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Returning for his or her competition’s thirty second version from February 19-25, 2026, the daring voices behind Slamdance proceed to inform a cutting-edge story by honoring breakout skills who may redefine the movie and TV enterprise, too. On Tuesday evening in Los Angeles (the occasion’s new dwelling after leaving Park Metropolis, Utah and Sundance behind final 12 months), the 2025 Slamdance screenwriting competitors introduced its winners at an awards ceremony downtown — hosted by AGBO, the indie studio based by Anthony and Joe Russo.
In 2025, the competition celebrated writers throughout 5 classes: characteristic movie, horror/thriller, TV pilot, brief movie, and screenplay mentorship. Slamdance awarded greater than $18,000 in prizes and inventive sources to the proficient winners who emerged from a aggressive pool of greater than 4,200 submissions. A TV pilot about motherhood and healthcare following a girl working in a rural clinic, “The Badlands Girl’s Clinic” by Brennan Cusack took dwelling the $10,000 grand prize.
“We learn 1000’s of tales this 12 months, and ‘Badlands Girl’s Clinic’ didn’t simply stand out — it recalibrated the room,” mentioned competition director Taylor Miller in a press launch. “It’s the type of writing that adjustments how you consider what tv can maintain. At a time when storytelling is engineered to please algorithms, this pilot refuses the method.”
Reflecting on the win, Cusack continued, “In a rustic the place thousands and thousands stay in ‘maternity care deserts,’ ‘The Badlands Clinic’ celebrates the ladies who’ve labored collectively to create oases. This story explores the transformational energy of selection in girls’s lives. Right here in rural America, selection isn’t just a headline. It’s energy, id, dignity, group, and survival.”
First place winners within the different 4 classes took dwelling $2,000 every, in addition to one-year memberships to Roadmap Writers (an academic digital platform for screenwriting) and complimentary authorized companies from Pessah Regulation Group — an official fest sponsor and Slamdance’s personal authorized counsel. Awarded to “The Reward of Rain” by Renn Tan, the Finest Function winner will even get script protection from Sony Photos Classics.
Screenwriter Erick Torres was given this 12 months’s Slamdance Screenplay Mentorship Award for “Cucuy,” the story of a combating canine who escapes the pits to pursue redemption. The competition will collaborate with Torres to show that fascinating thought into a fair higher script by one-on-one teaching classes.
“Cucuy is a narrative of endurance, trauma, second possibilities, and the facility of affection,” mentioned competition supervisor Anna Lee Lawson in the identical launch. “Torres demonstrates exceptional expertise by his emotional depth, creativity, and talent to inform a robust story with out counting on dialogue. We see super potential right here and stay up for working with Erick.”
Learn on for the entire listing of the 2025 Slamdance screenplay competitors winners.
Grand Prize Winner
“The Badlands Girl’s Clinic” by Brennan Cusack
Mentorship Winner
“Cucuy” by Erick Torres
Finest Function
1st place: “The Reward of Rain” by Renn Tan
2nd place: “Important” by Amir Zargara & Gabe Berry
third place: “Burn Her Slowly” by Edith Storm
Finest Horror/Thriller
1st place: “MESA” by Pam Covington
2nd place: “Scissor Mouth” by Deborah Richards
third place: “Frozen Lies” by Eric R. Lotter
Finest Pilot
1st place: “The Badlands Girl’s Clinic” by Brennan Cusack
2nd place: “Entre Nous” by Christina Keach
third place: “Dealer” by Jas Kandola
Finest Quick
1st place: “The Consolation Girl Statue” by Kyung-Ja Lee
2nd place: “Inbetweening” by James Newman
third place: “Sourdough (Masa Madre)” by Gádor Camacho Cervantes
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