attending the MFA program at Florida State
University's College of Motion Picture Arts. A fi-
nalist for the 2008 Coca-Cola Refreshing Film-
maker Award, Ranum moved to Los Angeles
shortly after completing his degree and began
writing full-time with the assistance of a "very
supportive spouse."
thesis film at FSU's an-
nual student film
screenings and signed
him right out of school.
Not long after being
signed, Ranum came
up with the idea that
would become A Good
Hunter. "Originally, I just wanted to tell this
story about this guy in isolation who's flawed
and doesn't want to interact with a lot of peo-
ple," Ranum says. "Then suddenly, he sees this
guy hunting human prey on his land and he
needs to go out and do something about it."
shopped the finished product around town.
Yet as much as some people liked the script,
they were gun shy when it came to pulling the
the script had garnered, however, Ranum de-
cided to enter it into the Nicholl competition.
"It felt lucky," Ranum recalls. "I thought about
entering more than one script, but I knew this
was my best script so if this didn't make it, I
knew the others wouldn't." And though he
had some concerns about placing in a contest
that seems to heavily favor dramas, Ranum felt
his little thriller had a fighting chance. And he
was right. "My script is a genre piece. People
say only dramas win the Nicholl and a lot of
dramas do win, but there are certainly thrillers
and comedies, too."
Originally from Connecticut, Stahl lost her
house in the 1994 Northridge, Calif., quake
and then lost her husband a short time later
-- a one-two punch that would level her. But
with a 5-year-old
daughter to provide
for, Stahl had no time
to feel sorry for herself.
"We had no house and
a mountain of bills,"
she says. I had to put
one foot in front of the
other and just go on."
Not only did she press
on, but through the
challenges she faced, she discovered that she
really wanted to be a writer. "I would write
early in the morning or when I came home
from one job or the other," Stahl recalls. "I
would start at 9:30 at night. I got dark circles
under my eyes, but I just did it."
tells the story of a despondent tattoo artist
whose life is forever changed when he makes
a house call to a dying woman's bedside. The
tale grabbed everyone who read it, propelling
Stahl to receive a Nicholl fellowship.
sessions, and most students complete the MFA in three summers.
To learn more, call (540) 362-6326 or visit www.hollins.edu/grad/film.
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page count of each entry (they can be
"approximately" 90-120 pages),
longer scripts don't typically win points
with readers.