Fiber Burn
In a post-apocalyptic America ravaged by fallout, former rocket racer Becca "Turbo" Turzo falls from grace after being framed and expelled from the prestigious All-American Racing Team. Spiraling into substance abuse and despair, her once-legendary life becomes a shadow of itself.
After a near-fatal accident, Becca discovers and repairs a broken robot in a scrapyard, unknowingly reviving a sinister artificial intelligence. As the robot’s dark agenda unfolds, Becca becomes entangled in a violent struggle for survival, forced to confront her past and the chaos she helped unleash.
To reclaim her life, Becca must outwit her creation, overcoming mechanical horrors and inner demons. Combining gritty sci-fi action with psychological drama, Turbo is a tale of resilience, ingenuity, and redemption in the face of devastation.
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Dusty AustenWriterThe Beast of Walton St, The Haunted World of CW, Meat the Jones
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Spooky MadisonWriterRabbit Season, Best Wishes & Good Luck
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Athena MurzdaWriterThe Beast of Walton St, The Haunted World of CW, Meat the Jones
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Project Type:Screenplay
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Genres:Sci-Fi, horror, drama
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Number of Pages:105
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Country of Origin:United States
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Language:English
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First-time Screenwriter:No
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Student Project:No
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Horror Hound WeekendCincinatti, Oh
March 23, 2025
Best Concept In a Feature Script -
Video Nasties Genre FilmfestLondon, England
November 24, 2024
Feature Film Screenplay Finalist
Dusty Austen is a transgender woman and award-winning filmmaker who has been involved in the independent film world for over 20 years. Her interest in filmmaking and her genre of choice, horror, began when she was only 3 years old. She began making her own films at age 12 and played her first film festival by the age of 18. She soon began a consistent career in the independent world working for companies across Ohio & Pennsylvania and eventually expanding to create content for creatives in Ireland, England & Canada.
Austen and her wife Athena Murzda sought to create a low-budget high concept independent film company that celebrated diversity & creative freedom and soon formed Street Rat Studios, under which their first feature produced was "The Beast of Walton St", which won multiple awards in its festival run and is due out from Scream Team Releasing in November 2024.
Austen is currently hard at work shooting Fiber Burn and prepping for a 1st quarter 2025 project with Final Ghoul Films.
She currently resides in Ohio with her wife, 2 daughters, and their army of fur babies.
Spooky Madison is an indie screenwriter with a flair for the freaky and the heartfelt. Think macabre meets relatable, with scripts like Rabbit Season, Best Wishes and Good Luck, What’s Wrong Wendy?, and Adam is Evil haunting festival circuits and living rent-free in your brain.
Equal parts manic and melancholy, Spooky thrives in the horror genre—crafting tales that are as unsettling as they are emotionally sticky—but they’re no one-trick-phantom. Their stories dive deep into human relationships, balancing scares with messy, raw realities that hit close to home.
Fiber Burn began as a sci-fi horror film inspired by gritty early 2000s counter-culture cinema, Giallo aesthetics, and the visceral body horror of French extremity. At its core, it’s an intimate exploration of depression, identity, and the fear of losing control over one’s body all the while examining societal isolation and marginalization that happens to the misunderstood.
The story evolved through its characters: Becca, a troubled addict; Rachel, a sentient robot; Anne, her creator; and others, all isolated and grappling with a disinformation-driven world. Through them, we explored questions about humanity in the age of AI and the right of sentient beings to claim their humanity. At the heart of it all is Becca Turzo, a flawed but deeply human character whose resilience, humor, and desire for connection kept the story grounded in hope. As a team of LGBTQ+ filmmakers who have wrestled with isolation and depression, Becca’s journey feels deeply personal. Her challenges mirror our own in ways that make her a vivid and compelling character.
Fiber Burn may be dark, but it’s still infused with our voices, and energy, blending pop culture, genre storytelling, and deeply personal themes into one volatile, heartfelt package that we sincerely hope you enjoy.