This year features 73 unproduced screenplays. Here are the next 11, indexed alphabetically, from P to U.
Looking for some weekend reads? I think we can help you with that. These scripts are considered as some of the best "2021: Top Unproduced Screenplays" of the year, according to hundreds of industry professionals who've read and rated them.
For Your Consideration, we have the next 11 scripts cataloged and indexed alphabetically for quick access. Including Shanrah Wakefield's "Rabbit Season," Sam West's "The Unbound," and everything in between.
If you're a young writer looking for study guides, you've found the right place.
Unsure about exactly what makes these scripts so popular?
You're thinking about writing movie scripts? Do your research.
The odds are firmly against you making a career out of writing. Anyone can write, but not everyone can be a writer.
Screenwriting is like any other art: it's subjective. So is it worth paying for someone's opinion about your writing? A professional script reader can read your screenplay and hate everything about it. On the flip side, a different person can read the same script and love every word. The end result is you'll get conflicting advice about how to "improve" your writing, and their opinions may have nothing to do with the fundamentals of screenwriting.
That's the problem with subjectivity when an artist is looking for advice. Not everyone is the same, and not all script readers are created equally. The point is this: keep writing, keep revising until YOU are happy. If you've got what it takes to be a writer, to be a good writer, then everything else will fall into place.
Read screenplays. Read a lot of screenplays. Read unproduced screenplays, read award-winning screenplays. Discover what's not written on the page; look beyond what's black and white. Don't be afraid to make a mistake, but also know when to say when.
Anyone can write, but not everyone can be a writer.
A word about voting... and other important stuff about the "best of" 2021 Unproduced Scripts.
Some of the scripts listed here may have since been optioned and produced. However, at the time of "voting" they were not.
Also, like all of the screenplays on this site, copyrights remain with the writer(s). 8FLiX does not claim ownership of any screenplay, nor were we involved in voting for, or choosing what makes them the "best of" a particular year.
If you're the writer and wish to update the version, change your contact information, or to remove your screenplay from the database, send an email to Nick Runyeard for immediate assistance. I can also be reach through social media:
Rabbit Season
Written by: Shanrah Wakefield
Votes: 13
Supernatural horror about a woman stalked through a dark city park by the most monstrous manifestation of manhood during her walk home from her high school reunion.
Sandpiper
Written by: Lindsay Michel
Votes: 10
Still reeling in the wake of her husband’s death, master thief Viola Crier signs on to a risky, last-minute job set to take place inside a man-made time loop, but as the number of loops increases, the job begins to spiral out of control.
See How They Run
Written by: Lily Hollander
Votes: 30 (2nd overall in 2021)
A blind mother moves into a remote farmhouse with her young daughter, but the mystery of the home’s previous inhabitants intrudes upon her attempts to repair their relationship.
Shania!
Written by: Jessica Welsh
Votes: 10
Eilleen Edwards rises from an impoverished upbringing in rural Canada to transform into 90’s global country-pop superstar Shania Twain, only to face her greatest challenge yet: putting her life and career back together after losing her voice.
Skeleton Tree (2023)
Written by: Paul Barry
Votes: 10
When an accident sinks their boat, two teenaged boys must learn how to survive the wilds of the remote Alaskan coastline, endure one another, and to come to terms with a long-held life-altering secret. IMDb
Sleep Solution
Written by: Ted CaplanJenni Hendricks
Votes: 7
Two former thieves are having a hard enough time with their fussy newborn baby when a mishap draws them back into their old lives, forcing them to recover a priceless jade bangle, escape their boss’s murderous son and, toughest of all, get their baby to sleep through the night.
St. Mary's Catholic School presents the Vagina Monologues
Written by: Hannah HafeyKaitlin Smith
Votes: 8
Frustrated by the conservative curriculum at her high school, a rebellious teen girl decides to stage the school’s first ever production of The Vagina Monologues. Which is going to be a challenge, as no one else at St. Mary’s can even bear to say the word 'vagina' out loud. Based on Flynn Meaney’s Bad Habits.
Symphony of Survival
Written by: Daniel Persitz
Votes: 12
The incredible true story of Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich writing an epic symphony during the deadly World War II siege of Leningrad — a work of art so powerful it would save him and his family, all while helping to unite his people with the Allies.
Thicker Than Ice
Written by: Tara Tomicevic
Votes: 7
Inspired by the true story of Hannah and Marissa Brandt, adoptive sisters and hockey players who put their relationship to the test as they vie for Olympic glory... on different teams: top-ranked Team USA and Korea’s first ever unified team.
Ultra
Written by: Colin Bannon
Votes: 19 (6th overall in 2021)
When an ultramarathoner learns he is one of ten contestants chosen to take part in a secret race known as "the hardest race on earth," he is forced to confront his past when he realizes there are deadly consequences for breaking the rules.
The Unbound
Written by: Sam West
Votes: 7
Disillusioned with life in the wake of a personal tragedy, Rachel goes on a mountain retreat with her friends in search of an escape, only to find themselves stumbling into the depths of horror and madness.
