We’re excited to announce the semifinalists for the 2026 BlueCat TV Writing Competition!
Congratulations to the writers below — you’ve advanced from the quarterfinal round and are one step closer. Finalists will be announced on July 7th. Thank you to everyone who entered this year’s competition.
Hour Pilot Semifinalists
54 semifinalists selected from 813 submissions
| Script Title | Writer(s) |
|---|---|
| Americana | Garret Brinkley |
| Anomalous | Tarek Bishara |
| Ascendancy | Femi Olasupo |
| Beauty Possessed | Ben Lokey |
| Black Door | Ben Cook |
| Boundaries | Lukas Kendall |
| Burning Virtue | Bryan Harlow |
| CHNL x | Mark Brown |
| Coyote and Crow | Ripley Barnes |
| Del Vecchio’s Veil | Rockell Metcalf & Myles Reed, Jr. |
| Dipso Maniac | Tammy Lynne Stoner |
| Dr. Faust | Madi Stine |
| Everyone Must Die | Tomas Mercado |
| Evolo | Greg Emetaz |
| Factitious | B. S. Carter |
| Father and Sun | Chris Craymer |
| Fool | Scott Sandler |
| Foot-a-Night | Aaron Hluch |
| Gypsy King | Karina Ramirez |
| Had It Coming | Jody Wiltshire |
| Hardy Boys Episode 1: Pilot, The | Keith Rubin |
| High Priest, The | Ryan Clarke |
| Highlands Chosen | Matthew Thompson |
| Last Year on Earth, The | Kevin Vincenti |
| Launderer, The | Farai Kudakwashe Rovah |
| Law Office of Austin Garry (Television Pilot), The | Oscar Sanders |
| Little Lanterns | Darren Coyle |
| Madame Maupin | Jess Whitmire |
| Margins | Adam Makarenko |
| Midnight Butterflies | Phillip Minter |
| Midtown After Dark | Noel Hankin |
| Moderato | Simran Khalsa |
| Murder Girl | Jessica Schladebeck |
| No Way Back | Tom Midwood |
| Pandora’s Last Box | Craig Giuffre |
| Perfect Memory of Water, The | Courtney Froemming |
| Powder Keg | Meghan Allen |
| Promise, The | Kim Taylor |
| Red Hawk | Michael Gonzalez |
| Renaissance Town | Albert M. Chan |
| Reunification | Jimmy Prosser |
| Rider | Michael Ezell |
| Run Aground | Mikelle Kruger & Patrick O. McKenna |
| Smoke Eater | Scott Leddy |
| Smokeless | Syeda Anjum |
| Solfeld | Will T James |
| Thread | Kaye Gill |
| Tick-Tock | Jeffrey M. Hingst |
| Tickertalker | B.C. Bell |
| Timelapse | David F. Nighbert |
| Unshut | Matthew E. May |
| Uptown Funk | Kerby Marcelin |
| with love, Sunshine | J. Buford Gray |
| Xerces Blue | Asher Noah O’Briant |
Half-Hour Pilot Semifinalists
34 semifinalists selected from 472 submissions
| Script Title | Writer(s) |
|---|---|
| @Po_Boyz | Reynaldo Leal |
| After Death | Kent Olsen & Michael Potestio |
| Anatomy of Spike Lee, The | O.P. Poui |
| Bad Habits | Annaliese Grunder |
| Birds of a Feather | Steven Trolinger |
| Bit by Bit | Isobel Houseman |
| Cattle Call | Gilliland Hobbs |
| Church Camp | Katie Harriman |
| Closers, The | Kevin Vincenti |
| Countrymen | Patrick George |
| Dot Org | Dan Gunderman |
| Elephant in the Dark, An | Abdullah Azizi |
| 55+ | Chelsea Bo |
| Fourth Tri, The | Meredith Hill |
| Ice Plant | Colin McGreen |
| Idiot City | Laura Kindred |
| In The Meantime | Catalina Quintana |
| Keep On Laughing | Kathleen Caprario-Ulrich |
| Last Blessing, The | Sarantos |
| 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 |
| Nuclear Family Values | Malcolm Dempsey |
| Pressed Meat Sandwiches | Tim Bennett & Anthony D. Feig |
| Red Iron Mama | Jaime Tintor |
| Seoul Food | Jay Oh |
| Served | Sebastian Hunt |
| Shut-Ins, The | John Michael Tan |
| Sugarfish | Spade Robinson |
| Tarot Reader and the Bitter Man, The | Pam Moser |
| Third Wheel | Caleb Moran |
| Work Friends | Alene Latimer |
Congratulations to all our semifinalists! We will be announcing finalists on July 7th. Thank you to everyone who entered the 2026 BlueCat TV Writing Competition — we’re honored to read so many exceptional pilots from writers around the world.