Ex-Marine cops top prize in Screenwriters’ contest

Adedapo Akisanya is the winner of CSN’s screenwriting contest

Winner of the grand prize of the recent Chicago Screenwriters Network’s third annual script contest was former U.S. Marine, Adedapo Akisanya, for his drama, Beneath the Rock.

He was one of 15 gold, silver and bronze winners in the categories of horror, family, comedy, action and drama.

Akisanya’s prizes were $500 cash, a six-month script listing on InkTip and having Hollywood production companies, agencies and managers consider his screenplay.

Beneath the Rock is about a dogmatic king who finds out that an African army, armed by the French, threatens to attack his land and decides not to leave but stay and fight, while hiding his people in a cave.

More than 100 screenplays by Midwest writers were submitted to the contest.  All but two of the 15 winners were Chicagoans.
They are:

FAMILY CATEGORY: Gold award, Lucy in London, by Tracy Ryan, a suburban stay at home mom. Silver, Manny’s Mutts, by Melissa Eckhause, an attorney. Bronze, On the Track of the Maltese and Other Curiosities, by screenwriters Matthew Quinn a film studio story analyst and DePaul professor, and Rick Mitchell, producer and comedian.

ACTION: Gold, Pillar of Fire, by Kent Williams, an attorney. Silver, Love Letters from the Jungle, by Mark Urukalo, an actor.  Bronze, Quiet, by John Meyer, formerly of Corporate America who now devotes his time to creative writing.

COMEDY: Gold, Villa Notte, by Mary Santarelli, a screenwriter. Silver, One More Day, Patricia Fox of Minneapolis. Bronze, Get Happy, by Tom Shipley, an advertising copywriter.

HORROR: Gold, Prom Night Abduction,s by Curt Burdick, a retired adman. Silver, The Callowhill Remains, by Richard Warburton, an attorney. Bronze, Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll, by Timothy Compton, writer/director and co-founder of Waterfoot Films.  

DRAMA: Gold, Beneath the Rock, by Adedapo Akisanya. Silver, Our Blood, by Jess Poelstra, a screenwriter. Bronze, Rest in Peace, by  Dennis Sampler, retired Ch. 5 tape editor.
 
Fifteen industry professionals judged the contest and CSN board members hosted and presented the awards. This year’s guest speakers were Tribune movie critic Michael Phillips and screenwriters Dean Olson and Pete Jones.

Chicago Screenwriters Network, founded in 1995, has a membership of 150. Current co-presidents are Bethany Lape and Chris Koziel. CSN meets on the first Sunday of the month at the Lincoln Resturant, 4008 N. Lincoln Ave.