“SET IN PHILADELPHIA” SCREENWRITING COMPETITION

The “Set in Philadelphia” Screenwriting Competition (SIP), which is presented by the Greater Philadelphia Film Office, is open to all screenwriters, world-wide, who submit a feature length screenplay OR an original TV pilot length screenplay that can be shot in the Greater Philadelphia Metropolitan Area. All genres are accepted. Scripts are judged on their overall quality and the extent to which they project “shootability” in the Greater Philadelphia region. SIP Finalist Judges are high profile producers, writers and actors who have a Philadelphia connection.
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And the 2024 Winners are...

Feature Length Screenplays

Grand Prize, Sponsored by Stephen Starr

Winner: The Johnnys

Logline: Two high school sophomores – one black, one white – with the same name and the same love for the new game of basketball, show a 1902 race-torn Philadelphia what brotherly love looks like. Based on the incredible true story.
Written by

Steven Fisher

Prime Time TV Pilot Prize, Sponsored by Comcast/NBCUniversal

Winner: Assisted Dying

Logline: Linda Walsh runs a non-profit senior care facility, burying herself in the work there, struggling against the odds to keep the doors open, all of it meant to distract from a lingering grief. Along comes a handsome state inspector to challenge her ability to do both.
Written by

Susan Sneeringer

The Oscar Micheaux Award for a Screenwriter of the African Diaspora, Sponsored by VestedIn

Winner: SOFIA & DAN vs.

Logline: After an African-American man and a white Ukrainian-American woman move in together and reveal their relationship to their families, they must face all the absurdities that racist neighbors, family trauma and 1980s Philadelphia throw their way.
Written by

Sam Watson

Nina Lo Presti Award for a Female Screenwriter, sponsored by Laurie Lo Presti

Winner: Bebe Loves Ben

Logline: When exes and sworn enemies Bebe and Ben are cast as romantic leads in their community theater musical, their friends hatch a plan to get them back together.
Written by

Heather Birmingham

Content for Kids Winner, sponsored by Hallee & David Adelman

Winner: Dig Deep

Logline: When two girls accidentally summon a 19th-century Black Cowboy, they see him as their ticket to victory in a science competition, until they realize their actions could erase his historic archeological discovery.
Co-Written by

Mary Spiers & Tatiana St. Phard

Meet the Finalist Judging Panel

Jillian Bullock

Josh Cooke

Lee Daniels

Derek Dressler

Alexandra Drobac Diagne

Julia Fisher Farbman

Joe Gangemi

Alan Gasmer

Cayman Grant

Mike Jackson

Beverly Nero

Sheila Nevins

Tommy Oliver

Patricia Weiser

Dawn Wolfrom

Ernie Vecchione

VIEW PAST JUDGES
VIEW PAST WINNERS

Prize Details

Grand Prize

Sponsored by Stephen Starr
$10,000 cash prize
Notes from Judges

The Prime Time TV Pilot Prize

Sponsored by Comcast NCB Universal
$5,000 cash prize
Notes from Judges

The Nina Lo Presti Award

Sponsored by Laurie Lo Presti
$2,500 cash prize Notes from Judges

The Oscar Micheaux Award for a Screenwriter of the African Diaspora

Sponsored by VestedIn
$2,500 cash prize Notes from Judges

Content for Kids

Sponsored by Hallee & David Adelman
$5,000 cash prize
Notes from Judges

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Greater Philadelphia Film Office
City Hall • 1400 JFK Blvd, 7th Floor, Room 702
Philadelphia, PA 19107
Phone: 215.686.2668
E-mail: [email protected]

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Written by Steven Fisher

For 25 years, Steve was a full-time choral conductor, traveling the world with young people performing for presidents, princes and popes –- and best of all, people. He holds the distinction of being the first conductor in history to conduct on every continent, including Antarctica.
During that time, Steve’s writing was a very part-time endeavor, with a focus on plays and musicals. Over the years he’s had three shows Off Broadway, one of them receiving a rave review in the New York Times. His most recent play, The Last Boy, won Broadway World Awards for Best New Play, Best Production, Best Direction and Best Cast. Steve’s Elysian Fields… a new musical, written with his husband Marc, is expected to arrive Off Broadway in Spring of 2026.
Since retiring from conducting in 2021, Steve writes full-time, not only plays and musicals, but screenplays and TV pilots. He and Marc reside in Brooklyn with their awesome three-legged mutt Miles.
The Johnnys is dedicated to all of the extraordinary children in under-resourced schools who Steve had the honor of teaching throughout his career. He is profoundly thankful to them for everything they taught him.
Steve is so appreciative of GPFO and the SIP judges for their enthusiasm for The Johnnys.

Written by Susan Sneeringer

Susan Sneeringer is a previous co-winner of top honors in the “Set In Philadelphia” Screenplay Competition (2002). She is an alum of Penn State University (B.A. in Theatre Arts) and the American Film Institute’s Screenwriting Fellowship program.
A published playwright, Ms. Sneeringer is a two-time recipient of grants from the PA Council on the Arts and a former artist-in-residence of Theatre Outlet in Allentown, PA. In addition to a long list of credits as writer, director and actor in professional and community-based theatre companies in Pennsylvania, her work has placed in various national competitions, most notably as a Second Rounder at the Austin Film Festival (2022) and as a semi-finalist in Austin’s Playwriting Competition (2023). She resides in the Lehigh Valley.

Written by Sam Watson

Sam Watson is a Black, biracial, Ukrainian American television writer. His identity is a patchwork of pierogies, collard greens and a whole lot of messiness. So writing about identity and the strain and expectations that society puts on our identities is really important to him.
Also, generational trauma runs deep in both sides of his family. The trauma of racism on his dad’s side and the trauma of war and genocide on his Ukrainian side (his grandparents came to America as refugees after Stalin’s famine and World War II). So writing about how trauma informs our actions and how oppressive systems shape our identities are staples of his work, and exactly what he wishes to bring to the small screen as a television writer.
Sam was the 2023 winner of the Prime Time TV Pilot Prize (sponsored by Comcast & NBC Universal) and The Oscar Micheaux Prize in the 2023 Greater Philadelphia Film office’s Set in Philadelphia Contest for his 1-hour script Magical Negro. It was also a winner in the 2023 Creative Screenwriting Unique Voices contest. He was also a finalist in the Nashville Film Festival Screenwriting Competition for Sofia & Dan vs. and a semifinalist in the Atlanta Film Festival Screenplay Competition for The King of the Cannibals. He also produced and co-wrote a satire short called WOKE. Sam is represented by Logical Talent Management.

Written by Heather Birmingham

Heather Birmingham is a Philly-based actor, screenwriter, and acting coach. Since graduating with a degree in theater from Temple University, Heather has worked with companies such as Arden Theatre Company, New Light Theatre, Inis Nua Theatre Company, and Philadelphia Young Playwrights.
As a screenwriter, she uses romantic comedy as a vehicle to discuss larger issues affecting our world. Bebe Loves Ben is her first full-length screenplay. Her website is heatherbirmingham.com.

Co-Written by Mary Spiers & Tatiana St.Phard

Mary Spiers is a writer, screenwriter, and clinical neuropsychologist whose work bridges science, storytelling, and education. With a passion for engaging narratives, she writes middle grade fiction and family-friendly screenplays that explore hidden history, brain science, and imagination.
Spiers is a previous Grand Prize and Regional Prize Winner of the Set in Philadelphia (SIP) Screenwriting Competition for her historical time-travel adventure Saving Independence. This year, she returns as co-winner of the 2024 SIP Content for Kids Award for Dig Deep, a magical realist screenplay co-written with Tatiana St. Phard. This is the first screenwriting collaboration between the two writers.
Before turning to fiction, Spiers worked for years as a professor at Drexel University. There, she taught, wrote research papers and textbooks and consulted on “brain science in film” through the National Science Foundation’s Science and Entertainment Exchange. She is also the creator of Neuropsyfi.com, a website that brings students and the public into critical conversations about how neurological differences are portrayed in feature film.
She describes herself as “a writer, screenwriter, brain scientist, and lover of curious minds” who strives to bring life experience, research skill, and emotional depth to her stories. Especially drawn to historical fiction with gray areas, Spiers believes that the past—like the present—is rarely black and white.
Her portfolio can be found at www.maryspiers.com.
Tatiana St. Phard Bacchus is a screenwriter, actress, and award-winning independent filmmaker who uses storytelling to reclaim histories and reimagine futures. She is the founder of Teaspoon & Pound Media, LLC, a creative production company devoted to amplifying underrepresented voices through film, television, and digital content.
She is the co-writer of Dig Deep, co-winner of the 2024 Set in Philadelphia (SIP) Content for Kids Award, which marks her first screenwriting collaboration with co-writer Mary Spiers. Her solo project Christmas Crossing, about an African-American 11-year-old who discovers her ancestor’s role as a free soldier in Washington’s Crossing of the Delaware and decides she wants to be a boat reenactor at the annual Christmas Crossing, was a SIP finalist and is currently in development. Following the sale of her first screenplay, Tatiana contributed to the development of the Lifetime film, Laughing All the Way (2023).
Tatiana’s experience spans both narrative and documentary forms. She is currently in post-production on Ulrick Jean-Pierre: Guardian of History, a feature documentary about a Haitian-American master painter preserving Haitian and American history with exacting detail and visceral impact. Her latest multimedia advocacy project, To Springfield with Love, is a love letter from the Haitian diaspora to newly arrived Haitians navigating fear, xenophobia, and political hostility in the U.S. during and after the 2026 presidential election.
As a freelance producer, Tatiana has contributed to the narrative feature Relative Control (2025) and the documentaries Jessica Lange: Something About the Light (in production,) Whitney Houston in Focus (2025) and Ain’t No Back to a Merry-Go-Round (2024). She has production-managed shoots at institutions such as The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, The Andy Warhol Museum and The Mütter Museum.
A working actress for over two decades, Tatiana appears in the 2019 releases The Upside opposite Kevin Hart (Director: Neil Burger) and Glass (Director: M. Night Shyamalan.)
More about her work can be found at www.teaspoonandpoundmedia.com.

Jillian Bullock

Author Here I Stand, Health Is Made In The Kitchen

Writer-Scripts sold The Champion Inside, Scar Across My Heart

Creator/Producer/Director Blood, Bruises & Broken Bones – Reality TV show

Screenwriter/Producer/Director A Sense of Purpose: Fighting For Our Lives, Touch With Your Eyes,  A Cup Full of Crazy,  Rebirth (Pre Production)

Josh Cooke

Actor Law & Order, Svu, Zeno, Saint X, The Right Stuff, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Castlerock, Grace & Frankie, Longmire, Manhattan, Hail, Caesar!, Love You Man

Writer/Producer (Issues)

Lee Daniels

Lee Daniels is an Academy Award® nominated filmmaker whose work is trademarked by authenticity and candor. Some of his renowned movies include The Butler, Monsters Ball and Precious, The United States V.S. Billie Holiday as well as TV works such as EMPIRE and Star. Lee also recently produced the Broadway show Ain’t No Mo‘,

Derek Dressler

Derek Dressler (aka Deeki Deke) – Disney’s Kick Buttowski; Disney’s Mickey Mouse (Primetime Emmy Award winner)

Head writer for all 3 seasons of Netflix’s The Cuphead Show 

Author, The Art of The Cuphead Show, now available from Dark Horse Books!

Alexandra Drobac Diagne

Film Festival curator and programming consultant, Artistic Director and Co-founder, Philadelphia Environmental Film Festival.

Formerly, Executive Manager, Lightstorm Entertainment (Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Titanic, Avatar)

Director of International Production, Pantheon Studios (Philips Dutch Interactive Encyclopedia, The Renaissance of Florence)

Producer (Sistuhs)

Post-Production Manager (A Time of Destiny)

Julia Fisher Farbman

Producer/Writer: Julia Fisher Farbman wrote and produced the upcoming feature film “Audrey’s Children” about revolutionary physician and co-founder of Ronald McDonald House Charities, Dr. Audrey Evans. The film, coming out in 2025, wrapped production in the Philadelphia-area and stars Natalie Dormer (Game of Thrones), Jimmi Simpson (Pachinko), and Clancy Brown (Dexter: New Blood). In recent years, Fisher Farbman produced the Emmy-nominated ABC/U.N. Women Special: Celebrate Equality: The Future of Women’s Rights, and has interviewed the likes of His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama and Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York. She also co-created, hosted and executive produced MODERN HERO (Amazon), an award-winning series that features female role models, including former First Lady, Michelle Obama and Dr. Audrey Evans, whose video amassed 17 MILLION views across platforms. Fisher Farbman is currently developing several projects, including writing/producing a musical centered on mental health.

Joe Gangemi

Joe Gangemi wrote the screenplays for Wind Chill starring Emily Blunt, Stonehearst Asylum  starring Ben Kingsley and Michael Caine, and Blackway starring Anthony Hopkins and Ray Liotta. He was co-creator and showrunner of comedy series Red Oaks, starring Paul Reiser and Richard Kind, which ran for three seasons on Amazon Prime. Upcoming projects include a period comedy series for Lionsgate TV. He is a graduate of Swarthmore College and lives in Haverford with his wife and children.

Alan Gasmer

Alan Gasmer is the Co-founder at  Veritas Entertainment Group.  Credits as Executive Producer/Producer include: A Complete Unknown, Elvis Presley: The Searcher, The Mosquito Coast, Vikings and Vikings: Valhalla.

Cayman Grant

Writer/Director: ABC’s The Good Doctor, ESPN 30 for 30: Playing For The Mob, Insecure

Co-founder, Steel Titan Entertainment.

Mike Jackson

TV: Executive Producer- Underground, Jesus Christ Superstar, Sherman’s Showcase, Rhythm and Flow

Film: Producer/Executive Producer- La La Land, Monster, Southside With You, Jingle Jangle, Loudmouth)

Theater: Producer- Jitney and Turn Me Loose, Ain’t Too Proud

Beverly Nero

Co-producer: GBF (completed), The Lowe Men
Producer: (development), Number One (Short, Post Production)
Director/Writer/Producer: Walking Behind Gordy (Short Documentary, Post)
Writer, Producer, Actor: Humpty’s Riddle (Short)

Bev is also a Writing/acting/producing member of Neo Ensemble Theatre and a Development/Grants Consultant, Board Secretary Deaf West Theatre

Sheila Nevins

Sheila Nevins is an American television producer and former head of MTV Documentary Films division of MTV Entertainment Studios. Previously, Nevins was the President of HBO Documentary Films. She has produced over 1,000 documentary films for HBO and is one of the most influential people in documentary filmmaking.

Tommy Oliver

Tommy Oliver is a producer and cinematographer, known for 40 Years a Prisoner (2020), Black Love (2017) and The Perfect Guy (2015).

Patricia Weiser

Producer: The Best and the Brightest

Dawn Wolfrom

Producer: The Perfect Man (Universal), Never Again (Focus Features), Bad Hair Day (The Disney Channel), A Christmas Carousel (Hallmark 2020), Nature of Love (Hallmark 2021), Royally Wrapped for Christmas (Peacock), Maps & Mistletoe (Lifetime 2021), Warming Up to You (Hallmark 2022), Well Suited for Christmas (Lifetime 2022), Record Breaking Christmas (Lifetime 2022), Laughing All the Way (Lifetime 2023), Romance with a Twist (Hallmark 2024), Head Over Heels (Hallmark 2024). 

Dawn also served as Executive Producer on two Award Winning short films (The Boy, Butterflies).

Ernie Vecchione

Ernie Vecchione is an award-winning screenwriter, producer and novelist. He has written for HBO and Miramax and is a former winner of the Set In Philadelphia Screenwriting Competition. He wrote and produced the Streamy and Webby nominated web series Sex Ed: The Series for YouTube, which has more than 160 million views worldwide. His novels, THE AMISH GIRL and DEVIL’S CATCH, are available on Audible and Amazon.

Past Judges

Past Winners

YEAR

GRAND PRIZE

TV PRIME TIME AWARD sponsored by Comcast and NBCUniversal

The Nina Lo Presti Award Sponsored by Laurie Lo Presti

OSCAR MICHEAUX AWARD sponsored by VestedIn

Content for Kids sponsored by Hallee & David Adelman

$10,000 cash prize
$5,000 cash prize Notes from High Profile Judges National Press Synopsis published on www.film.org
$2,500 cash prize Notes from High Profile Judges National Press Synopsis published on www.film.org
$2,500 cash prize Notes from High Profile Judges National Press Synopsis published on www.film.org
$5000 cash prize Notes from Judges National Press Synopsis published on www.film.org
2023
Patrick Mahon Engram sponsored by Stephen Starr
Sam Watson
Magical Negro
Rae Shaw
Mating3
Sam Watson
Magical Negro
Jenny Krumrine
From Philly to the Stratosphere
2022
Patrick Mahon Engram sponsored by Stephen Starr
Sam Watson
Magical Negro
Rae Shaw
Mating3
Sam Watson
Magical Negro
Jenny Krumrine
From Philly to the Stratosphere

Past Winners

YEAR

GRAND PRIZE

TV PRIME TIME AWARD
sponsored by Comcast and NBCUniversal

The Nina Lo Presti Award Sponsored by Laurie Lo Presti

OSCAR MICHEAUX AWARD
sponsored by VestedIn

Content for Kids
sponsored by Hallee & David Adelman

 

$10,000 cash prize

$5,000 cash prize
Notes from High Profile Judges
National Press
Synopsis published on www.film.org

$2,500 cash prize
Notes from High Profile Judges
National Press
Synopsis published on www.film.org

$2,500 cash prize
Notes from High Profile Judges
National Press
Synopsis published on www.film.org

$5000 cash prize
Notes from Judges
National Press
Synopsis published on www.film.org

2023

Patrick Mahon
Engram

sponsored by Stephen Starr

Sam Watson
Magical Negro

Rae Shaw
Mating

Sam Watson
Magical Negro

Jenny Krumrine
From Philly to the Stratosphere

2022

Colin Francis Costello & Stephanie Jordan
Street Riders

Sponsored by Wyncote Foundation

Guy Patton
The Commonwealth

Shalane Miller
OBitch

David Chang
Church Boy

Denise Brossman
Kevin & Bean

2021

Catherine Shefski
Serenade

Sponsored by Hallee & David Adelman

Philip Malaczewski
Kenso Girl

Sharon Spaeder
Perfect To A Tee

David Chang 
Enter The Kingdom

Victoria Moser
All We Got

2020

Law Crimlis
Wish

Sponsored by Hallee & David Adelman

Philip Malaczewski
The Immune

Kiz Mentor
Balance of Power

Craig Bolton 
The Line

Matthew Frishkoff
Prospects and Prophecies

2019

David Chang
Skin

Sponsored by AKA Hotel Residences

Eric Andresen
30 Meters

David Chang
Skin

David Chang 
Skin

Kristina Lohre
Bloom

2018

Deron Albright
Fairview Cantata

Philip Malaczewski
Alpha Female

Deron Albright
Fairview Cantata

Steven R. Berry
Janet Leslie

Caroline Puts
Linked

2017

Ben & Oliver Samuels
The Doan Brothers

Peter Page Wilson
No Love Lost

Ben & Oliver Samuels
The Doan Brothers

Stephen Arthur Schaffer
The Dennis Brothers

Lindsay Michel
Liberty Investigations

 

$10,000 cash prize
Notes from High Profile Judges
National Press
Synopsis published on www.film.org

$5,000 cash prize
Notes from High Profile Judges
National Press
Synopsis published on www.film.org

$2,500 cash prize
Notes from High Profile Judges
National Press
Synopsis published on www.film.org

$500 cash prize
Notes from Judges
National Press
Synopsis published on www.film.org

 

2016

Evan Young & Jareth Grealish
The Forgotten

Katie Hennicke
Tenure

Evan Young & Louis Iovino
Coastliners

Carol Sabik-Jaffe
Safe Haven

Chloe Kimberg
Senior Scav

 
 

GRAND PRIZE

TV PRIME TIME AWARD
sponsored by Comcast and NBCUniversal

REGIONAL AWARD
sponsored by Chamber of Commerce for Greater Philadelphia

STUDENT AWARD
sponsored by Robert McKee Story Seminar

 
 

$10,000 cash prize
Notes from High Profile Judges
National Press
Synopsis published on www.film.org

$5,000 cash prize
Notes from High Profile Judges
National Press
Synopsis published on www.film.org

$2,500 cash prize
Notes from High Profile Judges
National Press
Synopsis published on www.film.org

Free Tuition to the intensive 4-day STORY Seminar in NYC
Notes from High Profile Judges
National Press
Synopsis published on www.film.org

 

2015

Megan Riakos
The Last Reprieve

Angela & Darren Croucher
Use of Force

Julia Yorks
Mothers and Daughters and Fathers and Sons

Lexx Fusco
The Devin in the Details

 

2014

Jennifer Yee
First Chair

Octavia Bay
Mixed Up

Jennifer Yee
First Chair

Jenna Gelenberg
Grave

 

2013

Denise Brossman
Labor of the Gods

Steven Homberger
 PHL 2.0

Kristine Kennedy
No Neighbors

Michelle Smith & Adrianne Gunter
Served!

 
 

GRAND PRIZE

TV PILOT AWARD sponsored by the Derek Freese Film Foundation

REGIONAL AWARD sponsored by Chamber of Commerce for Greater Philadelphia

IRENE I. PARISI AWARD
sponsored by Stephen J. Rivele for a writer 25 or younger *

 
 

$10,000 cash prize
Notes from High Profile Judges
National Press
Synopsis published on www.film.org

$5,000 cash prize
Notes from High Profile Judges
National Press
Synopsis published on www.film.org

$2,500 cash prize
Notes from High Profile Judges
National Press
Synopsis published on www.film.org

$1,000 cash prize
Notes from High Profile Judges
National Press
Synopsis published on www.film.org

 

2012

Jim Malone
Turning Two

Eric Rivera
 Into the Fire

Joseph Horning
Darkness on the Edge of Night

  

2011

Anthony Stitt 
The Sneaker Man

Bruce Graham
The Darbarians

Jerry L. Jennings
FaceWorld

  

2010

Tom Turner Sweet Jane

Matthew Feely
St. Anthony’s

Katie Hennicke
The 3rd Best Thing

Dan Reilly
Haunt

 

2009

Mary Spiers
Saving Independence

 

Mary Spiers
Saving Independence

  

2008

Adam F. Goldberg Everything Changes

 

Jennie Krurnrine
Think About Love

Eamon R. Mclvor
Judy is a Punk

 

2007

Joe Nienalt
 Smile

 

Salih Abdul- Qawi
Beat a Bully

Derek Dressler
Incidental Contact

Robert Golphin
Midnight and Mourning

Matthew Taylor
The Four Men From Abernacte

Corey Stephens
Seeking Paradise

 

2006

Bruce Graham
Middle Aged White Guys

 

Bruce Graham
Middle Aged White Guys

Brian Loshiavo     
Paint By Number

 

2005

David Hoag
The Biographer

 

Kent Murray
According To Plan

  

2004

Bernie DeLeo
Queens for a Day

 

Jessica Parenti 
In Flew Enza

Jeremiah Zagar   
Paper Giants

 

2003

Kristin O’Keefe Aptowicz
Mutter

 

Jessica Parenti 
In Flew Enza

Annie Baker
Meet the Mog

James Costanzo
The Patriots

 

2002

Hal Borden
I’d Rather Be in Philadelphia

 

Hal Borden
 I’d Rather Be in Philadelphia

  
    

*In honor of his mother, Irene F Parisi

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