Another day, another shovel deeper—and What’s Buried Beneath the Pines just struck gold again.
Thrilled to share that WBBTP has been named a Quarterfinalist in the 2025 PAGE International Screenwriting Awards, one of the most prestigious competitions in the screenwriting world. It’s the kind of list you check twice, hoping you made the cut. And this time, I did.
Out of thousands of entries from across the globe, this pilot managed to rise through the first wave of cuts. It’s humbling—and it’s motivating as hell. PAGE isn’t just another laurel. It’s a stamp of quality that means something in this industry. It’s the same competition that’s helped launch careers, secure representation, and get scripts into the hands of people who actually make things happen. So to see WBBTP among the quarterfinalists? It’s a big deal.
For those just catching up: What’s Buried Beneath the Pines is a slow-burn Southern Gothic thriller about legacy, loyalty, and the weight of secrets that won’t stay buried. It follows Gray Harris, the estranged son of a powerful timber baron, as he returns home to bury his father—and ends up unearthing a tangled web of betrayal, blood ties, and generational rot. The pinewoods are thick, the ghosts are real, and the truth cuts like a chainsaw.
I wrote this project as both a purge and a prayer. A way of making sense of the things we inherit: trauma, land, names, silence. It’s about the deep South, yes—but more than that, it’s about identity. About the masks we wear and the myths we protect. About the painful things we pass down until someone finally says, “enough.”
To see this story recognized by PAGE—a competition that puts so much emphasis on craft, originality, and voice—is incredibly affirming. It means that something I wrote with raw honesty is being read, understood, and championed. And that’s the goal, right? To reach people. To connect.
This placement joins a growing list of momentum for WBBTP. In the past few months alone, it’s been named:
-
A Semifinalist in the 2025 Script Pipeline TV Writing Competition
-
A Quarterfinalist in the 2025 Final Draft Big Break Contest
-
A Finalist at the 2025 Nashville Film Festival
-
And now, a Quarterfinalist in the PAGE International Screenwriting Awards
Each one of these marks another step forward. Not because contests are the end goal—but because they help open doors that lead to the next one. They’re proof that the work is landing. That the voice is cutting through.
WBBTP isn’t just a script to me—it’s the launchpad for Revenance, a full anthology series that excavates the buried sins of American families, one season at a time. Each installment would focus on a different place, a different wound, a different set of ghosts. Think True Detective meets Mare of Easttown, with a healthy shot of Southern Gothic dread.
This script isn’t chasing trends. It’s chasing truth. And the fact that it keeps earning recognition tells me I’m not the only one hearing its heartbeat.
I’m grateful to the team at PAGE for this recognition, and I’m honored to share this space with so many other incredible writers. The competition is fierce—but that just makes it sweeter when your name gets called.
Whether or not WBBTP advances to the next round, this quarterfinalist nod already means something lasting. It’s another reminder that the stories we carry in our bones are the ones that can shake loose the ground beneath someone else’s feet.
So here’s to the storytellers. The diggers. The ones who write until the truth bleeds through.
And here’s to the next round. Because this story? It’s just getting started.