That’s right. Another one.
What’s Buried Beneath the Pines was just named a Quarterfinalist in the 2025 Outstanding Screenplays TV Pilot Competition—another notch in the belt for a project that refuses to stay quiet.
For those of you just catching up, WBBTP is a slow-burn Southern Gothic thriller. It follows Gray Harris, a black sheep son who comes home to bury his father—only to end up digging up secrets the whole damn town would rather stay buried. What starts as a family funeral turns into a generational reckoning. Think blood feuds, land disputes, corrupt legacies, and a town with a long memory and a short fuse.
The story’s haunted. And it haunts back—in the best way!
So to see this script keep placing—keep connecting—is more than just encouraging. It’s affirming. Outstanding Screenplays isn’t just some flash-in-the-pan contest. It’s respected. It draws attention from producers, managers, and reps who aren’t just looking for a good story, but for a distinct voice. They’ve been a launchpad for writers who didn’t just get seen—they got signed, staffed, or sold.
To land on their radar? It means the script is landing. Not because it’s flashy, but because it’s real. Because the characters feel lived in. Because the world feels rooted. Because it’s saying something—even if it hurts.
WBBTP didn’t come from a “marketable idea.” It didn’t start with comps. It didn’t come from chasing trends. It came from truth. From grief. From questions I couldn’t answer. From growing up Southern and trying to make sense of how pride and silence can ruin a man just as fast as sin.
Some of the story is fiction. A lot of it isn’t.
Gray Harris isn’t just a protagonist—he’s a stand-in for anyone who ever felt like they didn’t belong in their own bloodline. For anyone who’s carried the weight of history they didn’t ask for. For anyone who went home expecting closure and found ghosts instead.
The placement here doesn’t make the script any better than it was yesterday. But it does make it louder. And in an industry where quiet scripts often die on the vine, volume matters. This placement is another way of saying: this story is alive, and it’s not going away.
Every time it places, it gets closer to the people who can help bring it to life.
We’ve had a strong run so far. WBBTP landed on The Grey List, was a Finalist in the Nashville Film Festival, a Semifinalist in Script Pipeline, a Quarterfinalist in Final Draft Big Break, and now here—on the Outstanding Screenplays list. That’s momentum. That’s consistency. That’s validation—not of hype, but of craft.
The truth is, every single one of these recognitions is a reminder: what I set out to do is working. Not because it’s perfect. But because it’s honest. Because it cuts to the bone.
This show isn’t about jump scares or twist endings. It’s about rot that spreads under the surface. About the weight of inheritance. About choosing who you want to be when the world tries to tell you who you have to be. It’s about home, and what it costs to keep it.
And if that resonates with one judge, one producer, one rep—then we’re doing something right.
To everyone who’s reached out, who’s read the script, who’s shared a kind word: thank you. The road’s still long, but it’s paved with little wins like this one. And I’m here for the long haul.
Here’s to the next round.
Here’s to the fire that keeps this thing burning.
And here’s to the pines.