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]
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
Honorable Mentioned, Stage Script Film Competition 2025
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
Honorable Mention, Chicago Script Awards 2025
Official Selection , Hollywood International Indie Screenplay Awards 2025
Winner, Tokyo Film & Screenplay Awards 2025
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
Official Selection, Stage Script Film Competition 2025
Official Selection, LBGTQ Unbordered International Film Festival 2025
Official Winner , Chicago Script Awards 2025
NEARER TO GOD
A body is discovered in an abandoned farmhouse, revealing the harrowing journal of a young gay man who, during the height of the AIDS crisis, was cast out by his family and endured a brutal ex-gay conversion program, chronicling his desperate search for acceptance and the devastating impact of societal prejudice.
Official Selection, LBGTQ Unbordered International Film Festival
Official Winner, Hollywood International Indie Screenplay Awards 2025
Sami Richey
Light Em' Up
Light Em’ Up follows Officer Sam Harris, a lesbian bomb squad leader and her team of experts as they race against the clock to save innocent lives from a serial bomber, including their own. Inspired by the author/screenwriter’s real-life experiences in law enforcement, this hybrid shows the systematic dismantling of explosive devices by an unimaginable team who shockingly never fail.
Best screenwriting, Magic Silver Screen, Airflix Film Festival
Best LGBTQ Script, Airflix Film Festival
Best Pilot, 4th Dimension Independent Film Fest
Best TV script, Hollywood Screening Film Festival
Best Script/Screenplay, FilmNest International Film Festival
Shay Thurmon
RESET
When a single mom gets amnesia her kids rewrite the rules.
Winner (Best Emerging Actress), Toronto Independent Film Festival of Cift
Finalist, Dubai Independent Film Festival 2021
Semi-finalist, Sicily Art Cinema Festival 2021
Nominee, San Francisco Indie Short Festival 2021
Official Selection, International Sound & Film Music Festival 2021
Official Selection, Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival 2021
HEIR MAIL
A woman’s fear that the mailman is the sperm donor of her son leads her to do something drastic.
Best short screenplay, Austin Revolution Film Festival
Minor Alterations
A penniless Countess devises a plan to embezzle the dowry of her half-sister in a sixteenth century caper that will leave you in stitches.
Finalist, Orlando Film Festival
Honorable Mention, Screenplay Festival 2020
Finalist, Cannes Film Festival
Quarterfinalist, Scriptapalooza
Second Rounder, Austin Film Festival
Tim Plaehn
The O’Haire Family Shit Show
The loving and larger-than-life patriarch of an Irish American family summons all of his children and grandchildren to the Emerald Isle for a family reunion, but when his cynical and single daughter begins flirting with the local hurling star, he must prevent the romance and protect his thirty-three-year-old secret: that the handsome young man is his own bastard son!
Semi-finalist (Top 10), Nantucket Film Festival Screenplay contest
Trelawney Bresic
DISTRACTING EVELYN
Thirty-something couple Evelyn and Will are losing themselves and each other in lockdown. Will an offer of distraction from a devilish charmer change their path forever?
Award Winner, Lit Laughs International Comedy Film Festival 2021
Award Winner, Paris International Film Awards 2021
Nominee, US Hollywood Int'l Golden Film Award 2021
Award Winner, New York International Film Awards 2021
Official Selection, Silicon Beach Film Festival 2021
Official Selection, Tryon International Film Festival 2021
I WON’T SAY I LOVE YOU
Harriet has raised her son, Josh, alone, in the Cotswolds. When Josh’s father tempts him to the US to study, Harriet finds herself seeking a lonely heart in L.A in order to obtain a 90-day fiancé visa and hold onto her role as a mom.
Award Winner, New York International Film Awards 2020
Finalist, Houston Comedy Film Festival 2020
Award Winner, Independent Shorts Awards 2020
Finalist, Lit Laughs International Comedy Film Festival 2020
Award Winner, The Monthly Film Festival 2020
Finalist, Portland Comedy Film Festival 2020
Official Selection, Tryon International Film Festival 2020
Official Selection, Golden State Film Festival 2020
Warren Fischer
A Family Affair
A cash-strapped hotel manager is forced to stave off interest from wealthy buyers at a public auction whilst hosting his in-laws on thir wedding anniversary.
Film releasing in UK and Ireland on May 20th, 2024, pre-order link: https://tv.apple.com/gb/movie/a-family-affair/umc.cmc.2ju9f11o42qc0hs26lrzz7qh7
Will Bashor
THE QUEEN’S COIFFEUR
A young hairdresser of humble origins uses his charisma to win fame and fortune in Parisian society, striking up an unlikely, but envious, relationship with Marie Antoinette. But when the French Revolution obliterates his dream of becoming ennobled, the destitute hairdresser must reinvent himself.
Finalist, Creative World Awards 2018
Quarterfinalist, Emerging Screenwriters - Genre Screenplay Competition 2021
MARIE ANTOINETTE ET AL.
The life and thoughts of the last Queen of France who is hopelessly optimistic she is going to pull through–even during the last minutes before her demise.
Semifinalist, Emerging Screenwriters - Genre Screenplay Competition 2021
THE BASTARD PRINCE OF VERSAILLES
The illegitimate son of a king struggles to redeem himself through heroism and self-sacrifice after being accused of the “Italian vice.”
Official Selection, WildSound - LGBTQ Festival Screenplay Contest April 2020
Whitney Stewart
STEAL THE LIGHT
After Hurricane Katrina destroys her home and career, a young journalist abandons everything to fulfil her German grandmother’s dying wish — to discover the fate of her brother who disappeared on the Russian Front of World War Two.
Quarterfinalist, Fresh Voices Competition 2020
