company, and convince their colleagues to stop code-switching and bring their authentic selves to work. 

DIG

Elizabeth Stamp

Like any aspiring lady doctor in 1875, Maggie sells the corpses of the uppercrust to pay the bills, but her Victorian side hustle hits a snag when she digs up Ezra, a dilettante who was buried alivedarknet's16-year-oldmother-in-lawsex toy, and she must help solve his attempted murder to achieve her medical dreams.

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.

FAYE

Teresa Sullivan

A one-hour dramedy series set at the dawn of television is based on the true story you've never heard: America's first late-night TV host - and the men determined to take her down. 

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.

HUMANELY HUMAN

Ryan Dellaquila

In a semi-post-apocalyptic world, a small-time exterminator, responsible for irradiating zombies humanely from people's homes, turns to killing his competitors to repopulate the undead demographic in the hopes of gaining more business. 

ILLICIT BIDS FOR DYING KIDS

Phillip Roquemore

After being fired by Make-A-Wish Foundation, a man pairs up with the owner of the dark-net's Silk Road website to start a black market version of Make-A-Wish, for dying kids whose last wishes are either illegal or just kind of fucked up.

INFLUENCE

Laura Han

JESUS ONE-STOP

Frederik Ehrhardt

A washed-up actress and single mom cashes in on her Golden Globe-winning childhood role to gouge the Jesus crowd on the convention circuit and transform herself into a successful Christian lifestyle brand.

LIFE ON CHELSEA ROAD

Ed McCarthy

Set in 1992 just before the Internet connected the world, four families on a small Long Island block try to connect to each other while helping their kids through drug problems, financial disaster, sex, death, and grunge music.
Think MY SO-CALLED LIFE meets THIS IS US. 

LOVE FOOL

Zina Kresin

Clover, an adult-school teacher who is unable to resolve her mother issues, follows her therapist into a cult — her second one.

MAFIA SECRETS: HONOR AND SILENCE

Matt Curtsinger

After his criminal father and mother are murdered in front of him, young Xavier is dragged back into the world of organized crime after years in witness protection.

MIDDLE AGED MAGICIAN

Debra Kirschner

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). 

NEW CHAPTER

Ryan Manns

In hopes of making a new friend, a lonely bookworm summons her hero from a fantasy YA novel, but the arrogant villain shows up instead and the pair of them must learn how to survive high school together.

OBITCH

Shalane Miller

After the brutally honest obituary she wrote for her father went viral, a young woman makes a living offering the same savage obit services for clients who've lost a not-so-loved one. It’s Six Feet Under meets Fleabag. 

ON-AIR

Mitchell 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.

OY...A JEWISH COMEDY SERIES

Shara Ashley Zeiger

When Dani Solomon turns 40, her mother blackmails her into becoming an adviser of a high school Jewish sorority, and in a desperate wish to stand up to her, her inner monologue gets hijacked by her 16 year old self. 

PROSPERITY

Steven Tate

McKenzie “Maxx” Zacharias is the mysterious new leader of a secret organization that purportedly protect winners of lotteries from losing their funds, who’s forced to take on a young client being chased by a powerful drug cartel.

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.

RENT CONTROL

Matthew Cameron

A starving artist with zero patience struggles to manage the unruly tenants of her family's New York City apartment building.

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.*

SATAN'S HANDMAIDENS

Caroline Hoover

An irreverent look at the front line of the American culture wars: the lawn outside an abortion clinic in Richmond, VA. It’s Escorts vs. Antis, plus the patients caught in-between who are forced to make choices in a world that takes more of their options away every day.

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.

SKáLA

Shauna Joy

A notorious Greek-American hitman comes out of hiding in Central Florida to take on a white supremacist cult tied to an opioid operation, with the help of his estranged cousin, a clean-cut cop. While he seeks redemption for a lifetime of violence, his cousin is just getting started.

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 AGE OF DESIRE

Suzanne Griffin

In Gilded Age New York, a brilliant young opera singer locked in a destructive relationship with her dashing but violent impresario must risk her life to be with the ballerina she truly loves - while tearing down the corrupt world that holds both women hostage. 

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 FRANCHISE

Lance Cartelli

Following the death of a legendary patriarch, a highly dysfunctional family fights for ownership of their multi-billion dollar NFL franchise and the future of their faltering dynasty.

THE GOOD SPORT

Jared Levy

Sidelined by his newspaper, a 1920's New York journalist attempts to break his own story by challenging the heavyweight champion of the world to a bout.

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.

THE TOUCH PROTOCOL

Liam Hooper

When a group of strangers are thrust into each others’ lives after spending every previous day in strict government-enforced isolation, returning to solitude is no longer an option as they discover purpose outside the four walls they’d been taught to believe was the extent of their existence.

THEY'RE THERE

Jared Januschka

THUMPERS

Dawn Kalani Cowle

After their father's death, two estranged sisters—a struggling filmmaker and a suburban "wine mom"—unexpectedly inherit a notorious Nevada brothel. Battling a determined madame for ownership, they unite to preserve their father's legacy and the new family business of legal prostitution.

UNDERLAND

Keren Green

Haunted by her brother’s death, a teen addict is forced to join the militia tasked with fighting horrific beasts, pushing her to confront her repressed memories of that fateful night and unravel the shocking truth about their brutal child-led society.

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.

WINNERS

Nora Heidenreich

A dating show's winning couple struggles to navigate their relationship back at home. The cameras are off, but the show's just getting started.