With the contest designed to bolster awareness of the screenplay as a literary art form and to encourage new screenwriters into the entertainment industry, winners of the first-ever Baltimore Screenwriters Competition were announced Friday.
The competition received 75 original feature-length screenplays that were written to be filmed in Baltimore.
Hannah Byron, director of the Baltimore Film Office, said that about 80 percent of the scripts received were from Maryland residents and 60 percent of the screenplays came from residents in Baltimore City. She added that the contest will be held again next year, and that it has the potential to further increase the city’s reputation as a filmmaking hub.
“We already have the reputation for being a great place for filming,” said Byron. “It only makes sense to add to that.”
According to Dennis Castleman, the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development’s assistant secretary for tourism, film and the arts, filmmaking in Maryland has indeed become a big economic booster for the state and generates on average of about $70 million annually in economic impact. During the last 10 years, the film industry has generated more than three quarters of a billion dollars.
“It’s a major industry,” Castleman said.
The winners were named by David Simon, creator and producer of the HBO series “The Wire” at the Maryland Film Festival at the Charles Theatre.
The winners were Stephen Ashman of Washington, who took first place with his drama “The Voice”; Michael Cookson of Playa Del Rey, Calif., who placed second with the youth-oriented drama “Crimedogs;” and the duo Andrew Narrawa of New York and Douglas Sanhaus of Baltimore who won third place for the family comedy “Barbequed.”
The winning script, “The Voice,” portrays the story of a female rabbi who overcomes adversity and betrayal to revive a failing synagogue.
