AND THE WINNERS ARE:

1st place

Death in Gujarat by Christopher J. Baier

2nd place

The King of 46th Street by Elia Cholakis and James Rejent

3rd place

Black Diamond by Karen Marie Howland

Congratulations to the winners! Stay tuned for details of the reading of Death in Gujarat by Christopher J. Baier.

COMPETITION DETAILS:

Judges

The winners were decided by a panel of judges, including New York Times Bestselling author Luanne Rice , J.C. Chandor, Writer/Director of Margin Call, and Emmy, Peabody, and Academy Award-winning Director/Writer Robert Levi.

ROBERT LEVI

Robert Levi is a New York-based an Emmy, Peabody, and Academy Award-winning writer, director, producer, and cinematographer. In 2008, his feature film, Billy Strayhorn: Lush Life, became the first film ever to receive three important awards in one year: the Emmy for Best Documentary, the Peabody, and the Writers Guild Best Documentary Screenplay Award. The film was one of three documentaries to make New York Magazine’s Top Ten Best Television Shows list.

Levi also received three Best Script nominations from the Writers Guild for his other work. His feature biography film, Duke Ellington: Reminiscing in Tempo, premiered on PBS’s American Experience, received numerous awards, including an Emmy, and later played on A&E’s Biography and in major international markets. Levi wrote, produced, and directed Mott Street, a 35mm dramatic film short for PolyGram, and the upcoming Gordon Parks feature bio for PBS.  Early in his career, he produced the Oscar-winning documentary Scared Straight, and his work has been screened at worldwide festivals including Berlin, London, Melbourne, Munich, AFI, and others. As a respected director of photography, Levi has also shot films for Norman Jewison, Sidney Pollack, and Nick Broomfield, and taught cinematography at Columbia University’s Graduate Film School.

LUANNE RICE

With twenty-eight novels that have been translated into twenty-four languages, New York Times bestselling author Luanne Rice has earned the devotion of readers throughout the world.  Described by critics as “a beautiful blend of love and humor, with a little bit of magic thrown in,” and “a rare combination of realism and romance,” Rice’s books often center on love, family, nature and the sea.  Her most recent novel, The Silver Boat, was released on April 5, 2011.

Rice’s work has influenced American television with several of her novels have been adapted for the small screen.  These include Crazy in Love for TNT, Blue Moon for CBS, Follow the Stars Home and Silver Bells for the Hallmark Hall of Fame, and Beach Girls for a mini-series on Lifetime.  Holly Hunter, Bill Pullman, Frances McDormand, Gena Rowlands, Campbell Scott, Kimberly Williams-Paisley, Rob Lowe, Julia Ormond, Anne Heche, Tate Donovan, and Sharon Lawrence are only some of the amazing actors that have starred in projects adapted from Rice’s fan and critic favorites.

JC CHANDOR

 JC Chandor is a writer and director, who has worked on feature films, music videos, documentaries, commercials, and fashion videos.  His film Margin Call, a thriller that revolves around the key people at a investment bank over a 24-hour period during the early stages of the financial crisis, will open in theaters Fall 2011, with a stellar cast, including Kevin Spacey, Jeremy Irons, Demi Moore, Stanley Tucci, and Zachary Quinto.  Margin Call premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2010, where Variety called it “a methodical, coolly absorbing boardroom thriller.” New York Times film critic A.O. Scott hailed it as “both intimately scaled and dazzling in its sweep and implication…[W]hat makes it such a gripping and convincing rendition of events familiar from countless books and articles is the subtlety of Mr. Chandor’s writing, his understated, meticulous mapping of the intersections between banal workplace politics and the movements of international capital.”

Chandor’s successful debut earned him a two-picture writing deal with Warner Bros. He has recently completed the first one, Portofino, which will be produced by Leonardo DiCaprio and is set to release in 2015.

PRIZES

Grand Prize Winner:

2nd and 3rd place:

- Meetings with top agents and production companies (see above)
- A press blast in industry publications & an announcement on BVEW