They say you only get one shot in this town. I don’t know about that. But I do know this script just keeps firing.
What’s Buried Beneath the Pines has officially been named a Quarterfinalist in the 2025 Final Draft Big Break Screenwriting Contest—one of the most respected and recognizable competitions in the industry. With thousands of entries from around the world and a long track record of launching screenwriters into real, working careers, Big Break is the kind of contest that matters. So yeah—this one hits different.
This recognition follows closely on the heels of our recent semifinalist placement in Script Pipeline and a finalist nod from the Nashville Film Festival. To now place in Final Draft’s Big Break? That’s three big swings—and three solid connections. No shortcuts. No favors. Just a story that won’t stay buried.
Let’s back up. If you’re new
to this project, What’s Buried Beneath the Pines is a Southern Gothic TV pilot about a man who returns home to bury his father and ends up unearthing the dark legacy left behind. Gray Harris is the black sheep of a powerful family, and when he comes back to his hometown in ru
ral Georgia, the land itself seems to whisper warnings. The sins of the father don’t stay buried for long—and this town doesn’t take kindly to stirring up the past.
I wrote this pilot because I
had to. It came out like a confession. Like a purge. It’s not autobiographical, but it’s absolutely personal. It’s about inheritance, in the deepest sense—about bloodlines and land, shame and silence, and the weight of legacy we either carry or burn to the ground.
The recognition from Final Draft isn’t just validation—it’s amplification. Final Draft is a brand that holds weight in every writers’ room and agency office in Hollywood. Their competition is stacked with career-makers, and to place among the top entries is a sign that this script—and this story—isn’t just resonating. It’s competing.
Big Break’s goal is simple: find writers with something to say and get their voices heard. That’s the dream, right? For the work to not just sit in a folder on your desktop but to move—to catch the attention of someone who can take it further. With this placement, What’s Buried Beneath the Pines inches closer to that reality.
What makes this moment so satisfying is that this script wasn’t written to win contests. It was written to mean something. To scrape beneath the surface of Southern identity and expose what festers when truth is buried too long. It’s about what happens when we stop protecting the myths we were raised with and finally face what’s been hiding in plain sight.
The fact that this story—this raw, haunted, deeply Southern story—is the one that’s starting to open doors? That means everything.
And it’s not just a standalone pilot. WBBTP is the launchpad for a full anthology series called Revenance—each season peeling back the layers of a different American family’s buried past. Southern Gothic at its finest. Rich with atmosphere, character, and slow-burn suspense. Think True Detective by way of Flann
ery O’Connor.
With every contest placement, with every nod, this thing picks up steam. I’m proud of the script, yes—but I’m also proud of what it represents. It’s proof that the stories we feel in our bones—the ones that scare us to write—those are the ones that resonate deepest.
So thank you, Final Draft, for seeing this story. For seeing its weight. For helping turn a script into a signal flare.
This is just the beginning. More contests are still in play. More conversations are opening up. Whether WBBTP takes the whole damn thing or not, it’s already doing what I prayed it would: it’s reaching people.
And that’s the real Big Break.
Here’s to the next one.
Here’s to keeping the shovels sharp.