Robert Foshko Memorial Scholarship & Screenplay Competition

Named in honor of Robert Foshko, former UT screenwriting professor, two scripts are chosen each year from our undergraduate and graduate programs. Winners receive a cash prize and their scripts are circulated to industry professionals.

sandhya hermon

Sandhya R Hermon (MFA Screenwriting '24)

BUMBLING! - TV Pilot
WINNER, 2023 Robert Foshko Memorial Scholarship & Screenplay Competition

After leaving a bruising marriage, an almost-
40 Bay-area mom-of-two reconnectwith herself as a sexual being through the Bumble dating app.

Maddalena Lupold

Maddalena Lupold (BS '25)

RIN TIN TIN – TV Pilot
WINNER, 2023 Robert Foshko Memorial Scholarship & Screenplay Competition

When two adventurous children meet a robot who can cook but cannot taste, they team up together on culinary escapades, learning both about the true meaning of cooking and friendship.

Samuel Ferguson

Samuel Ferguson (MFA Screenwriting '22)

COUP - TV Pilot
WINNER, 2022 Robert Foshko Memorial Scholarship & Screenplay Competition

With a chance to be closer with his estranged son and at redemption for his role in the Guatemalan Coup, Henry Muller rejoins the CIA to train Contras during the Nicaraguan Revolution but struggles to reconcile his own morality with the brutality that comes with intervention despite his own ardent Anti-Communist beliefs.

Divine Nwokoye photo

Divine Nwokoye (BS '22 Radio-Television-Film)

GIRLS' GUIDE TO GIRLS - TV Pilot
WINNER, 2022 Robert Foshko Memorial Scholarship & Screenplay Competition
After taking a job at a misogynistic life-coaching program, a sardonic know-it-all stumbles into popularity with her own honesty-focused relationship column—much to the dismay of her chauvinistic supervisor.

CY Costa

CY Costa (MFA Screenwriting)

AUNT MEI - Feature-length Screenplay
WINNER, 2021 Robert Foshko Memorial Scholarship & Screenplay Competition
An Asian-American transwoman, estranged from her family, reconnects with her younger sister after receiving a mysterious call from a nephew she didn't know existed—Peter Park, convinced that he must be Spider-Man, is seeking his Aunt Mei.

Bri Hernandez

Bri J. Hernandez (BS Radio-Television-Film '21)

BOYS IN BANDS - Feature-length Screenplay
WINNER, 2021 Robert Foshko Memorial Scholarship & Screenplay Competition
A closeted trans boy must keep his secret life as a male garage band singer away from his traditional Latino family.

Carme Hayes

Carmen Brie (MFA Screenwriting '20)

RENAISSANCE GIRLS: "THE CRISIS" - TV Pilot
WINNER, 2020 Robert Foshko Memorial Scholarship & Screenplay Competition
At the dawn of the Harlem Renaissance, the new President of a small negro women’s college struggles to keep it afloat after the sudden death of their wealthy benefactress. Together, the students and faculty navigate relationships and personal identity amidst the challenging social and racial climate of a post-WWI America.

Sarah Grodsky

Sarah Grodsky (MFA Screenwriting '19)

THE BLESSED - TV Pilot
WINNER, 2019 Robert Foshko Memorial Scholarship & Screenplay Competition
Based on Immodest Acts by historian Judith C. Brown, "The Blessed" follows a young lesbian nun in 17th century Italy who gains power in the church and comes to run her convent on her own terms through charlatan miracles and mass manipulation.

Davia Carter

Davia Carter (MFA Screenwriting '18)

DOUBLE TIME DAMES - TV Pilot
WINNER, 2018 Robert Foshko Memorial Scholarship & Screenplay Competition
At the height of the Jazz Age, an all-female big band battles through the corruption and machismo of 1920s Chicago in an effort to make a name for themselves.

Brittany Worthington

Brittany Worthington (MFA Screenwriting '18)

THE QUICKENING - TV Pilot
WINNER, 2018 Robert Foshko Memorial Scholarship & Screenplay Competition
A 19th century housewife struggles to maintain her relationships, reputation, and identity when she sets off towards becoming Chicago's most notorious abortionist.

Pogo New

Pogo New (MFA Screenwriting '17)

ISSUES - TV Pilot
WINNER, 2017 Robert Foshko Memorial Scholarship & Screenplay Competition
A young woman struggles to achieve basic markers of human success while living with Depression and Anxiety--both of whom are also characters on the show.

Jason Kessler

Jason Kessler (MFA Screenwriting '17)

BURNING KINGDOM - TV Pilot
WINNER, 2017 Robert Foshko Memorial Scholarship & Screenplay Competition
A public servant in first-century Jerusalem finds herself caught between an upper class trying to maintain social order and a shadowy organization of freedom-fighting assassins.

Natalie Miller

Natalie Miller (BS '18)

TRANSFER - TV Pilot
WINNER, 2017 Todd Milam Schulze Scholarship in Screenwriting
A transgender girl begins high school at an all-female preparatory academy, facing resistance from her conservative community.

Juan Carlos Gutierrez

Juan Carlos Gutiérrez (BS '16)

CUAUHTEMOC IN THE SKY WITH JADE BEADS - TV Pilot
WINNER, 2016 Longhorn Showcase Screenplay Competition
A cynical, teenaged Aztec priest struggles to prove that he is the mouthpiece of the Gods in order to maintain his lavish lifestyle and avoid death via sacrifice.

Kim Tran (BS '16)

SECOND GEN – TV Pilot
WINNER, 2016 The Todd Milam Schulze Scholarship in Screenwriting
A second-generation Vietnamese-American woman in her late 20s must balance her dreams and personal life in a new city with her disappearing and overbearing roommates who just so happen to be her traditional first-generation aunt and uncle.

Nathan Pesina

Nathan Pesina (MFA Screenwriting '16)

THE FREE STATE OF GALVESTON - TV Pilot
WINNER, 2015 Longhorn Showcase Screenplay Competition
When another shipment of liquor is stolen from bootleggers and nightclub owners, SAL and ROMAN MANCUSO, they must find a way to retaliate without upsetting the natural order of Galveston island's Prohibition-era organized crime underworld (while prepping for yet another incoming hurricane). Meanwhile, ELLIE WALTERS is attempting to get her brothel up and running in time for summer season but hits a roadblock when she refuses to bribe the city's health inspector.