We’re thrilled to announce the quarterfinalists for the 2026 BlueCat TV Writing Competition!
This year’s competition received 813 hour pilot submissions and 472 half-hour pilot submissions. The writers below represent the top pilots advancing to the next round of competition. Congratulations to all!
Hour Pilot Quarterfinalists
123 quarterfinalists selected from 813 submissions
| Script Title | Writer(s) |
|---|---|
| Adventures of Rocket Girl, The | Michael Taglianetti |
| A New Earth | Timothy Parr |
| AKA | Seth McNeill |
| Alphabet City Burning: Operation Pressure Point | Nik Prietus |
| Americana | Garret Brinkley |
| Anomalous | Tarek Bishara |
| Ascendancy | Femi Olasupo |
| Balakosa | Carolina Parera |
| Ballsy – The Series | Dion Aralihalli |
| Beauty Possessed | Ben Lokey |
| Before The Fence | Joseph Cockrell |
| Black Door | Ben Cook |
| Blackburn | Larry Twilley |
| Bless Your Heart | Suzanne Hayes |
| Bloody Business | Kyle W Bergersen |
| Blowhard | Kai-Lilly Karpman |
| Book of the Dead | Perri Cohn |
| Boundaries | Lukas Kendall |
| Broken Bow | Chris Bryant |
| Burning Virtue | Bryan Harlow |
| Cake | Jeffrey Brust |
| Camp Comedian, The | Pieter Webeling |
| CHNL x | Mark Brown |
| Chronically | Kendall Brenneman |
| Convergence | Robert Mason |
| Copaganda | Christopher T. Wood |
| Cost of Living, The | Kim Taylor |
| Coyote and Crow | Ripley Barnes |
| Crime Cleaners | Vered Neta |
| Crossroads, The | Sam Duke |
| Del Vecchio’s Veil | Rockell Metcalf & Myles Reed, Jr. |
| Dianasaurus Rex | Sheldon Gleisser |
| Dipso Maniac | Tammy Lynne Stoner |
| Door, The | Emmet Purcell |
| Dr. Faust | Madi Stine |
| Eclipse | Ralph Michael Anglade |
| Everyone Must Die | Tomas Mercado |
| Evolo | Greg Emetaz |
| Factitious | B. S. Carter |
| Father and Sun | Chris Craymer |
| Feminist, The | Erica Williams |
| Five Burrows, The | Pete Sailer |
| Fool | Scott Sandler |
| Foot-a-Night | Aaron Hluch |
| Frankfurter | Jennifer Sondag |
| Geniuses in the Family | Mike Oppenheim |
| Geri-Atrics | Joe Barton |
| Grey Areas | Kate Phillips |
| Gypsy King | Karina Ramirez |
| Had It Coming | Jody Wiltshire |
| Hardy Boys Episode 1: Pilot, The | Keith Rubin |
| Heavy | Collette Legault |
| High Priest, The | Ryan Clarke |
| Highlands Chosen | Matthew Thompson |
| How to Cure What Ails You | Madison M. Perna |
| Hydes, The | Bob Giordano |
| Insider, The | Monica Main |
| InterGalactic Mechanic, The | Alex Block |
| Isle of Mist, The | Sarah Moore |
| King Street | Mara Taylor Gray |
| Larkin | Gerald Winter |
| Last Year on Earth, The | Kevin Vincenti |
| Latraxus | Curtis James Salt & Kevin Michael Morin |
| Launderer, The | Farai Kudakwashe Rovah |
| Law Office of Austin Garry (Television Pilot), The | Oscar Sanders |
| Lew Dixon | Matt Mulcahy |
| Little Lanterns | Darren Coyle |
| Lost Sister, The | Stephen Hoover |
| Madame Maupin | Jess Whitmire |
| Margins | Adam Makarenko |
| Mary, Never Married | Lucy York Struever |
| Mercy Springs | Helen Hudson |
| Midnight Butterflies | Phillip Minter |
| Midtown After Dark | Noel Hankin |
| Moderato | Simran Khalsa |
| Monty | Jax Bakewell |
| Moth Boys | Jamey Wolpert |
| Mother City (Pilot) | Mo Sattar |
| Mr. Blue | Brendan Casey |
| Murder Girl | Jessica Schladebeck |
| Murder, She Smelt | Laura Garrison |
| Night Song | Eric Yang |
| No Way Back | Tom Midwood |
| Observer: Path of Totality, The | Justin Hunt |
| Ocid, The | Monica Main |
| Only the beginning | Luis Sousa |
| Pandora’s Last Box | Craig Giuffre |
| Paradox, The | Monica Main |
| People in the West | Eddie Denzil |
| Perfect Memory of Water, The | Courtney Froemming |
| Powder Keg | Meghan Allen |
| Pride of North River, The | Michael Koras |
| Promise, The | Kim Taylor |
| Radio Serial W.L.K Atlanta | Daniel Kostic |
| Red Hawk | Michael Gonzalez |
| Renaissance Town | Albert M. Chan |
| Resolution | Jack Newsome |
| Reunification | Jimmy Prosser |
| Revelations | Jesse Klein |
| Rider | Michael Ezell |
| Ripper | Danny Llewelyn |
| Run Aground | Mikelle Kruger & Patrick O. McKenna |
| Sinatra: The Voice | Gary Parker |
| Seven: The Untold Mantle | Randall Swearingen |
| Smoke Eater | Scott Leddy |
| Smokeless | Syeda Anjum |
| Soho Nights | Dave Mac |
| Solfeld | Will T James |
| Supermin | Charles Logan |
| Tick-Tock | Jeffrey M. Hingst |
| Thread | Kaye Gill |
| Through the Ages | Andrew Breen |
| Tickertalker | B.C. Bell |
| Timelapse | David F. Nighbert |
| Trials, The | Sarah Grochala |
| Under the Bridge | Terence Pittman |
| Unshut | Matthew E. May |
| Uptown Funk | Kerby Marcelin |
| with love, Sunshine | J. Buford Gray |
| Witches and Watchers | Mikael Holcombe-Scali |
| Women Behind Genius | Rebecca S. Sukle |
| Xerces Blue | Asher Noah O’Briant |
| Yakima | Shelly Lipkin |
Half-Hour Pilot Quarterfinalists
87 quarterfinalists selected from 472 submissions
| Script Title | Writer(s) |
|---|---|
| 0800 – Deadline | Katy Edelsten |
| 1-800-Boy-Byee | Heather Zender |
| After Death | Kent Olsen & Michael Potestio |
| Also Ran | Oliver Lyons |
| Amends | Rudi O’Meara |
| Americana | Earl Bench |
| Amir’s America | Vahid Imani |
| An Elephant in the Dark | Abdullah Azizi |
| Anatomy of Spike Lee, The | O.P. Poui |
| Another Red Wedding: Failure to Engage | Shaleen Sangha |
| @Po_Boyz | Reynaldo Leal |
| B.F.A. | Polixeni Theodorou |
| Bad Habits | Annaliese Grunder |
| Beastreality | Kat Svaldi |
| Bedford Showcase | Sophie Simpson |
| BFE | Chad Alexander |
| Big Time, The | Erick Torres |
| Birds of a Feather | Steven Trolinger |
| Bit by Bit | Isobel Houseman |
| Bridget & the Boy-bot | Raven Petretti-Stamper |
| Carrying A Royal | Agatha Chapman-Poole |
| Cattle Call | Gilliland Hobbs |
| Church Camp | Katie Harriman |
| Clickbait: Pilot | Isaac Schlossberg & Tim McCombe |
| Closers, The | Kevin Vincenti |
| Cooze | Wendy Jean Wilkins |
| Countrymen | Patrick George |
| Customer Service | Kylie Madeline |
| Dawn of the Dragon | Sam Linton |
| Dot Org | Dan Gunderman |
| Eating Out | Michael Coleman |
| Fangs & Tails | Boim Hwang |
| Fare Share | Chris Niespodzianski |
| 55+ | Chelsea Bo |
| Fourth Tri, The | Meredith Hill |
| God United | Scott Younger |
| Harvest | Stephanie Greenquist |
| Hero’s Spirit | Mikaili Small |
| Hope Rider | Sandro Sebastian |
| Hot Bag | Henry Sarwer-Foner |
| Humans, Inc | B.J. Cyprian |
| Ice Plant | Colin McGreen |
| Idiot City | Laura Kindred |
| In The Meantime | Catalina Quintana |
| It’s A Fine Day | Kent Flaagan |
| Keep On Laughing | Kathleen Caprario-Ulrich |
| Landlords, The | Isabelle McKelvey |
| Last Blessing, The | Sarantos |
| Law of Unintended Consequences, The | Brian Lyons |
| Like Brother, Like Sister | Skylar Penland |
| Little Shop Of Daughters | Spade Robinson |
| Manteca! | Erick Torres |
| Monty’s Seven | Michael Koplove |
| Narmer Jefferson vs Planet Earth | Aaron Yarber |
| Neutral Ground – The Show | Dion Aralihalli |
| Nuclear Family Values | Malcolm Dempsey |
| Opposites Attract | David Anthony |
| Pressed Meat Sandwiches | Tim Bennett & Anthony D. Feig |
| Queen’s Head | Katie Rhodes |
| Rat Girl | Omid Niliaram |
| Red Iron Mama | Jaime Tintor |
| Relatable | Arjuna Mahenthiran |
| Res Life | Julia Hollander |
| Saint Mary’s Misfits | Kathy Zhao |
| Seoul Food | Jay Oh |
| Served | Sebastian Hunt |
| Shitbags | Birdo & Jordan Hidalgo |
| Shut-Ins, The | John Michael Tan |
| Songs We Never Sang | Gordon Rayfield |
| Stand In, The | Charlie Nadler |
| Sugarfish | Spade Robinson |
| Sunny Side Down | Remy Abrams |
| Surrogate Mom | Maria Soscia |
| Tarot Reader and the Bitter Man, The | Pam Moser |
| Ten Clues | Sven Anarki |
| Third Wheel | Caleb Moran |
| Thread, The | Dion Aralihalli |
| Thrilled to Announce | Emanuel Alba |
| TV Dyke | Xanna Don’t |
| Two Steps Back | Jason Kemppainen |
| Weekend Begins Thursday, The | Michael Avishai |
| Witch Amiss | Meghann Wilhoite |
| with love, Sunshine | J. Buford Gray |
| Work Friends | Alene Latimer |
| Written by Kids | Michael Hale |
| You Are My Person | Matthew Stodder |
| You Remind Me Of | Dion Aralihalli |
Congratulations to all our quarterfinalists! Results for the semifinal round will be announced on June 30th. Thank you to everyone who submitted their work to the 2026 BlueCat TV Writing Competition — we’re grateful to read so many remarkable pilots from writers around the world.