BUFF script table readings are one of the highlights of the BUFF festival programming and awards. Each year we receive scripts and our jurors choose 3 which go onto be awarded and read to a live audience. From these 20 minute readings actors, actors have gone onto be scouted up by talent agencies (such as Curtis Brown, Mels Got Talent) and have been booked for paid work in film and tv (Netflix, BBC, Ch4, Prime Video etc). The award winning writers have secured finance for their scripts and have also secured literary agents (like Cassarota Ramsay) and development deals (with the likes of Sky, BBC, HBO).   This years script awards are sponsored by First Flights - a Goldfinch brand. 

 1. Chalice and Blade written by Charlie Taylor  10 years after a Technological Apocalypse, Makayla spends her days surviving solo. But when a young Wes comes to London, unknowing of the horrors of real life, Makayla decides to help him find family, while being hunted by The Whips.  

Actors reading parts  

Raymond Dunbar - Ty   

Ore Sanderson - Makayla 

Sinna Mogul - Wes  

Antony Knight  - Brian

Kamahl Sami-Miller  - Alex  

Gabrielle Quaye  - Stage directions  

Charlie Taylor - writer   

2. Made in America written by Brendan Kelly   Made In America is about a real girl named Rikki Rivera whose life parallels the inception of the notorious MS13. From having a father who fought as a guerrilla soldier in El Salvador’s civil war, her challenging escape with her mother into America and growing up on the violent streets of East LA as an active gang member, Rikki was exposed to much but somehow managed to never allow her integrity to be compromised – even when facing perilous conditions. In the end she becomes pregnant and is forced to emulate the path of her past to escape the treacherous world she inherited in order to rescue her unborn child from the chains of a similar fate.  

Actors reading parts  

Sofia Maffei - Manuela/ night woman 

Alex Guersman - Raul/ Fat Bastard/ Driver  

Jon Gutierrez - Frederico / Soldier/ Cop  

Veronica Jean Trickett - Little Ricki/ Ricardo / Stage   

3. Hellwater written by Timothy Mallon  A Modern British Western, Hellwater follows ex-soldier Will Jones who, after the murder of his father, returns to a home he doesn’t recognise and a sister who doesn’t want him, but perseveres with mystical assistance in order to save the family farm.  

Actors reading parts 

Marcia Burke  - Stage directions 

Lou Mussington - Sarah  

Louis Anthony Prince Duke - John / Collin  

Tim Mallon  writer  

Chris Labadie-  joon 

Essay - Will  

luis david rodrquez - Mahmoud  

Andre Harvey - Van Horn / Jamie