Screenplays by Gerald Teaster
Spaghetti Western
An homage to the western all’italiana! This short western screenplay combines elements of action and humor with a unique twist, which is part of Gerald Teaster’s signature style.
A western short film about a girl who knows her physics. The style incorporates silent film techniques, exaggerated performances, and a whimsical tone, paying homage to the genre while adding a fresh perspective. Starring Hadley Teaster, Ben the Dog, sixteen other kids, and the voices of the Virginia Tech String Project.
Awards
2021 – Knoxville Film Festival – Selected
2021 – Imagination Lunchbox International Children’s Film Festival – Selected
2021 – Cowpokes Int’l Film Festival – Winner – Best Mini Short Western, Charles Dye for Best Director (Western Mini Short) Nominations, Best Originality, Best Children’s Film, Best Family Film, Hadley Teaster for Best Young Actress, Hadley Teaster for Best Western (Mini Short) Actress Nominations
2021 – The Wild Bunch Film Festival – Selected
2021 – Southern Shorts Awards – Selected
2021 – Pioneertown Film Festival – Selected
2021 – The International KidsNFilm Festival – Finalist
2021 – Southern Shorts Awards – Best Western, Award of Merit for P. Booth Teaster
2021 – The Wild Bunch Film Festival – Hadley – Best Young Actress, Charles – Best Director (Mini Short Western Film) this was a tie, Best Mini Short Western Film Cast Ensemble, Festival Director’s Choice for Best Kids Film, Ben – Festival Director’s Choice for Best Dog Actor
Magic Trick
This screenplay is emotionally charged, blending elements of medical drama with themes of sacrifice and parental love, with the urgency and high stakes of the surgical procedure unfolding simultaneously.
A surgeon has to decide whether to interrupt a surgery to go to her dying son or finish the procedure. Her patient will most likely die if she leaves the surgery.
Awards
2025 – Southern California Screenplay Competition – Quarter Finalist
2024 – New York City International Reel Film Festival – Selected
2024 – The Brightside Film Festival – Selected
2024 – New York Screenwriting Awards – Honorable Mention
2024 – San Francisco Arthouse Short Festival – Semi-Finalist
2024 – 29th Annual Fade In Awards Short Film / Short Script Competition – Finalist
2024 – Austin International Art Festival – Semi-Finalist
2023 – CIFF – California International Film Festival – Selected
2023 – Hollywood Just4Shorts Film and Screenplay Competition – Winner
2023 – Vail Screenplay Contest – Finalist
2023 – NYC Independent Film Festival – First place for short screenplay
2019 – Portland Oregon Short Screenplay Contest – First place short screenplay
Interview about Magic Trick with gerald Teaster
Learn about Gerald’s screen writing process in this full interview at the Utah Film Festival on January 6, 2025.
Damaged
This television script combines legal drama with personal struggles, featuring a protagonist facing both professional and personal obstacles.
How does a lawyer whose ability to read is damaged by a stroke return to the job? He faces the challenges of a judge who was a former competitor, a death penalty case which he prosecuted that now comes back to haunt him, and old ghosts that return. Those, and financial challenges, keep him and his former prostitute secretary in constant turmoil.
Awards
2023 – CIFF – California International Film Festival – Selected
2023 – Sydney World Fest 2023-2024 – Selected
2023 – Richmond International Film Festival – Semi-Finalist
2023 – San Francisco International Screenwriting Competition & Film Awards – Quarter-Finalist
2023 – Big Apple Film Festival and Screenplay Competition – Quarter-Finalist
2023 – Chicago Screenplay Awards – Selected
2023 – New York International Screenplay Awards – Quarter-Finalist
2023 – Los Angeles International Screenplay Awards – Selected
2023 – Sedona International Film Festival – Quarter-Finalist
2022 – International Independent Film Awards – Winner
2022 – Hollywood Just4Shorts Film and Screenplay Competition – Winner
Connie
A gritty crime drama with elements of suspense and introspection, this television script delves into the complexities of its protagonist’s past and present and redemption in an Appalachian community.
An Appalachian female attorney must confront her own past of drug addiction and mysteries concerning her family as she handles the toughest criminal cases and deals with clients who remind her of herself years earlier. She is handed the most high profile murder case ever tried in her town, which has been overturned twice by appeals courts and has become a legend in the community.
Awards
2025 – Southern California Screenplay Competition – Quarter Finalist
2024 – New York Screenwriting Awards – Honorable Mention
2024 – Page Turner Screenplays – Quarter-Finalist
2023 – Vail Screenplay Contest – Semi-Finalist
2022 – New York International Screenplay Awards – Quarter-Finalist
2021 – Screenplay Festival – Finalist
2021 – Big Apple Film Festival and Screenplay Competition – Semi-Finalist
2019 – Hollywood Just4Shorts Film and Screenplay Competition – Winner Best TV Script
2019 – New York City International Screenplay Awards – Selected
2019 – Filmmakers International Screenwriting Awards – Semi-Finalist
The Caretaker
An action-packed adventure with elements of mystery and comedy, this screenplay is characterized by thrilling chase sequences and unexpected plot twists.
A beautiful young woman is rescued from a drug cartel that is trying to kill her before she can inform their actions to the F.B.I. But her rescuer is a mystery man who goes by the name of “Caretaker.” Only at the end of the chase through the highways and swamps of Florida does she discover who he is and for whom he works.
AWARDS
2024 – Cambridge Script Festival – Finalist
2022 – New York International Screenplay Awards – Quarter-Finalist
2021 – Screenplay Festival – Finalist
2021 – SoCal Film Awards – Selected
2021 – New York City Film & Television Festival – Quarter-Finalist
2021 – Your Script Produced! Season 4 – Quarter-Finalist
2021 – Big Apple Film Festival and Screenplay Competition – Semi-Finalist
2020 – Seattle International Screenwriting Honors – Semi-Finalist
2019 – New York City International Screenplay Awards – Selected
2019 – International Independent Film Awards – Winner
2019 – Filmmakers International Screenwriting Awards – Finalist
1999
A multi-generational drama with touches of humor and pathos and the challenges of adapting to a rapidly changing world.
Four friends from different generations approach the twenty-first century with their own tragedies, challenges, and hopes. Spouses and children of the four are involved in the conflicts, struggles, and humor. The new world of computer technology and the hardships of the working class are in constant conflict.
AWARDS
2024 – New York International Screenplay Awards – Quarter-Finalist
2023 – International Independent Film Awards – Winner
2023 – Hollywood Just4Shorts Film and Screenplay Competition – Finalist
2023 – Chicago Screenplay Awards – Finalist
2023 – Screenplay Festival – Semi-Finalist
2023 – Big Apple Film Festival and Screenplay Competition – Honorable Mention
2023 – Los Angeles International Screenplay Awards – Selected
Smiley
The world struggles to find out the origin of a virus that causes most of the world, no matter what wonderful or evil deeds they do, to smile. While they do, Otis, or “Smiley”, continues to smile as he has always done which change people’s lives. As the world deals with the virus, smiles change the lives of all who come near this simple but wise man.
AWARDS
2024 – International Independent Film Awards – Silver Winner
2024 – Depth of Field International Film Festival – Selected
The Price Of Living
This screenplay combines elements of drama and historical fiction, capturing the essence of a community grappling with mortality against the backdrop of significant events like the end of the Vietnam War and Watergate in 1974.
A community, including a seventeen-year-old young man, his father and mother, the new sheriff, his deputy, and a former POW in WWII, all must deal with prior and potential future death. The backdrop of 1974 events create the atmosphere of death and living souls trying to cope with the price of living.
AWARDS
2024 – New York City International Reel Film Festival – Selected
2024 – Richmond International Film Festival – Semi-Finalist
2024 – Sacramento Independent Film Festival – Semi-Finalist
2024 – Pasadena International Film Festival (PIFF) – Selected
2023 – International Independent Film Awards – Winner
2023 – Vail Screenplay Contest – Quarter-Finalist
Distracted
One of the screenplays by Gerald Teaster, Distracted is a short thriller that explores the consequences of technology addiction, highlighting themes of human connection and the dangers of distraction.
When we remain captivated by technology, what do we miss? A Video Game Shop owner remains distracted while using her own merchandise when a customer suffers a stroke in her store.
