First Act, First Look Screenplay Contest Marks Fourth Year!
Film and Television Screenwriter, Producer and Director Tamika Lamison will serve as the 2025
guest judge for the Virginia Screenwriters Forum’s (VSF) fourth annual First Act, First Look
Screenplay Contest, which is hosted on Filmfreeway.com from Feb. 1 through May 31.
Tamika is part of the Rideback Rise Fellowship circle and was a Finalist in Shondaland’s Director
Mentoring Program & the ABC Directing Program. She recently won the Bravemaker pitch
contest for her next short film, “Faith By Fire.” Her current Oscar-qualifying short, “Superman
Doesn’t Steal” has screened in over 50 festivals, winning numerous awards, including her first
NAACP Image Award. Her first screenplay, JAR BY THE DOOR, was a Sundance Finalist, winning
several awards including Gordon Parks Indie Film Award. Other honors include: ABC/Walt
Disney Fellowship in Screenwriting, the CBS Director’s Initiative and AFI’s Directing Workshop
for Women Fellowship.
She was a staff writer and producer on MONOGAMY. In an effort to give back, Tamika created
the non-profit, Make A Film Foundation (MAFF), which grants film wishes to children with
serious or life-threatening medical conditions by teaming them with noted film industry
creatives who help them create short film legacies. She has produced four award-winning
narrative shorts and over 100 short docs via MAFF.
guest judge for the Virginia Screenwriters Forum’s (VSF) fourth annual First Act, First Look
Screenplay Contest, which is hosted on Filmfreeway.com from Feb. 1 through May 31.
Tamika is part of the Rideback Rise Fellowship circle and was a Finalist in Shondaland’s Director
Mentoring Program & the ABC Directing Program. She recently won the Bravemaker pitch
contest for her next short film, “Faith By Fire.” Her current Oscar-qualifying short, “Superman
Doesn’t Steal” has screened in over 50 festivals, winning numerous awards, including her first
NAACP Image Award. Her first screenplay, JAR BY THE DOOR, was a Sundance Finalist, winning
several awards including Gordon Parks Indie Film Award. Other honors include: ABC/Walt
Disney Fellowship in Screenwriting, the CBS Director’s Initiative and AFI’s Directing Workshop
for Women Fellowship.
She was a staff writer and producer on MONOGAMY. In an effort to give back, Tamika created
the non-profit, Make A Film Foundation (MAFF), which grants film wishes to children with
serious or life-threatening medical conditions by teaming them with noted film industry
creatives who help them create short film legacies. She has produced four award-winning
narrative shorts and over 100 short docs via MAFF.
Submit your script at https://filmfreeway.com/FirstActFirstLookScreenplayContest
Barry Hite’s SAINT LINDA swept the awards at the third annual VSF Short Film Showcase held at the Ashland Theatre. Hite’s comedic film won Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actress awards and tied for Best Screenplay with Adam Lapallo’s Ghost Light. Bob Eason’s DEAD won Best Actor. Eric Carlson’s MAGGIE CAMPBELL, co-directed by Adam Lapallo and Rachel Weatherly Grant, won Audience Choice. Maggie Campbell is VSF’s first funded production. At the showcase, Lapallo shared the film was recently selected as an Official Selection for the Magic of Horror Film Festival in October.
The 2024 filmmaker awards were judged by Richmond’s own Calvin “Jai” Jamison. A writer/Director, Jamison was most recently an executive story editor on the CW’s Superman & Lois, where he also directed an episode. He also worked on Steven Spielberg’s “Lincoln.”
Kathy Nguyen Li won $500 as the grand prize winner of the First Look, First Act (FAFL) Screenwriting Contest for NGUYEN OR LOSE. The D.C.-based writer’s feature screenplay, REFUGE, placed as a Semi-Finalist in the Academy Nicholl Fellowship, is Black List Recommended, and won her placement in the Women in Film and Video (WIFV)’s Narrative Script Development Fellowship in 2023.
Runner-up Vivian Owen, who co-wrote OCCULT DETECTIVE with Patrick Alexander, also attended the presentation. Owen wrote and script supervised the post-apocalyptic horror short, The Drove, which won Best Film in the Richmond 48 Hour Horror Film Project. Owen teaches in the Cinema department at VCU School of the Arts.
Patrick Alexander is a screenwriter, producer, and director based in Sarasota, FL, whose work has been showcased at film festivals around the world. He is the co-founder and co-director of The John Alexander Project, a 501c3 nonprofit that produces international stories for NPR's Morning Edition and All Things Considered.