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