Meet Our 2015 2nd & Third Place Winners

2nd PLACE: JULIAN A. RENNER – LITTLE GIRL FOUND

Julian spent his early years in Sierra Leone, on the west coast of Africa. As a teenager, he studied in the United Kingdom before attending Otterbein University in Ohio. Julian continued to develop his storytelling skills through the New York Film Academy and eventually furthered his education with a Masters of Fine Arts in Film Production at the City University of New York. Julian recently won the Beverly Hill screenplay competition. “Little Girl Found” is his twelfth screenplay.

3rd PLACE (Tie): CHANCE MUEHLECK – HONEY RED

Chance Muehleck is a writer, filmmaker, and theatre artist based in New York. He is co-founder of The Nerve Tank, an acclaimed independent company that produces original content for stage and screen. He’s the recipient of the John Golden Award for Excellence in Playwriting and was a finalist for the Actors Theatre of Louisville’s Heideman Award. He wrote and directed the award-winning short films Sponge and Advent, and his feature The Vultures has been optioned by a producer based in Canada. In 2014 he was a finalist for the Warner Brothers Television Writers Workshop in Los Angeles.

3rd PLACE (Tie): LUKAS HASSEL – GALAPAGOS

Lukas Hassel has always primarily been an actor. (“Blue Bloods” on CBS, “In Montauk”, “Borstal Boy”, “Dracula”, etc.) Studied acting at The Samuel Beckett Theatre School of Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland.  He is the beloved figure of Mr. Melk in Norway (youtube it – seriously, it’s fun).

However, over the last ten years or so, writing has become a major part of his life. Lukas won the CineStory Fellowship 2012, placing top 30 at Nicholl’s, with the drama “Le Mécano”, since optioned off. His post-apocalyptic script, “Galápagos”, is his latest.

Last year, Lukas wrote, directed and starred in a sci fi short film “Into the Dark” which has gone on to winning many awards, screening in over 55 film festivals world wide and counting.

Lukas is thrilled to once again visit Idyllwild.