Cinema Street Short Screenplay Competition and Production
Providing Opportunities for Women Screenwriters to Get Their Films Produced
In the last two years, the lack of inclusion in the entertainment industry has finally come to the foreground. Organizations and companies have established programs and policies that are creating opportunities and beginning to make a difference. For women writers, finding work, representation and recognition is difficult, as producers and agents are unlikely to read new work by unknown writers. And funding to produce their films is even more difficult to find.
The Cinema Street Women’s Short Screenplay Competition was established by Dana Offenbach and Terry Lawler to give women screenwriters of short films an opportunity to have their work produced. The first of this annual competition ran from April through June, 2019, and 125 women submitted their short screenplays. The winner, Leah Curney, received $1.000 from Cinema Street for the option to produce her script, 6:18 to Omaha. Production will begin in October.
If you have been looking for an opportunity to get involved in the movement for change for women in our industry, join us by donating now.
The Film – 6:18 to Omaha
6:18 to Omaha is a 12 minutes film about an a down on his luck salesman, an unorthodox housewife and their high-school waitress have an unusual encounter at a small-town diner. Set in 1959, the film deals with questions of domestic violence and the lack of opportunities for women. The film will be distributed internationally.
The Filmmakers
Director/Co-producer: Dana Offenbach, President, Cinema Street Pictures, LLC
CinemaStreet Pictures produces original content for worldwide distribution on all platforms with annual budgets in the millions. Owner Dana Offenbach is an award-winning writer, producer and director and a member of the prestigious Producers Guild of America and New York Women in Film & Television. Her films have won Best Narrative Feature, Best Screenplay, Best of Festival, World Premiere Honors, Honorable Mention, and an NAACP Nomination for Outstanding Independent Feature.
For more information: www.Cinemastreet.net
Writer/Associate Producer: Leah Curney
Leah Curney is the writer/director of the short film Interview Requested and writer/producer of “Dirty Laundry.” Her short film 6:18 to Omaha recently won the CinemaStreet Women’s Short Screenplay Competition and is a quarterfinalist for the ScreenCraft Shorts Competition. She was a semi-finalist for the 2019 Made in NY Writers Room Fellowship for her pilot The Invisibles and has several projects currently in development.
Leah also has over fifteen years of professional experience as an actress, performing on and off-Broadway, in film, television, commercials, and new media. She is a proud member of SAG-AFTRA, AEA, New York Women in Film and Television (NYWIFT) and NYC Women Filmmakers (NYCWF).
About Terry Lawler
Terry Lawler is a media consultant and the Competition Director of the CinemaStreet Women’s Short Screenplay Competition. She was Executive Director of New York Women in Film & Television from for 20 years, until December, 2018. Lawler serves on the Board of Directors of the Katahdin Foundation and Manhattan Neighborhood Network. Prior to becoming Executive Director of NYWIFT in 1997, Lawler was Director of Development and Production at Women Make Movies and National Director of Film and Videomakers Services at the American Film Institute. She has been a media consultant for foundations and nonprofit groups, including the MacArthur Foundation, the Astraea Foundation, the National Museum of Women in the Arts and the Goethe Institute, among others.
