Listed below are the Top 10 Finalists and Honorable Mentions in each category of the 2024 Killer Shorts Horror Short Screenplay Competition. These exceptional screenplays and short stories were selected from over 1,124 submissions. Congratulations to the writers who have made it this far and thanks to all for submitting!
Stay tuned for our Top 3 Winners announcement here on April 22! And if you’d like to receive a notification when this contest re-opens for entries, subscribe to our Substack newsletter. Looking for feedback? Purchase Killer Shorts Short Script Coverage now.
Here are the Top 10 Finalists in the Main Category:
| WRITER/S | TITLE |
| REN HSIEH | Black Puma |
| SIMON LAURENCE DOYLE | Inpatient |
| KRISTEN MCNAULE | Nosebleed |
| ANOOP SINGH | Pareidolia |
| GARY SCOTT IRONS | The Fairchild Equation of Artemis Frost |
| JOSH FOLAN | The Kilima Chain |
| SARA CALDWELL | The Knocker Upper |
| JAKE MOSES | There’s Something Off About Gertrude… |
| VICTOR RIDAURA | This Is Not The End |
| MIMI LEE & VANESSA VÕ | YAOGUAI |
ALPHA OMEGA by CLINT FORD, Niño de Vidrio (Child of Glass) by GERARDO MARAVILLA, Skin for Skin by JEAN-PAUL DISCISCIO, The Avon Lady by GUILLERMO ORTIZ & GEENA KARSAMA and You’re On Mute by JOSHUA HEATON also received honorable mentions.
The finalist’s scripts shocked, intrigued, disturbed, horrified and impressed our readers. The screenplays will now be shared with our exciting panel of judges, who are tasked with selecting a Top 3 and overall winner!
All Top 10 finalist screenwriters in the main category will receive a free copy of Final Draft 13, career consultations with Coverfly, Script Coverage from Stage 32, plus increased rank on Coverfly’s The Red List…but who will win industry circulation, access to Robert McKee’s Horror Webinar Series and the coveted skull typewriter trophy designed by Tyler Green FX Studio? Stay tuned!
And now, here are the Top 10 Finalists in the 1-page category:
| WRITER/S | TITLE |
| GEORGE MORRIS | “Keep an Ear Out” |
| KELLY ASHER | Don’t Blink |
| COLE MCCABE | Fill ‘Er Up |
| TRAVIS WILLIAMS | Fish Special |
| DARREN HINCHY | Joe’s End |
| JOSEPH X CASILLAS | Ten Thousand |
| FRANCESCA PAZNIOKAS | Terminated |
| MARKO PANDZA & JASON KERR | The Miracle |
| EMMA HUANG | The Smile Room |
| LEE COTMAN | We Don’t Bite Our Friends |
Another Mouth to Feed by AMELIA CLOVER, Breakfast with Bag Man by JASON RICE, Margaret’s Golden Birthday by SAM CARRUTHERS, Mirror Me by CHRIS MITCHELL and No Peeking by NOËMIE MARTINEL also received honorable mentions.
The 1st Place winner in the 1-page category will receive a trophy and prizes geared toward helping them produce a micro-short horror film; including $500 cash, Final Draft 13, a QWERKYWRITER Mechanical Keyboard, and a 1 Year All-Access subscription to Stan Winston School.
And now, here are the Top 10 Finalists in the Short Story (Prose) category:
| WRITER/S | TITLE |
| DEREK LADD | A Shade of Scarlett |
| ANDY FARRANT | lofi beats to kill to |
| ADAM NARIMATSU | Out of the Mouths of Babes |
| VASANTHI VARADARAJAN | The Birdhouse |
| SURINA BELK-GUPTA | The Burned City |
| JON DOUGLAS RAINEY | The Kitchen Drawer |
| C.T. ROEMER | The Mercy |
| AZZURRA ROWLAND | The Unconventional Tea Party |
| CHARLENE CLARKE-TODORUK | The Wood in the Window |
| P.M. RAYMOND | Things Are as They Should Be |
Alternates by CHRISTINE RIFKIN, Jeremiah by BRYAN DEMORE, Something in the Night by LARISSA ZAGERIS, The Final Spectacle by JULIE ANN SLABY and Under the Moonbow by DAVID SHARP also received honorable mentions.
All Top 10 finalist authors in the short story (prose) category will receive a free copy of Scrivener writing software plus increased rank on the Coverfly website. The 1st Place winner will receive publication on the Killer Shorts website, plus the coveted skull typewriter trophy designed by Tyler Green FX Studio!
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Big thanks to our sponsors Final Draft, Rue Morgue, Stan Winston School of Character Arts, Horror Pack, QWERKYTOYS, Stage 32, Robert McKee’s Horror Webinar Series, Ghoulish Gary, The Script Butcher, Coverfly, Filmfreeway, Script Hive, ISA, Script Hop, Script Revolution, Scrivener and Fright Rags.
Thanks also to our festival partners, and the following Womxn & BIPOC organizations: The Write or Die Chicks, Women Make Movies, Ladima Foundation, NYWIFT, African American Women in Cinema, The Light Leaks, Hedgebrook, Screen Queens, Rianne Pictures, Alliance of Women Directors, LIFTT, Black Screenwriters, Ms. In the Biz, and Indigenous Australian Filmmakers.
