Three EMST students recognized in Austin Film Festival screenwriting competition

Three Entertainment and Media Studies (EMST) students at Grady College were named second round finalists in the 2025 Austin Film Festival (AFF) Screenwriting Competition, which annually receives more than 10,000 entries from around the world.

Reese Barwick, Aidan Landrum and Vivian Thienel placed in the top 20 percent of this year’s competition, which is the highest finish for EMST students in the competition. Each of their scripts began as major class projects at Grady College.

Barwick and Thienel’s short screenplay, “The Extra Mile,” follows a young woman’s journey to her niece’s birthday party that takes an unexpected turn in a desolate Georgia town. The writers described the project as a love letter to their own sisters and families, developed under the guidance of Shira Chess, who encouraged them to refine their work and submit it for competition.

“We are extremely honored and proud to be Second Rounders in the Austin Film Festival,” Barwick said. “It’s rewarding to receive recognition for long hours of work and collaboration.”

Landrum’s hour-long pilot, “Periwinkle: ‘Vultures,’” is a satirical drama set in New York City’s contemporary art market. Landrum was inspired by the idea of the art market while taking an art history class his sophomore year, and spent the next year and a half reading books, watching documentaries and consuming modern art with the idea he would eventually write a pilot on the subject. The script originated in Matthew Evans’ Writing for TV class, where Landrum received detailed feedback and mentorship throughout the creative process.

“Professor Evans is everything you could ever want in a professor,” Landrum said. “I would also frequent his office hours to talk about my ideas one-on-one and ask questions about how to refine characters, style, tone, plot, narrative arcs and everything in between.”

With this recognition under his belt, Landrum sees this as motivation and a confidence-builder for his future projects.

“I always try to step outside of the box with everything I write…so for the judges to have recognized what I was trying to do and enjoy it is something I’m very happy with,” Landrum concluded.

Author: Lauren A. Pike