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
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
Rebecca Williams Spindler
THE STAY LIST
A dedicated organ procurement coordinator struggles with the fine line between life and death to save her patients and twin sister while an angelic surgeon tries to heal her fractured soul and romance her heart.
Semi-finalist, Page Turner Screenplay Awards, 2021
Quarterfinalist, International Screenplay Association Genre-Busting Awards, 2021
SONGBIRD
A teen with a troubled past forms a unique bond with a blind woman through song and forgiveness.
The Red List, Coverfly Top 3 Musical Feature Screenplays, 2021
Top 5 Finalist, Missouri Stories Fellowship, 2020
Second Rounder (Top 10%), Austin Film Festival, 2019
2nd Place Winner, International Faith in Film Festival, 2018
Top 6 Finalist, Nashville Film Festival, Music Inspired Category, 2016
SON OF THE SEED
A quirky college student’s true identity is revealed and he must save his faraway planet as Emperor of the Mustard Seed.
Winner, Best Sci-Fi Short, Niagara Falls International Film Festival, 2021
Official Selection, International Sci-Fi & Fantasy Film Festival, 2021
Official Selection, Santa Monica Shorts Film Festival, 2021
Official Selection, Venice Shorts Film Festival, 2021
Official Selection , Colorado International Sci-Fi & Fantasy Film Festival, 2021
Official Selection, Arkansas International Sci-Fi & Fantasy Film Festival, 2021
Official Selection, Door County Film Festival, 2022
Official Selection, Santa Barbara Film Awards, 2022
Official Selection, Gold Standard Film Festival, 2022
Ron Modro
MY NAME WAS ICEK
After 65 years, a Holocaust survivor, stripped of his identity at the age of 10, searches for proof of his existence and must come to terms with memories of violence and rape at the hands of the Nazis and their collaborators. (Inspired by a True Story)
Quarterfinalist, Inroads Screenwriting Fellowship 2021
Quarterfinalist, Stage 32 Feature Drama Screenwriting Contest 2021
Quarterfinalist, Filmmatic Drama Screenplay Awards 2023
Official Selection, Berlin International Screenwriting Festival 2023
Finalist, Cambridge Script Festival Winter Season 23/24
FORBIDDEN: ONCE UPON A WAR
A teenage French Girl falls in love with a Nazi officer during the WWII occupation of Paris. When she becomes pregnant, her entire world is turned upside-down. (Based on a True Story)
Best Teleplay, New Hope Film Festival and Screenplay Contest 2021
Semi-finalist, Filmmatic TV Pilot Awards 2021
Official Selection, Cannes Cinema Festival 2022
Quarterfinalist, Inroads Fellowship Season 5
Top 13% of all scripts, Coverfly Red List
Official Selection, Berlin International Screenwriting Festival 2023
Semi-finalist, SCRIPTMATIX Pilot Season Contest 2024
Quarterfinalist, Script Lab Screenplay Contest 2024
CONFLUENCE
An ambitious, married Pittsburgh politico sees his dreams of becoming City Councilman threatened when a mentally unstable former male lover moves into the same neighborhood with the sole purpose of outing the darkest secrets of his past and destroying his life and reputation completely, all while the man’s multiple personalities infiltrate the community in the guise of characters no one would ever suspect.
Quarterfinalist, Stage 32 Diversity Springboard 2021
BEGIN THE BEGUINE
Two families from two eras – 1940s and present-day – One White, One Black – are linked by a violent family legacy and a historic home where an expectant couple uncovers a legacy of racism and homophobia and must learn to embrace love to save their children from a doomed future mired in hate.
Official Winner, LGTBQ+ Los Angeles Film Festival 2024
Official Winner, Queer Screenplay Project 2024
Quarterfinalist, STAGE 32 Screenwriting Fellowship 2024
Quarterfinalist, Atlanta Screenplay Awards
Quarterfinalist, Filmmatic Drama Screenplay Awards 2024
