Screenwriting : Stage 32 + Pathfinder Film & TV Comedy contest -- who submitted? by Pat Alexander

Hi. My name is Barry and I submitted my screenplay "Check the Rhyme" in the Film & TV Comedy Contest. "Check the Rhyme" is a coming-of-age comedy set in 1992 in my hometown of Elizabeth City, NC about a 11-year-old named Brandon who convinces his friend, Darrell, to enter their elementary school's talent show and perform a rap song. But the duo run into two problems. First, their teacher goes on maternity leave and they get a substitute who is ex-military who gives them more homework than they've ever had. Second, the friends can't agree on whether to perform an original rap song or a cover.

Hey, I submitted my feature comedy, “Dad Band”:

LOGLINE: When an emo-teen singer's band quits on the eve of a break-in music competition, her last hope against fierce, young rivals is for her estranged Dad to reform his aging 80s band.

COMPS: School of Rock meets Pitch Perfect

CONCEPT TRAILER: https://youtu.be/b-qFBT6R3Bg?si=PS-wKSkj7jHWLvgX

Good luck at all entrants!

Hi! I submitted two things, a pilot, and a feature, respectively:

ONCE IN MY LIFETIME (pilot) logline: Buffalo Bills fans at the downtrodden Miracle Bar wait desperately for their team to win the big game, a metaphor for their desire to win at life.

DYING TO LOVE YOU (romcom feature) logline: A lonely woman who believes any man who falls in love with her will die tragically sets out to find a hateful boyfriend incapable of feelings--only to find herself trying to protect both their hearts from her alleged "curse."

Good luck to all!

Hey all, and Happy 2026!

After a series of pitch sessions, seminars, executive consultations, and a significant polish, I felt my comedy pilot was ready to enter the ring.

Stillwater Mall is a single-camera, half-hour workplace comedy set in a small Midwestern mining town in 1985, where young adults and the grown-ups working alongside them collide inside a suburban shopping mall that serves as the town’s social hub. Friendships form, romances ignite, generations clash, and shenanigans abound as everyone juggles responsibility, expectations, dead-end jobs, and big dreams...only to realize they are all headed toward the same future, just listening to different soundtracks.

The series is designed as a five-season story, with each season spanning one calendar year, from 1985 through 1990.

With so much recent nostalgia-driven storytelling resonating with audiences, it felt like the right moment to bring Stillwater Mall into the mix.

The pitch deck is available at:

http://www.StillwaterMall.com

And a concept video can be seen here:

https://youtu.be/dsre9k6RJSg?si=Foj4vIhSxKV3lbnG

Hello! Excited to share my Pathfinder submission:

LAST STOP, ORLANDO

LOGLINE: A multi-cam farce about a Brazilian-American teen juggling identity and assimilation inside an ultra-privileged, wildly dysfunctional Orlando suburb -- where nobody fits in as neatly as they pretend.

My broad comedy is THE GRANNY WARS. When two feuding grandmas reconnect after decades, they fight the only way they know - over a man - till their liberated granddaughters get so fed up with their sexist grannies, they decide to teach them that a woman does not need a man to make her happy! (Or does she?)

This is basically Grumpy Old Men - but with women.

Thank you Pathfinder and Stage 32 for giving us the wonderful opportunity.

Hoping my TV pilot makes the quarterfinals.

GOING POSTAL

TV Pilot: Dark Comedy

Comps: It's Entourage meets Fight Club, in the world of Breaking Bad.

Once Hollywood’s highest-paid action star, Troy Galaxy now delivers mail — and, unknowingly, drugs for the cartel. After a career-ending scandal, he takes a postal job hoping for redemption, only to learn the hardest lesson of all: real life doesn’t yell “Cut.”

Notable:

1. Troy Galaxy and his stunt double, Billy Wayde, are played by the same actor — a core conceit of the series.

2. Two actors who embody the world of “working-class Hollywood” have already expressed interest in appearing as postal workers in the pilot. They are...

Vicellous Shannon – appearing as himself

(The Hurricane, Hart’s War, Annapolis, D2: The Mighty Ducks)

Tien Pham – playing “John Wayne,” a former Ninja Turtle

(The Sympathizer, NCIS: Los Angeles, Desperate Waters)

But fair warning: this pilot doesn’t knock... it kicks the door open and helps itself to your whiskey.

Cheers!

• “When Shadows Became Light” is a fantasy-romantic story set in a magical world where shadows and light hold extraordinary power. The film follows Aelin, a young woman who embodies both forces, and Kael, the enigmatic Shadow, as they face trials that test their courage, love, and trust. As their destinies intertwine, the story explores how inner strength and emotional growth can overcome darkness. The narrative combines intense romance, suspense, and the wonder of a richly imagined fantasy universe. Themes of resilience, self-discovery, and the transformative power of love are at the heart of the story. The project is designed to captivate audiences visually and emotionally, making them feel every triumph and heartbreak. “When Shadows Became Light” is a tale where magic, passion, and human emotions collide in an unforgettable cinematic experience.

• "I haven’t submitted this script anywhere yet; I’m still developing it, but I wanted to share what I’m currently working on."

Mary Huckstep "Wow, I love this concept! The humor, the twist with the granddaughters, and the feminist angle make it so fun and relatable. Definitely my favorite idea I’ve read today!"

Hi everyone! I submitted my TV pilot - E-Crisis One - to the Stage 32 + Pathfinder Film & TV Comedy contest:

E-Crisis One is a comedy adventure series about three utility techs — Mike, Gail, and Deke — who solve electrical mysteries but hilariously fumble through office and family emotional disasters. Their day jobs are routine power company work, energy audits, customer service, and distribution engineering, but their passion is chasing conspiracies at the intersection of electricity, ecology, and environmental sabotage. Each investigation starts small — a blackout here, a surge there, a strange unexplained electrocution — and spirals into coverups, corporate corruption, and climate chaos that constantly raises the stakes.

Three ruthless CEOs — Peter Quinn, Brian Renaldo, and Big Gene Gleaman — emerge as antagonists, turning their feud over mineral resources into and Eco-war. As communities suffer and the team’s own resilience is tested, they roll-back the covers of a decades long coverup of environmental destruction. Equal parts workplace comedy and climate thriller, E-Crisis One follows three unlikely heroes who refuse to quit, even when the truth is darker than they imagined.

Hi Everyone! Very excited to have submitted the pilot to my series "Soaked." It's a behind the scenes look at crew on an aging cruise ship based off of the six years I spent in multiple positions working for the cruise lines. It's about life both above and below deck! The pilot script has won over a dozen awards so far so I'm hoping this will be lucky number 13! lol. Series Logline: An assistant cruise director and her misfit international crew must face demanding guests, unforgiving weather, love triangles, and so much more, all while trying to deliver the vacation of a lifetime… for everyone else.

Greetings and good luck to all. I submitted my RomCom script, 21 Days, 21 Lemons.

At its heart, 21 Days, 21 Lemons is a romantic dramedy that explores how love and rediscovery often come from the most unexpected detours. The story follows a sharp-edged New York journalist whose career misstep exiles her to Italy’s Amalfi Coast, where she must visit 21 lemon groves in 21 days. Paired with a traditional Italian driver who believes life—and love—must be savored slowly, their journey begins as a clash of cultures but ripens into something beautifully human. Like the limoncello at the film’s center, their romance takes patience, passion, and just the right balance of sweetness and bite.

This screenplay blends sharp dialogue, emotional transformation, and lush Mediterranean visuals, offering both a cinematic and deeply heartfelt experience. It is written with the same tone and texture as films like Under the Tuscan Sun, Letters to Juliet, and Eat Pray Love—stories where the setting becomes a character in itself and where love is found not by chasing it, but by slowing down long enough to let it catch up.

Hi all! My submission was a pilot for a TV series that I've been thinking about for a decade and finally sat down to write. It's called "Friendless" and it's about a married couple in their late 40s who, after sending their youngest son off to college and becomming empty nesters, realize they don't really have any friends. The concept of how we lose friends as we age, and struggle to make new ones, has long fascinated me. And while that serious undercurrent runs through the show, it is first and foremost a hard-R comedy that would follow this couple's misadventures as they attempt to make friends later in life.

Max and Winter - my leads - are a little like Larry David if he was a couple. From a tone standpoint "Friendless" is along the lines of shows like Curb Your Enthusiasm. You're The Worst, Bojack Horseman, and Platonic. The pilot episode - "Smothered, Covered, Scattered" - is a bit of a throwback to the 80s sex comedies I grew up with, but with a modern twist that elevates the humor for a 2026 audience.

What I like most about the show is that Max and Winter are equally complicit in their various escapades. Instead of the wacky one/stable one dynamic we've see so often in sitcoms, Max and Winter's co-dependency drives the show and all the trouble they get into.

Sean Rodman That is a sitcom I would watch! I'd love to read it!

Been reading the loglines and projects people are sharing here. So many great ideas and voices. Really grateful, and excited, to be part of this cohort.

Just retired from my day job and will begin packaging my multicam sitcom entitled 'ExPost Potus' soon.

Logline - When a once-beloved U.S. President with Alzheimers mistakes his memory care facility's replica Oval Office for the real thing, his Billionaire son and a devoted care team stage a living illusion of his 1990's Presidency to help him find peace - and, in the process, rediscover broken family bonds.

Would love to see David Strathairn as President...but these are dangerous times. So first ask is going to Tom Hanks. I know...but all actors want to sit in the big chair...especially now. Ashton Kutcher for his son....and Alicia Witt as the President's Chief of Staff.

I submitted two over the top comedies this year. I believe they're the kind of bonkers but strong comedies that Pathfinder is looking for! One is a TV pilot called Godtown, and the other is a feature called The Ballad of Slick Willy's. I know one thing for sure, both these scripts will have my readers genuinely laughing out loud!

Hi. Thank you for the opportunity to submit to Stage 32.

I submitted my comedy screenplay THE VEGAS STRETCH.

When a rule-following Catholic school teacher learns her beloved school is shutting down, she and a quirky substitute hatch a wild plan to win the money back in Vegas. What starts out as a desperate gamble spirals into a hilarious, chaotic weekend of lost bets, stolen cookie-sale funds, and unexpected allies. With faith, luck, and a Charlie Sheen look-a-like on their side, they discover miracles can happen if you take a risk.

Good luck to all!

Excited to be apart of the contest with my romantic comedy feature The 'Love' Game.

Logline : When his controversial bestseller is banned, struggling writer Ralph Davies finds unexpected inspiration in Veronica, but as their relationship deepens, he must confront the fallout from his unraveling divorce, his brother’s impending wedding, and a revelation that threatens to unravel everything he thought he knew about love.

Donna Hoke Thanks for the kind words! I think Friendless has a lot of things going for it. For a show for, and featuring, older people (45+) it has a real edge to it. And I think it would be relatively inexpensive to produce since it has a small cast and is set in the Midwest. I don't JUST want to write a great show. I want to write a great show that MAKES MONEY so that it can get multiple seasons.

Yes - I submitted my series Dixie Dynamite.

SYNOPSIS:

Dixie Dynamite is an episodic comedy and family dramedy that blends irreverent humor,

heartfelt family conflict, and timely cultural commentary into a distinctive, character-

driven series. At its core, the show follows Penny, a progressive Baby Boomer matriarch

whose carefully curated middle-American life is jolted by the sudden death of a close

friend. This loss ignites her desire for reinvention, leading her to create a bold OnlyFans

persona—Dixie Dynamite—which becomes the catalyst for seismic changes within her

family. The premise uses this provocative hook not as shock value, but as an entry point

into a nuanced exploration of generational values, evolving relationships, and what “having it all” really means in 2025.

Hey! I wrote a pilot about my days in Blue Man Group Las Vegas. Think a dirtier, grittier 30 Rock set in Vegas backstage at a fake Blue Man Group show. Here is the logline!

Dre Parker, director of the hit Vegas show Swamptown (think Blue Man Group), must maintain the show’s integrity and her sanity when her estranged billionaire father suddenly buys the company and corporate culture descends upon her tight knit band of lunatic performers.

Sounds like a fun movie! Good concept, Jeffrey!

Hi everyone,

I submitted my comedy screenplay “RIZHO KAMIKAZE: CATS & BULLETS.”

It’s a dark, character-driven comedy that blends absurd situations with grounded emotion, where humor comes from flawed people trying to survive chaos rather than jokes for the sake of jokes.

Excited to be part of the contest and looking forward to connecting with other writers here.

Good luck to everyone who submitted!

Hi all, my submission is a TV comedy pilot called 'Emerald Hill'. It's about the staff of a small-town railway station whose already shambolic personal lives are further complicated by finding out they're about to become unemployed.

Synopsis:

Clayton is having the worst day of his life. First, his wife leaves him for a cryptocurrency millionaire who looks like a fish, then he loses his dream job when the local railway station shuts down. He's more upset about the loss of Emerald Hill than his marriage, after all, he's loved the place a lot longer than Bella.

As his hometown dies around him, Clayton navigates the final days of Emerald Hill Station alongside its last two employees. Sam is madly in love with Penny but can't bring himself to tell her, while Penny doesn't care what happens to the station as long as she never has to work with Clayton again.

Across six episodes covering the weeks leading up to the station's closure, Team Emerald Hill interact with a colorful range of characters while managing the many disappointments in their personal lives. In the end, Clayton, Sam and Penny defy the odds to end up in a better place than where they started.