Hall of Fame
Welcome to our Rocaberti Writers’ Hall of Fame! This page is designed to celebrate Rocabertians’ (all those who’ve attended a retreat) successes - and also to inspire and encourage other writers!
If you’d like to share your success stories with us: - awards, projects in development, representation found - then please contact [email protected]
Mark Dispenza
THE LAUGHTER OF CHILDREN
A hardened small-time criminal without prospects helps kidnap two small children for a ransom and discovers that he’s the only person who can protect them from their abusive stepfather.
Semi-finalist, Atlanta Screenplay Awards 2021
Finalist (Best Feature Script), Beyond the Curve International Film Festival 2021
Semi-finalist, NYC Screenplay Awards 2021
Honorable Mention, Santa Barbara International Screenplay Awards 2021
Semi-finalist, Stage 32 Feature Drama Screenwriting Contest 2021
Finalist (Feature Screenplay), San Francisco Indie Fest 2022
Third Place, Hot Springs Screenplay Competition 2022
CYCLE LUNAIRE
A young boy in backwoods Louisiana tries to stop his mother’s drinking, only to discover that he is the legacy of an even greater horror.
Winner (Best Short Script), Beyond the Curve International Film Festival 2021
Quarterfinalist, Creative World Awards 2021
Finalist (Short Script), GenreBlast Film Festival 2021
Semi-finalist, Hollywood Just4Shorts Film & Screenplay Competition 2021
Best Short Horror Script, International Indie Gathering 2021
Quarterfinalist, Raindance Script Competition 2021
Honorable Mention, Santa Barbara International Screenplay Awards 2021
Best Short Script, Siren Screenwriting Festival 2021
Best Horror Short Script, Summer in the South 2021
Quarterfinalist, WeScreenplay Short Script Screenwriting Contest 2021
Semi-finalist (Short Screenplay Competition), San Francisco Indie Fest 2022
Mary Wiebe
HOLOCAUST OF A SOUL
A ‘hidden in plain sight’ German-Jewish scientist finds that even working for Hitler cannot save his family from the horrors of war, or the machinations of the enemies of his own making – himself and his best friend.
Quarterfinalist, Stage 32 Drama Screenwriting Contest
Melanie Cantor
Death and Other Happy Endings
Jennifer Cole has just been told that she has a terminal blood disorder and has just three months to live–ninety days to say goodbye to friends and family, and to put her affairs in order. Ninety days to come to terms with a diagnosis that is unfair, unexpected, and completely unpronounceable. Focusing on the positives (she won’t have to go on in a world without Bowie or Maya Angelou; she won’t get Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s like her parents, or have teeth that flop out at the mere mention of the word apple), Jennifer realizes she only has one real regret: the relationships she’s lost.
Rather than running off to complete a frantic bucket list, Jennifer chooses to stay put and write a letter to the three most significant people in her life, to say the things she wished she’d said before but never dared: her overbearing, selfish sister, her jelly-spined, cheating ex-husband, and her charming, unreliable ex-boyfriend–and finally tell them the truth.
At first, Jennifer feels cleansed by her catharsis. Liberated, even. Her ex-boyfriend rushes to her side and she even starts to build bridges with her sister Isabelle (that is, once Isabelle’s confirmed that Jennifer’s condition isn’t genetic). But once you start telling the truth, it’s hard to stop. And as Jennifer soon discovers, the truth isn’t always as straightforward as it seems, and death has a way of surprising you….
Book published (hardcover, paperback and digital), Transworld Publishers, 2019
The F**K It List
Meet Daisy. She’s just caught her boyfriend shagging someone else at her fortieth birthday party. She’s
camped out in her childhood bedroom. And it looks as if her dream to have a baby has gone down the pan.
Now Daisy is 40, alone and in a world that seems built for couples.
Time for a F**K It List!
Hilarious and heart-warming, this triumphant novel asks what it is to be 40 and suddenly single,
asking the question, why do we think we need a man to start a family, and what would you do with your
own F**K It List?
Book published (paperback), Penguin, 2024
Michael Koski
Dear Ben, The Secret Life of Benjamin Franklin
On his last night, the great man is compelled to tell the true story of his life
to his friend and manservant, Bobby, including the unsavory bits history books
will gloss over.
Franklin knows he has only one night to atone for his sins. He has come to
abhor slavery and offers to free Bobby, who hesitates, fearing the outside world.
Bobby wants to know how his master rose from obscurity to wealth and fame.
“Read my book,” (his autobiography) Franklin tells him. “What’s not in the book?”
Bobby asks, unleashing the story of the unknown Benjamin Franklin.
Franklin unfurls a sprawling saga of intrigue, romance, epic battles, love and
loss. Bobby learns why Franklin never married his common-law wife, Deborah, or
Margaret Stevenson, with whom he lived in London for fifteen years. Franklin
tells a story fraught with illegitimate offspring, fathered by himself, his son, and
his grandson. Who was the mother of his own bastard son, William? It is a
confidence Bobby will take to his grave.
Franklin’s late-hour tale foretells the demise of slavery and the rise of the
United States, promising a new world order. Bobby’s decision to accept Franklin’s
offer of freedom, only moments before Franklin succumbs, leads “Dear Ben” to a
surprising conclusion.
Book published (hardcover and paperback), Barnes & Noble, 2024
Mira Olsson
THE MERCIFUL
A Nordic crime writer becomes a recluse after the disappearance of her daughter racks her with guilt.
Years later, she finds a lead on who might be responsible and goes on a cathartic quest to uncover the truth.
Quarterfinalist, TWL US 2022 supported by Nicole Kidman and Meryl Streep
Top 11% Discoverable Projects, Coverfly 2022
THE ERRAND
When a young girl hitchhiking is picked up by a stranger, who ends up taking whom for a ride?
Best International Short Movie, Ischia Global Fest 2022
Best Dramatic Short, South Dakota Film Festival 2022
American Pavilion Emerging Filmmaker Showcase, 75th Cannes Film Festival
Official Selection, Hollyshorts 2022
Official Selection, TIFF 2022
Official Selection, Riffa 2022
Official Selection, DC Shorts 2022
Official Selection, Cinequest 2022
Official Selection, Pasadena Film Festival 2022
Monice Mitchell Simms
Discovering West Africa: Ghana, Senegal, Cameroon with World Wide Nate
A 10 episode tour across three West African countries with Nathan Fluellen, aka World Wide Nate, meeting with local artists, chefs, musicians, entrepreneurs, sportsmen and other locals, and showing what each region has to offer.
Winner, Silver Telly Award 2024
Mugs Cahill
NANTUCKET
After her daughter tragically dies, a trauma psychologist withdraws to the seclusion of a mysterious lighthouse, abandoning her wife and practice to strike a bargain with a 19th century whaling captain who claims her daughter is alive.
Grand Prize Winner, Table Read My Screenplay
Finalist, Vancouver International Womens Film Festival
Finalist, Big Apple Film Festival
Natalia Alyukova
ARTEMISIA
Four hundred years ago, a young woman took revenge on her rapist in oils and became one of the most successful painters of her time.
Finalist, The Golden List 2021 (The Golden Script Competition)
Semi-finalist, Screencraft Fellowship 2020
Found representation with Dench Arnold Agency, London as a result of her mentor from the retreat recommending her.
Nick Zabierek
DATE OF DEATH
When a man, down on his luck, discovers he’s going to die within a week after purchasing a writing software that generates stories about his past, present, and future, he vows to do anything to avoid an early demise.
Quarter-finalist, Scriptation Showcase Script Competition 2021 for Best Drama 2021
Quarter-finalist, Stage 32 Feature/Comedy Screenwriting Contest 2022
MEOW (Animation)
When a reluctant cat-sitter switches bodies with the cat she hates the most, they are separated and set out on epic journeys to get their bodies back and mend their bond.
Quarter-finalist, Page Awards for Best Family Feature 2021
Quarter-finalist, Stage 32 Family-Friendly Screenwriting Contest 2022
Pamela Weiss
The Healdsburg Home for the Terminally Sexy
When one of their own hears a devastating diagnosis and her family’s plan to force her into a Florida nursing home, a group of sassy sorority sisters in their 70s escapes to a fire-ravaged California wine town to live out their lives on their own terms.
Top 5%, coverfly.com Jan 2022
Semifinalist, Screencraft Comedy Competition, 2020
Semifinalist, Los Angeles International Screenplay Awards Fall 2020
Quarter-finalist, Page International Screenwriting Awards Competition, 2020
Finalist, Inroads Fellowship (3rd), 2020
Official Selection, Script Summit, 2020
Finalist (3rd), Pitch Finale, Austin Film Festival, 2018
