A SCRIPT about a pacifist woman and her lazy husband’s attempts to rid their home of an ‘undead pest’ during the apocalypse has proven a winning storyline for Beerwah’s Ryan Butler.
Ryan, a video editor and director, said he blown away after receiving a Sunny Coast Showdown award for this work, which is now heading for local production.
The Sunshine Coast film and TV competition uncovers the region’s best up-and-coming screenwriters and producers.
Each winner receives mentoring, support and funding to elevate their projects, produce them locally, and deliver the final product at the Sunny Coast Showdown showcase festival on June 24.
The Sunny Coast Showdown also gives locals the opportunity to showcase their talents nationally and globally, with the potential to kickstart a career in the screen industry.
Ryan said he hoped the accolade would help him return to an industry he loves.
“I’m shaking, I’m blown away,” he said.
“I took a pause from making film to have a family and this year was all about getting back into it.”
The Showdown received about 90 high quality submissions from local writers in scripted, unscripted, music video and Indigenous categories, with organisers stunned at the amount of talent the event has uncovered. Learning and development professional, Adam Szubrich, moved to Mooloolaba during Covid and was ‘in shock’ after winning the second scripted category with his screenplay, Slow Dating.
“I did not expect to make a professional film on the coast,” he said.
The script focuses on an elderly lady who tries speed dating, which leads to a night with a charming stranger before a heartbreaking revelation.
“I thought moving here was potentially limiting or destroying my writing career. This is bloody amazing.”
Former federal cop from Bokarina, Stephen Walker, is the committee’s choice winner and said he was overjoyed his comedy script, Stripper Trade Off, was chosen. He said the Showdown proves there’s a bright future for a local screen industry.
“I’m continually overwhelmed by the industry talent situated here,” he said.
“We have the will here, the talent here, the heart – it’s only a matter of time before that’s followed by investment and bigger productions.”
