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Steven Goldman is an IWC screenwriter specializing in Character-driven, Children's, Animation, Limited Series, Dark projects. Browse their loglines and profile and at the Independent Writers' Caucus. < Back Steven Goldman Contact Info Email: x email goes here phone goes here Steven Goldman is an internationally syndicated film journalist based in Los Angeles. His UK credits include: Time Out, The Sunday Times, The Guardian, BBC Children's Television, The Evening Standard, and British Esquire. In the US, his work has appeared in The New York Times, Premiere, Interview and Artsmeme. He the writer of two animated TV specials for Film Roman/HandMade Films, based on the Eloise books by Kay Thompson and Hilary Knight, featuring the voices of Tim Curry and Lynn Redgrave. His recent adaptation of Pettson and Findus at Christmas, with Natalia Nightingale Grey, for The Little Sparrow Theatre in Toronto, was the recipient of four Dora Award nominations. He has provided promotional materials for NBCUni, Sony, MGM, Paramount, Amblin, Disney, Warner Bros, IMAX, Lionsgate, and Apple TV. Steven is an associate member of the Writers Guild of America, The IWC, and The Critics Choice Association. STILL LIFE WITH FRUIT Vertical Comedy - Live Action/Animated Still Life With Fruit is an offbeat, vertical reality series where the residents of a kitchen fruit plate wrestle with the petty dramas of daily life, the limitations of their dreams & aspirations, a sadistic fruit fly, and most notably, each other. 90 Episodes/180 mins HOWDY DOODY TIME (Feature; Caper Comedy) A well-meaning minion's life goes to hell when he gets his best friend a job as his assistant. But as he struggles to get rid of him, neither is aware that the workplace itself is a front for an international forgery ring. TRANSITIONAL BOB (Animated; Limited Series) An eccentric drifter on the run from the law sets off to find his long lost brother, only to discover the man he’s looking for is the same man who’s pursuing him and the hitchhiker he’s picked up along the way may be planning to eat him. IWC BEST OF 2024

Paul Zeidman is an IWC screenwriter specializing in Western, Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Animation, Silly, Slapstick projects. Browse their loglines and profile and at the Independent Writers' Caucus. < Back Paul Zeidman http://maximumz.blog Contact Info Email: x email goes here phone goes here Paul Zeidman is an award-winning screenwriter who loves to create tales of thrilling adventure that take the audience on a rollercoaster ride of high-octane fun and excitement they can’t wait to get back in line for as soon as it’s over. Paul is open to collaborating, original pitches, script polishing and doctoring. He also hosts The Creative Writing Life podcast, published the GO AHEAD & ASK screenwriting books, and has been running the screenwriting blog Maximum Z since 2009. When not working on scripts, Paul also enjoys reading comic books, running long-ish distances, and making what could possibly be the best pecan pie west of the Mississippi. Paul’s day job is doing traffic reports on the radio, and no - he doesn’t fly in the helicopter. THE IRON HORSE OF LUCY STEELE Western-adventure After a gang of ruthless outlaws steals her locomotive, a fiery engineer relentlessly pursues them across the frontier to prevent the biggest heist of the 19th century. FAZOOM! Fantasy-comedy On the run from a tyrannical wizard, a novice witch from a fantastical realm ends up stranded without her powers in the least magical place of all - New Jersey.

The annual Best of the IWC list spotlights the top screenplays selected from our membership each year. Browse 2024, 2025, and 2026 collections. 2026 Best of the IWC This Year's Top Scripts by Independent Writers' Caucus Members Previous Best of the IWC Lists 2025 2024

Scott Sanford Tobis is an IWC screenwriter specializing in Character-driven, Female-centric, Medical, Thriller, Romantic, Sci-Fi, Psychological, Satire projects. Browse their loglines and profile and at the Independent Writers' Caucus. < Back Scott Sanford Tobis https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0864975/ Contact Info Email: x email goes here phone goes here Scott Sanford Tobis is a screenwriter, journalist and award nominated playwright (an honor he proudly lost to the late Ray Bradbury). In addition to writing for film and television (Twice Upon A Christmas, Desperate Housewives, Muggers, The Roast of Paul Hogan, and more), he crafts articles for numerous magazines and websites, co-wrote The Desperate Housewives Cookbook. Frivolous, his "deeply silly" half-hour comedy about the legal system, is in development and he's currently crafting a vaguely-autobiographical (a term he just invented) TV series, Unmoored. He is endlessly fascinated by the human condition and remains cautiously optimistic in a world that doesn't exactly engender optimism at the moment. That said, he is fully optimistic that he can be reached at blankcanvas@gmail.com. Honors & Awards Page International Quarterfinalist - THE NEW BLOOD - 2019 LA Weekly Theatre Awards - THE STAR OF MONEY - BEST ONE ACT PLAY FRIVOLOUS Half-hour comedy - Arrested Development, New Girl, Newsradio A deeply silly tale of a sweet boy - who accidentally discovers that he can make a living suing people for frivolous reasons and the impact it has on his life. CHEMISTRY Romantic Comedy After discovering proof of the genetic code for love, a female mathematician/researcher begins a search for her own soul mate and finds herself caught up in a romantic triangle; forcing her to choose between the logic that has dictated every aspect of her life and the longings of her heart. THE NEW BLOOD Thriller/Horror A brilliant grad student uses his not-fully-tested nanotechnology to save his dying fiancée. The nano-blood changes her from a caring social worker to a dangerous and seemingly indestructible creature. In the end, the man realizes that the woman he loves is the woman he will have to kill to stop the terror.

Philip Pierce is an IWC screenwriter specializing in Character-driven, Science, Medical, Thriller, Sci-Fi, Psychological, Historical/Alternative History, International projects. Browse their loglines and profile and at the Independent Writers' Caucus. < Back Philip Pierce Contact Info Email: x email goes here phone goes here Philip Pierce is a writer/producer as well as a clinical psychologist and UCLA Lecturer. He wrote and produced the feature film BOY CULTURE based on the novel by Matthew Rettenmund. It premiered at The Tribeca Film Festival, won 21 international awards, and was distributed theatrically. He produced the sequel BOY CULTURE: THE SERIES, which premiered at OutfestLA and the British Film Institute in London. It has won 4 Best Film Fest prizes. A number of Philip's scripts have won awards and been optioned. In addition, FREUD AND JUNG IN AMERICA was a finalist for a Sloan Grant and was selected by the WGA for a showcase performance and LOST LEGEND was selected by the WGA Latinx Committee for a scene reading and was a Nicholl Fellowship Semi-Finalist. MOVE by Academy Award Nominee Matthew Diamond (DANCEMAKER) to which Philip contributed a rewrite was optioned by United Artists. BIO RUN (Sci-fi Thriller - THE FUGITIVE meets CONTAGION) A doctor, suspected of starting an epidemic of a rare disease, goes on the run to clear his name and find the real perpetrator while a relentless FBI bioterrorism agent pursues him. LOST LEGEND (Action/Adventure, Latinx) Set in 1790's California, a privileged young woman, struggling to avenge the death of her father, takes on a dual identity as Zarra. Ultimately, she becomes the unlikely defender of the oppressed Indigenous people: the legend before the legend. Insprired by the public domain novel, The Curse of Capistrano . BLOOD SECRETS (Psychological Thriller) A young FBI behavioral analyst struggles with inner demons as he tracks down an escaped serial killer -- his own father.

Danielle Evenson is an IWC screenwriter specializing in Female-centric, Coming-of-Age, YA, Limited Series, Satire, Late Night projects. Browse their loglines and profile and at the Independent Writers' Caucus. < Back Danielle Evenson Contact Info IMDb Email: x email goes here phone goes here Danielle Evenson & Heather Huntington are a set of mittens you left at Sundance (you can figure out which one is which). As the child of a narcissist and mother of two neurodiverse kids (Heather) and a would-be beauty queen who grew up driving the bull semen route (Danielle), obviously they write comedy. Specifically, they write edgy and sometimes nerdy feminist comedy with a pop culture bent. After studying writing at USC and Emerson, After studying writing at USC and the University of Chicago, Danielle & Heather have staffed on CBS’s "The New Adventures of Old Christine," created podcasts for Meet Cute and Aural Stories, and won audio fellowships with the Orchard Project and Gotham Film & Media Institute. Their romantic comedy feature, "The Proposal Spot," is available on Amazon and Peacock. When not writing, they teach storytelling and narrative podcasting at the New York Film Academy, and host their monthly table read series, "CoPilots," at the Elysian Theater in Los Angeles. Honors & Awards Jeff Sagansky Harvardwood Writers Program - ATHERTON - 2021 Fellow, The Orchard Project's Audio Lab - 2021 Fellow, The Orchard Project's Episodic Writer's Lab - PILGRIMAGE - 2019 GEN SEXY Single cam comedy pilot - AbFab meets Veronica's Closet Two too-cool-for-school Gen Xers known for being hip, who now have to create their own next chapter, now that they’re in danger of breaking their hips. TWICE EXCEPTIONAL Single cam comedy pilot - The Goldbergs meets Atypical When a couple who finds out their quirky son is actually gifted AND on the spectrum, they learn that absolutely everything they thought they knew about parenting no longer applies. PILGRIMAGE Single cam comedy pilot - Broad City meets The Crucible What happens when the Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of 1620s England gets stuck with the OGs of white privilege--the pilgrims?

Matthew Nicholson is an IWC screenwriter specializing in Character-driven, Female-centric, BIPOC-centric, Queer, Medical, Fantasy, Bittersweet, Magical Realism projects. Browse their loglines and profile and at the Independent Writers' Caucus. < Back Matthew Nicholson http://www.matt-writer.com Contact Info Email: x email goes here phone goes here Matt Nicholson is a queer Burbank-based dramedy and fantasy screenwriter who spent the last decade as an editor on George Takei’s social media platforms. He crafts character-driven stories about family legacy, grief, and survival. After losing his mother to Huntington’s Disease, Matt studied screenwriting at Sarah Lawrence College and UCLA Extension. Because he carries a 50/50 chance of inheriting the same incurable diagnosis, his work is fueled by an urgency to tell stories that explore how people endure loss without allowing it to define them. That drive inspired him to create his dramedy series, CARE SOURCE, about the 209 home healthcare nurses who lived, ate, and watched TV with his family during his mother’s 20-year battle with Huntington’s. It’s THE BIG C meets THE BEAR. He also reimagines old myths through a modern lens. MYTHFITS follows the reluctant modern-day descendant of Pandora who vows to put all of the original evils back inside her ancestor’s cursed box, once and for all. It’s BUFFY meets THE SANDMAN. Matt’s writing has been recognized by the Humanitas New Voices Fellowship, Shore Scripts, and Slamdance. In 2026, he was selected for the inaugural CineStory Screenwriting Residency, Stowe Story Labs, and the Writers Guild Foundation’s Writers’ Access Support Staff Training Program. Thanks to his time as a researcher for WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE, Matt is a diehard trivia buff and permanently banned from playing JEOPARDY! with his relatives. Honors & Awards ISA Diversity Fellowship - Top 10 Finalist - 2026 - Senior Ditch Day Writers Support Staff Training Program Graduate - 2026 MYTHFITS 1-hr Fantasy - Buffy meets Percy Jackson "The reluctant modern-day descendant of Pandora vows to trap all of the Original Evils back inside her ancestor’s cursed box once and for all. Can she claim her unwelcome destiny as the new owner of Pandora’s box before her hometown is overrun by evil?" CARE SOURCE 1-hr Dramedy - The Bear meets The Big C "A single mother must give a once-in-a-lifetime presentation to NASA for her family business when an unexpected and debilitating medical diagnosis not only risks her job but will change her dysfunctional family forever." SENIOR DITCH DAY Dramedy Feature - Thelma meets Oceans 8 When a once-in-a-lifetime celestial event appears over her hometown, an elderly nursing home resident rallies her fellow nonagenarians for a daring escape to scatter her late husband’s ashes.

Lisa Lutes is an IWC screenwriter specializing in Female-centric, Sci-Fi, Children's, Magical Realism projects. Browse their loglines and profile and at the Independent Writers' Caucus. < Back Lisa Lutes Contact Info Email: x email goes here phone goes here Lisa Lutes is a screenwriter from Ottawa, Canada. Lisa graduated from university with a degree in marine and freshwater biology and worked as a fisheries biologist on ships and islands in the Alaskan fishing industry. Eventually, she went back to university in Australia to train as a primary school teacher to settle down and raise her two daughters. After writing a novel and memoir about Alaska, as well as several picture books, she decided to give screenwriting a turn and fell in love. Lisa uses her strange mix of world travel, teaching and parenting experience to write comedy and family, with a love of all things time travel, looping and bending. Lisa is currently developing a series of middle grade graphic novels with her illustrator husband, Jay Lutes. Honors & Awards Semifinalist, PAGE awards - PRESENT 2024 Second Round, Sundance development track - OSTARBEITER 2025 PRESENT Family feature Trapped in the photos of her social media account, a girl must find a way out to return to her real life. OSTARBEITER Drama feature Three mothers in different times and places deal with the generational consequences of a Nazi work camp that imprisoned Eastern European women in WW2. SHOWROOM Comedy feature Trapped in an IKEA showroom of their past, a couple must navigate years of built up resentment to survive the adjustment of an empty nest.

Mary Albanese is an IWC screenwriter specializing in Character-driven, Female-centric, BIPOC-centric, Thriller, Romantic, Horror, Bittersweet projects. Browse their loglines and profile and at the Independent Writers' Caucus. < Back Mary Albanese Contact Info IMDB The Black List Email: x email goes here phone goes here Mary Albanese is an optioned screenwriter repped by Bohemia Group. A former arctic explorer and glass-ceiling-breaker, she is passionate about writing character-driven stories that shine a light on female empowerment, in a variety of genres. A Black List recommend writer, their reviews of her work rank her among their top 1%. Honors & Awards Quarterfinalist, Nicholl Fellowship - THE WILD HEART OF ALASKA - 2024 Quarterfinalist, Final Draft's Big Break - DEVIL'S WEED - 2025 Bronze, WRPN Women International Film Festival - THE CHRISTMAS REINDEER - 2021" THE WILD HEART OF ALASKA Adventure, True Story, Biopic WILD meets HIDDEN FIGURES In 1978, a New York science nerd no one will hire spends her last dime on a one-way flight to the new state of Alaska to take on the dangerous man's world of mapping uncharted rock types of some of the world's most rugged and remote mountains. DEVIL'S WEED Horror GET OUT meets ROSEMARY'S BABY A women desperate to have a baby finds her miracle pregnancy is caused by a demon who sources his 'seed' from her local cemetery. THE CHRISTMAS REINDEER Rom-Com with original songs PRANCER meets E.T . - The Musical! A city woman who has lost her Christmas spirit finds a baby reindeer and must work with a love-shy country man to save it.

Miguel Martinez is an IWC screenwriter specializing in Thriller, Horror, Coming-of-Age, Dark, Magical Realism projects. Browse their loglines and profile and at the Independent Writers' Caucus. < Back Miguel Martinez Contact Info IMDb Email: x email goes here phone goes here I am a Latino disabled writer, director, editor, and producer drawn to stories about monsters, survival, grief, and the strange ways people learn to live with what haunts them. My work includes folk horror, supernatural dramas, disability centered stories, comics, essays, and independent films built from limited resources but big emotional swings. As a filmmaker with epilepsy, I think a lot about bodies that cannot be controlled, fear that lives under the skin, and the power of community when survival is not simple or pretty. My Latino background shapes my love of folklore, family, faith, humor, and inherited ghosts. I am interested in genre as a place where pain can become myth, trauma can become spectacle, and characters who are usually pushed to the margins can take up the whole screen. I tell stories for the people who recognize themselves in the monster. Having lived in New York, Texas and California, I can see many different aspects of our great country and what makes the horror tick for all eyes. Honors & Awards Disability Awards Fellow Best Horror Film - Golden State Film Festival - WITH YOUR LIFE - 2025 Best First Time Director - Hollywood Blood Horror Fest - LECHUZA - 2025 MIGRANT SPIRITS Horror - Holes meets The Conjuring After children disappear from an ominous haunted migrant detention center, a young girl must unravel the mystery or be consumed by the haunting HUNGER MOON Horror - Emily the Criminal meets The Fly When her father is mauled and begins transforming into a werewolf, a teenage girl takes charge of her struggling immigrant family’s food cart, fighting to contain the monster in their basement by night and evading ICE by day. LECHUZA Horror - Hereditary meets The Evil Dead The night before her mother's funeral, a grieving daughter gathers her clueless sisters with a secret plan to resurrect her matriarch. When the spell summons a Lechuza, a vengeful witch of Latin American folklore, the sisters must fight to survive the night.

Heather Ostrove is an IWC screenwriter specializing in Character-driven, Female-centric, Thriller, Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Horror, YA projects. Browse their loglines and profile and at the Independent Writers' Caucus. < Back Heather Ostrove https://www.heatherostrove.com/ Contact Info The Black List Email: x email goes here phone goes here A genre-bending writer specializing in fantasy, grounded sci-fi, and horror, Heather Ostrove's protagonists deal with real-life struggles while facing out-of-this-world situations. Originally from Silver Spring, Maryland, Heather sharpened her keen sense of story editing EPK and marketing featurettes for films such as Moonrise Kingdom, Anna Karenina, and Dallas Buyers Club. She’s written projects for Crypt TV and Netflix, and is a prior winner at the PAGE Awards. Honors & Awards BRONZE PRIZE, PAGE AWARDS - PROXY L-2, 2022 HEADS UP Horror - BREAKFAST CLUB meets I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER. Saturday detention turns deadly when a quiet high schooler is hunted by a masked killer determined to make her and six other classmates pay for the death of a fellow student.

Brian J. Leitten is an IWC screenwriter specializing in Character-driven, Thriller, Sci-Fi, Historical/Alternative History, Snarky projects. Browse their loglines and profile and at the Independent Writers' Caucus. < Back Brian J. Leitten Contact Info IMDb LinkedIn Email: x email goes here phone goes here Brian J. Leitten is an award-winning writer, producer and director, with a solid 401k and a moderate case of middle-child syndrome. His pilot script, RED STATE, won ISA’s Thriller Screenplay Competition and was chosen for The Grey List 2026. Brian spent a significant portion of his career at MTV and Vevo, working in programming, production and development. He’s interviewed hundreds of artists and worked on a variety of shows from the VMAs to “Wonder Showzen” to “Ultimate Mashups with Jay-Z and Linkin Park.” He produced and wrote on four seasons of the documentary series MADE, winning an Emmy in 2011. In 2013 he directed two short docs with Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails chronicling their global TENSION tour. Brian was an adjunct professor of media production and co-created the Production Master Class in the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati. Through his production company, Hyperion XIII, he’s produced and directed multiple award-winning documentaries and partnered on productions with Netflix, Amazon, NBC, Morgan Stanley and Spotify. Brian was recently selected for the “What If…” writers' workshop led by Ronald D. Moore at Ken Kesey’s farm. In 2026, Brian executive produced New Heights: Live in LA and for the last three years he’s written and executive produced the official Rose Parade Broadcast. When he’s not producing, Brian is focused on crafting stories about alternate history, found family, and anything in the science fiction realm. Honors & Awards Grand Prize Winner, ISA Thriller Screenplay Competition - RED STATE - 2025 What If... Writers' Workshop (led by Ronald D. Moore) - 2025 Official Selection, The Grey List - RED STATE - 2026 RED STATE Alternative History - For All Mankind, Paradise During the height of the Cold War, a desperate Air Force pilot risks his life to escape America’s ‘most patriotic town’ – a Potemkin village hidden deep behind the Iron Curtain, designed to transform Russian soldiers into American sleeper agents. OFFSPRING Comedy - Platonic meets The Sex Lives of College Girls Barrett, an only child with two mothers, starts his first day at college hoping to find a missing piece of himself. Defying his parents and upending the lives of his new found half-sister Alyssa and roommate Trey, Barrett searches for the man whose sperm donation gave him life. AWAKENING Sci-Fi - Altered Carbon meets The Village In a dystopian future, technology can preserve the human consciousness. Mackenzie, a distraught security officer, is stuck between two feudal warring factions. When a mysterious man awakens with no memories of his past, Mackenzie uses the man to save her daughter from a society of sycophants.