A celebration of innovative storytelling took place as UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television’s Professional Programs announced the winners of its 2025 writing competitions. The event, which showcases groundbreaking talent across feature screenplays and television pilots, spotlights emerging creatives who push the boundaries of storytelling. The competitions winners, judged by industry experts and alumni, were announced during the program’s annual certificate ceremony. The winners and honorable mentions in each category were awarded $1,750 in tuition for recognition of their achievements.

Amy Jacobowitz is the Advanced Competition winner for her drama TV pilot “Uncanny Valley.” In the wake of personal tragedy, two best friends repurpose their failed AI voice app to reconnect with loved ones who have passed on.

Ricarda Ecker won the Screenwriting Competition for “The Things We Bury,” a fantastic comedy in which Josy, 28, confronts long-buried trauma when her childhood imaginary friend, Alina, returns to dig up artifacts in her grandmother’s garden.

Kate McFarland took top honors in the Writing for Television Comedy Pilot Competition with “Will & Trust,” a comedy/mystery. A fledgling attorney inherits her father’s chaotic estate practice and dives headfirst into Miami’s swamp of legal cases and organized crime.

Andrew Green won the Writing for Television Drama Pilot Competition for “World Trade,” a historical drama set in 1960s New York. Five characters with stakes in the city’s transformation must navigate ambition, displacement, and legacy.

The event also awarded honorable mentions to the following promising talents:

Kevin T. Johnson, for “The Legend of John Canoe” (Screenwriting Competition Honorable Mention), an epic drama in which an African chief enslaved in colonial Carolina uses charisma and diplomacy to reclaim freedom—armed only with words and a battle cry sung across continents.

Kevin Murphy, for “Hemlock House” (TV Comedy Pilot Honorable Mention), a dark satire where an ostracized liberal journalist teams up with a conservative editor, only to be lured into a cult exploiting progressives’ idealism during the 2008 election, inspired by real events.

Petros Paranikas, for “Yvonne” (TV Drama Pilot Honorable Mention), a gripping WWII series chronicling the daring efforts of the most effective resistance network in continental Europe—operating out of Athens.

The UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television continues to foster creativity, recognizing and rewarding those pushing the boundaries of storytelling and talent.

Taught by top experts and leaders working in the entertainment industry, Professional Programs at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, now in its 32^nd year, offers numerous graduate-level, non-degree courses modeled after UCLA TFT’s world-renowned MFA curriculum. Professional Programs alumni include Will Honley (writer Subservience, Escape Room: Tournament of Champions, Blood), Ian Stokell (writer/producer BAFTA winner and Oscar nominee All Quiet on the Western Front), James Ponsoldt (writer/director/producer Running Point, Daisy Jones & the Six, Shrinking, Sorry for Your Loss, The Spectacular Now), Olivia Liang (actor Kung Fu, Paper Flowers), Micah Cyrus (writer All American, Dead Girls Detective Agency), Steven Canals (writer/director Pose, Doc Odyssey, The Sex Lives of College Girls, Love Victor), Ritabhari Chakraborty (actor Grihostho, Bohurupi, Nandini, Fatafati), Bo Yeon Kim (writer/producer Star Trek: Discovery, Sweet Tooth, Reign), Rayne Roberts (Senior VP Searchlight Pictures), Sylvia Jones (writer Not My Family, Cherish the Day, Power Book IV: Force, The Chi), Tyron B. Carter (writer DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Arrow), Marisa Tam (CSI: Vegas, The Blacklist),  Nicole Riegel (writer director Dandelion, Holler), Dan Mazeau (writer Damsel, Fast X, Wrath of the Titans), Susan Hurwitz Arneson (writer/producer The Tick, Preacher, South Park), and many more.

To contact winners, please email Brian Fagan (bfagan@tft.ucla.edu).

For enrollment   information, visit professionalprograms.tft.ucla.edu.