1st R.I. screenplay competition picks winner

PROVIDENCE – The first Rhode Island Screenplay Competition has a winning script.

Peter D. Spameni of Smithfield took home the top prize for his script “The Ashes of Albion” – a period drama set in Providence and in the Lincoln village of Albion after the Civil War that concerns a family in crisis in the aftermath of the war.

The contest was created by the R.I. Film and Television Office and the Rhode Island International Film Festival to draw Hollywood’s attention so more feature films would be made in the Ocean State. The screenplays are set Rhode Island and feature the state’s geography and demography as characters.

The winning script is awarded five free pitches to Hollywood studios and producers on VirtualPitchfest.com, and a copy of Final Draft 8 screenwriting software.

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Spameni and the writers of the second place winner, Kevin Faria of Bristol and Duncan Putney of Providence, have been invited to this year’s Providence Oscar Night America, to take place Feb. 26 at The Vets in Providence.

Putney is a member of the festival advisory board and came up with the idea of the competition. However, he said that the script submitted was mostly the work of Kevin Faria, and he did not know that Faria would enter it in the contest. “Old Hoss” is about Charles “Old Hoss” Radbourn, a baseball pitcher with the Providence Grays who led the team to victory in the first World Series in 1884.

The four finalist scripts were judged by Steve Feinberg, R.I. Film and TV Office director and writer; Michael Corrente, film producer, director and writer; Anne Mulhall, casting director; and Michael Corso, film financier.

“It was a true pleasure for all of the judges to read the many screenplays submitted by the talented writers who participated in this first competition, which we hope will be an annual affair,” said Feinberg.

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