Script Files
THE FIRST GENTLEMAN
THE FIRST GENTLEMAN (Action / Romance)
When President Rosa Cortez's Camp David peace summit is taken hostage by brutal commandos, her scandalous ex-jock husband Will slips through the cracks. As war hero Rosa fights back from within, they must find a way to save each other, the Chinese Chairman - and their marriage!
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Mark GunnionWriterPLAY THE FOOL, CHEAP ACTION, NIGHTBREAK
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Project Type:Screenplay
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Genres:Action, Adventure, Romance
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Number of Pages:104
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Country of Origin:United States
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First-time Screenwriter:No
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Student Project:No
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FADE-IN AWARDSLos Angeles
August 20, 2019
GRAND PRIZE
I'm from Indianapolis, I was a theater and speech team jock in high school. I got a film degree from Northwestern, then I moved to San Francisco to become a rock star. I had pretty fun run, played the Fillmore a couple of times, opened a few shows for Bowie.
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I started naming things for a living, and then moved up into the wine country of Sonoma County. After a successful 20-year career in branding and naming products and companies for clients around the world, I've been writing screenplays for the last few years - and I just moved to Oregon!
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I currently have seven complete original spec screenplays that I'd love to get into development - or use as writing samples. Please drop me a line at markgunnion@gmail.com if you'd like to read one.
All of my scripts have gotten some love in various screenwriting contests:
THE FIRST GENTLEMAN just won the Grand Prize at the 23rd Annual Fade-In Action Screenwriting Awards, and it is an Official Selection at the 15th Annual "Action On Film" MegaFest in Las Vegas. It scored an 8.2 in the first found at Fresh Voices Screenplay Competition. It was also named a Semi-Finalist at the latest StoryPros Screenwriting Competition.
CHEAP ACTION was in the Top 20% of entries at the Academy Nicholl contest this year. It was recently named a Finalist at the Boobs and Blood International Film Festival (All-Female Jury!). It was a Quarter-Finalist at the Scriptapalooza Screenwriting Competition. It was an Official Selection at the 15th Annual "Action On Film" MegaFest in Las Vegas, where all three of my entries were made Official Selections this year. It's currently a Quarter-Finalist at ScreenCraft's Action/Adventure Screenplay Contest.
PLAY THE FOOL won “Best Comedy” three times in 2018. It won Best Comedy in the 2018 Fresh Voices Screenplay Competition (and heck, it was a Semi-Finalist in the Action genre, and a Spotlight Award Finalist for Best Dialogue). It also won The Green-Light Award as the "Best Comedy” at the Die Laughing Film Festival in L.A. And it won the Gold Award (Best Comedy) at the World Series of Screenwriting. It came in 3rd Place Overall at the Nevada International Film Festival, and it won the Gold Prize (2nd Place) for Comedy at the Hollywood Screenplay Contest. It was nominated for Best Screenplay (one of 6) at the Hollywood Independent Film Festival. It was a Finalist at the Story Pros International Screenplay Contest.
In May 2019, PLAY THE FOOL was named an Official Selection at the 15th Annual "Action On Film" MegaFest in Las Vegas. In 2018, it was an Official Selection or Nominee for Best Screenplay at eleven events, including at the Windy City International Film Festival, the Atlanta Comedy Film Festival, the Houston Comedy Film Festival, the Sacramento International Film Festival, the Alaska International Film Awards, and the Iron Dragon Action Fest. It’s currently in the Top Ten Comedy scripts, the Top Ten Action-Adventure scripts, and the Top Ten Romantic-Comedy scripts at the MovieBytes WinningScripts rankings.
NIGHTBREAK was a Quarter-Finalist at the 2017 PAGE International Screenwriting Competition, and it was the 1st Runner-Up (Second Place) at the Fantastic Planet Film Festival in Sydney, Australia. It just made Finalist at the Hollywood Screenplay Contest, it was a Semi-Finalist at the Story Pros Screenplay Contest (Top 25 in Sci-Fi/Horror), and it won the Gold Award at the California Film Awards. It was a Semi-Finalist at the Other Worlds Austin Film Festival, and was a Quarter-Finalist at the ScreenCraft Sci-Fi Screenplay Contest. It was an Official Selection and nominee for Best Screenplay at the Famous Monsters of Filmland Silver Scream Film Festival.
THE SWORD AND THE SERPENT was an Official Selection and finalist at the inaugural Famous Monsters of Filmland Silver Scream Film Festival in Santa Rosa. Later in the year, the script was named an Official Selection again, one of the Top Nine finalists, at the Buffalo Dreams Fantastic Film Festival in New York. It was also an Official Selection at the Madhouse Movies Film festival. It's currently a Finalist at the GenreBlast Film Festival, where it's nominated for Best Screenplay.
FRAX was a Semi-Finalist at the FilmQuest Screenplay Contest, and a Semi-Finalist at the GenreBlast Screenplay Contest. It was named an Official Selection at the Famous Monsters of Filmland Silver Scream Film Festival, and was also an Official Selection at the Madhouse Movies Film Festival. It was a Quarter-Finalist at the ScreenCraft Action Screenplay Contest.
KAMELEON was an Official Selection and Nominee for Best Screenplay at the last Los Angeles Neo Noir Film Festival. It was a Quarter-Finalist in Final Draft’s Big Break screenplay competition, and a Quarter-Finalist at Scriptapalooza. It was an Official Selection at the Los Angeles Theater Festival. It's currently in the Top Ten Urban Screenplays at MovieBytes' WinningScripts rankings.