On May 16, 2026, Montclair Film hosted its Emerging Screenwriter Competition (ESC), an opportunity for student filmmakers to get exposure, be recognized for their writing, and network. This is the fourth annual ESC, which Montclair Film has been hosting to help the younger filmmakers of New Jersey to get expertise in screenwriting, even offering grand prize winners a consultation with a professional screenwriter.
Film, a typically unpopular career sphere for most, has a significant place in Montclair, NJ. The annual Montclair Film Festival has become one of the pillars of North Jersey culture, as a 10-day event held through The Clairidge, a theater in downtown Montclair. The festival features cinema screenings of independent films, comedies, documentaries, panels, and more, including ways for emerging artists to get more exposure. These competitions that Montclair Film hosts celebrate New Jersey’s up-and-coming young filmmakers.
Filmmaker and Montclair Film educator Ryan Moore said, “[Film] is definitely niche. The people that come into it that are truly into it and passionate, they stick around for a long time, and I think [Montclair Film] makes a really big impact on not just teaching, but giving them the space to create things and take chances and to mess up, but figure out those problems.”
The ESC took place at Montclair Film’s Cinema505, which neighbors The Clairidge and The Bellevue Theatre. The event was open to contestants and their guests, where finalists for each category of screenwriting had been pre-selected. The speakers included Kevin Dreyfuss, who worked on Better Call Saul, Evan Dickerson, a screenwriting instructor and curriculum coordinator at Montclair Film, Kayleigh Nardella, an education program coordinator at Montclair Film, Susan Skoog, a screenwriting professor at NYU, and Ryan Moore himself.
The categories of genres included horror, romance, comedy, drama, and sci-fi/fantasy. Each genre had its own winner, and the grand prizes went to the best script, as determined by a jury of screenwriting and filmmaking professionals, who were given the option to abstain due to any personal connections. Moore, for example, abstained from judging the scripts of his students.
“We have panels of judges and screeners, all kinds of stuff like that. We had a panel of 6 judges, and they read all the scripts and score them based on character, story, and voice, and pick out the ones they like the best. Voice is the x-factor, so does the writer have their own distinct storytelling voice?”
The grand prize-winning scripts got a table read, read by former or current students of Montclair Film. This year, for the first time in its four-year history, ESC had two grand prize winners—Sleeper Agent, by Logan Corea Hinojosa at Bloomfield High School, and our very own editor, Viren Abroal, for Praise Seahorsia.
Moore, having abstained from judging, shared his thoughts on the victory, “Viren is probably the hardest working student I’ve ever had, and as a filmmaker, I continue to see him grow, every film he makes feels more like his own, he’s shaping that voice, and just getting better with every facet of every film.”
Overall, Montclair Film has found its place in not only New Jersey culture but also the lives of students who have found a passion in a typically unpopular field, and the opportunities they give will continue to help students and adults alike in their futures.
