2026 ScreamFest LA screenplay finals announced

I’ve been so busy with screenplay development and film editing projects, I failed to notice that the Los Angeles Screamfest 2026 Screenplay Competition finalists were announced last weekish.

My A24-style quirky horror mystery was a seminfinalist.

Better, I suppose, than a kick in the stones.

Here, courtesy of Screamfestla.com is the list:

WINNING SCREENPLAY:

72 Hours by Jeremy W. Brown

TOP 5 FINALISTS:

  • 72 Hours by Jeremy W. Brown
  • Gated Community by Erin Rein
  • Hopdrop by Coleton Dartez
  • Maggot by Jordan Obey
  • The Art Of Madness by Marc Adams & Bobby Gorman

SEMI-FINALISTS:

  • 72 Hours by Jeremy W. Brown
  • A Hell of Heaven by Kevin Hoyer
  • Accelerate by Alan Mah Baxter
  • AGAiiN by Benjamin J. Gohs
  • ARGYRIA by Tanya Klein & James Cirile
  • At Rest by Amit Tishler
  • Bad River by Ken Brosky
  • Beneath The Creek by Christopher DeNoyer Massey
  • Between The Walls by Anthony Di Pietro
  • Bite Back by Antonio Negret
  • Blood Pact by Sean Mick
  • Cold Dead Fingers by Jack Warner
  • Denied by Travis Bible
  • Distant by Max Colston
  • Doornails by Mike Korpi
  • DreamScapers by Joel Wetterstein
  • Drive Thru by Tyler Gilbert & Bryce Iwaschuk
  • Electa by Kenny Kistner
  • Escape From Ape Canyon by Jarrod Tallman
  • Everyone Comes Home by Sean Arnell
  • Expression by Emanuel D. Gumina
  • Forsaken, Texas by Jordan Jacobson
  • Frost by Aaron Huffty
  • Gated Community by Erin Rein
  • Ghosting by Micheline Auger
  • Hair by Olia Oparina
  • Her Last Request by Edwin R. Colin
  • Hopdrop by Coleton Dartez
  • Hunger by Charles Ancelle
  • I Love Terror by Ryan Daniel Kavanagh
  • Ibex by Chris Hopper
  • INNOCENCE IN A GUILTY MIND by Paul Mortsolf
  • In Our Dreams by Níck Bey
  • Jams Quota by Tia Sarah Dorothy Stewart
  • Keen by Natasha Preston
  • Keepers of Killreagh by Eric Chambers
  • Kill Satan by Micaiah Mathisen
  • Kill Your Sister by Jeff Beauvoir
  • Knot by Viktoria Bohunicka
  • Legacy by Michael D. Morra
  • Mad World by Jason Pitts
  • Maggot by Jordan Obey
  • MERLIN’S MAGIC RIDE! by The Burbank Brothers
  • Molly by Charity Stashwick
  • Moorland by F. Samuel Quo Vadis
  • MOTHERS OF THE DISAPPEARED – SPEC by Paul Wilson
  • Murder Violet by Ervin Anderson
  • Nearly Dead by Andrew Powell
  • Necrotica by Wesley Drent
  • New Man by Jacob D. Wells
  • Night Games by Ryan Jackson
  • Occupation by Vincent Turpin
  • Playing House by Tim Aslin
  • Roots by George Brighton
  • Schisma by Cameron A. Straughan
  • Shrike by Chelsea Brooks
  • SICILIAN WEIRD TALE by Andrea Indovino
  • Sins of the Fathers by Larry Mintz & David Braff
  • Slain by Patrick Pfupajena
  • Social Suicide by Kevin Lopez
  • Split Screen by Kristen Hynes
  • Swipe Up by Lauri Levenfeld
  • TALES OF PsAIchosis by Chris Wiltz
  • TASTE by Samuel Gonzalez Jr.
  • The Art Of Madness by Marc Adams & Bobby Gorman
  • The Base by Sergey Vasilenko
  • The Buried by Noah Ruderman
  • The Centre by Steve Brumwell
  • The Chair by Gwen Carmichael
  • The Claim by Alex Cope & Will Zech
  • The Devlin by Travon Isaiah Wallace
  • The Fork by Alex Meillier
  • The Gallows Call by Brian Rousso
  • The Great Plains Vampire by Trevor Markwart
  • The Hollow Tapes by Devon Clark
  • The Kill Signal by Richard Brenkuš
  • The Last Call by Henry Winnik
  • THE LONG DRIFT by Jason A. Green
  • The Red Zone by Terry Luke Podnar
  • The Refiner by Max Colston
  • The Reclaiming by Keith Josef Adkins
  • The Shoreline Slasher by Chris Errington
  • The Skeptics by Marc Masciandaro
  • The Smiling Man by William Owen
  • The Spillway by Matt Brinker
  • The Tulpa by Ethan Cunningham & Josh Devor
  • The Wicked by Tyson Johann Carlson
  • Twisted Bonds by Peter Barker
  • UNDER THE KNIFE by Gavin Lee
  • VIAJAR CON EL SOL by Alex M. Garnett
  • VICE TIMES SEVEN by Leah Kafetz Rothman
  • Victim 11 by Mariam Maki
  • Vermyn by Patrick Monasterio
  • Windfall by Jeremy Scott Elliott

QUARTER-FINALISTS:

  • A Killer’s End by Pieter Verlaak & Tom Vermeersch
  • A Savage Landscape by Guy Pooles
  • A Tale of Ash and Shadows by Peter Fuentes
  • Adventures in Serial Killing by Jack Warner
  • After Hours by Julian Yoval
  • Anxiety by Meredith Stack
  • Artifacts by Ian Gephart
  • Aurora by Matt Miller
  • Batch 47 by Christopher Powell
  • BLOOD$UCKER by Kayne Gorney
  • Blood Gospel by Charles Brice
  • Brainrot by Nick Fuller
  • Camp Ascension by David Desio & Justin Wiggins
  • Cattle by Tom Armstrong
  • COMMUNITY GUIDELINES: BANNED by Alina Norman & Bart Norman
  • Crapshoot by Philadelphia Elder
  • Day of the Dread by Marco WestWood Gonzalez
  • Dickmaxxing by Lena Buda & Dorrie Lipman
  • Dig by Jamie Cooper & Jason Myers
  • Dust by Taylor S. Doose
  • Eat Lead by Bryan Bockbrader
  • Eat The Boys by Martyn Eaden
  • Eyes of the Crow by Maximilian Feurstein & Ted Dontchev
  • Failure by Zachary Dutch Andrews
  • FED by Rhonda Yates
  • Grimoire by Pablo Torroella
  • Haunters by Michael Gene Conti
  • Headhunters by Scott Kassel
  • Hungry Hearts by Katie Boyer
  • I HOPE THEY REMEMBER ME LONG AFTER I’M GONE. by Kanani Rogers
  • I Heard A Rumour by Victor L. Cezar
  • IRREVERSIBLE DAMAGE by Leon Masters
  • Killjoy by Joe Day
  • LIFE OUTSIDE THE SILVER TUBE by Jim Hendricks
  • Mermania! by Michael P Brennan
  • Mothered by Marco Ferreira
  • Neon Nite by Johnny Coffeen
  • Passage by Cary-Jamal Thompson & C.Z. Robinson
  • Piggy by Sean Crampton
  • Rattle by Sean Mick
  • Rattlesnake Ridge by S. Lee Taylor
  • Residue by Matilda Szydagis
  • Road 21 by Marco Ferreira
  • Saving Yourself by Griffin Taylor & Alex Genty-Waksberg
  • SEVENTH VEIL by Mariam Maki
  • Tape by A.W. Smith
  • THE AMENITIES by Spencer Ross
  • The Alligator Man by R.J. Airamid Selrahc
  • The Bell by Michael Ferrara & Larry Hopper
  • The Book of Jennifer by Nathaniel Davis
  • The Gospel of Cain by Kamal Moo
  • The Hike by Dominic Russell
  • The House by Graham Mulvein
  • The Last Resort by Joseph D’Urso
  • The Last Schoolhouse by Adam Galassi
  • The Tally by Vincent Delaney
  • The White Torpedo by Carren
  • Sanguis Septem10 by Caprice Nadine Castano
  • Wake Up by Richard Laing
  • Wicked Game by Stan Evans
  • Will Kill For Food by Alex Schopp
  • Your Objective is Escape by Alexander Hector Ortiz