MEET OUR 2022 2ND & 3RD PLACE FEATURE CONTEST PRIZEWINNERS
We’re thrilled to introduce our second and third place winners in the 2022 Feature Fellowship competition. Matthew Gomez won second place for his screenplay MISS ME WHEN I’M GONE, and Jessica J. Rowlands won third place for her screenplay WILD HEARTS. Congratulations to them both!
Matthew Gomez – Second Place Winner
In Matthew Gomez’s prizewinning script MISS ME WHEN I’M GONE, the mother and brother of a man who died by suicide search for answers and a location to hold his Celebration of Life.
As our second place winner, Matthew receives $1,000. This year, thanks to numerous generous donations, we also are able to waive his tuition fee and pay for his retreat lodging.
Matthew Gomez is an Omaha-born writer and filmmaker drawn to stories that explore the value of a human life. After graduating from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, Matt spent time working at Alexander Payne and Jim Burke’s Ad Hominem Enterprises in Santa Monica. Having now worked in the human services field for a number of years, he seeks to showcase the power of empathy through the dynamic relationships between his flawed but well-intentioned characters. Primarily interested in balancing the dramatic with the bittersweet, every story has to feel personal for Matt. His second-place winner for the CineStory Feature competition, MISS ME WHEN I’M GONE, placed in the top 50 for the Academy Nicholl Fellowship as well as the Top 1% of all scripts on Coverfly.
Jessica J. Rowlands – Third Place Winner
In Jessica J. Rowland’s prizewinning script WILD HEARTS, a young mother in rural Zimbabwe, desperate to provide for her daughter, is recruited by the elite, all-female anti-poaching unit responsible for her husband’s recent arrest.
As our third place winner, Jessica receives $500. This year, thanks to numerous generous donations, we also are able to waive her tuition fee and pay for her retreat lodging.
Jessica J. Rowlands is an award-winning British Screenwriter and Director.
After completing two Law Degrees – first in the UK and then in the US – Jessica moved to Los Angeles to pursue Screenwriting at the UCLA Professional Program. In 2019, she won the UCLA Screenwriting Competition and in June 2020, she became the Program’s only two-time award winner, claiming the top prize in the UCLA Writing for Television Drama Competition with her script, RUBY.
Since then, Jessica’s work has been recognized by other major competitions and film festivals around the world.
Jessica is currently in pre-production for her narrative directorial debut and hopes to spend her career writing and directing feature films with a human rights angle for a global audience.
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