Albert’s grounded sci-fi drama screenplay Incarnations has moved on as a quarterfinalist in the Emerging Screenwriters Sci-Fi & Fantasy Screenplay Competition. Semifinalists will be announced on May 1, 2024.
The grand prize winner will receive $1,500 cash and be considered for acceptance onto the ISA Development Slate, where the development team will get scripts in front of top industry pros from companies like MGM, Gidden Media, ICM, plus ISA-vetted literary agents and managers.
Incarnations, written by Albert M. Chan, is a “Black List Endorsed/Recommended” script about a brilliant Ivy League biologist desperate to reunite with his deceased four-year-old son. He journeys to Tibet, sacrificing his career and marriage to obsessively pursue the meaning of a mysterious epigenetic marker—the “fingerprint of the soul”—that may be proof of reincarnation. Incarnations was recently selected for a 2022 Humanitas New Voices Fellowship, as a work that explores the human condition in a nuanced, meaningful way. The project also won First Place in the Best Screenplay competition at the Oscar-accredited 2021 Rhode Island International Film Festival, and was a finalist for the Tracking Board Launch Pad Feature Competition, Creative Screenwriting Unique Voices Screenplay Competition, and Screencraft Film Fund.
“THOUGHT-PROVOKING, MINDBLOWING, AND HEARTFELT, INCARNATIONS BLENDS SCIENCE-FICTION, SPIRITUALITY, AND PATHOS TO CREATE SOMETHING WHOLLY NEW AND MEMORABLE… INCARNATIONS HOOKS OUR ATTENTION IMMEDIATELY WITH ITS MINDBLOWING HIGH CONCEPT. THE EXECUTION THAT FOLLOWS IS THOUGHTFUL AND HUMAN… INCREDIBLY POWERFUL AND STIRRING, A UNIQUE CATHARSIS ONLY THIS SCRIPT AND THIS CONCEPT CAN DELIVER.”
“CLEVER, ORIGINAL, INTELLECTUALLY STIMULATING, AND GRIPPING, A HIGH CONCEPT IDEA THAT TRANSLATES INTO A SMART CHARACTER- AND IDEA-DRIVEN STORY… THE PLOT TWISTS ARE CONSISTENTLY SURPRISING… THE KIND OF LOW-BUDGET, INTELLECTUAL THRILLER THAT PLAYS AT SUNDANCE… THE IDEAS ARE KING HERE.”
“SOARS EMOTIONALLY WITHOUT EVER FEELING SENTIMENTAL, CLOYING, OR FALSE… THE SCRIPT IS TRULY UNIQUE. IT’S UNLIKE ANYTHING THE READER HAS SEEN BEFORE: A FASCINATING PREMISE WITH AN ENTHRALLING WORLD.”
“INCARNATIONS DELIVERS ON ALL THE BEST PARTS OF A GOOD CEREBRAL SPECULATIVE FICTION PIECE. IT DOESN’T SHY AWAY FROM THE HUMAN QUESTIONS RAISED BY THE PREMISE, INSTEAD USING THE CONCEPT TO GROUND A COMPELLING CHARACTER-DRIVEN NARRATIVE FRONT TO END… A WELL-CRAFTED AND DEEPLY INTELLIGENT PIECE OF FICTION, THOUGHT-PROVOKING IN ALL THE RIGHT WAYS.”
“THE CHARACTERS AND RELATIONSHIPS ARE THE STRONGEST PART OF THIS STORY AND IT SETS A STRONG FOUNDATION FOR PLOT… SO MUCH OF THE DIALOGUE IS POWERFUL… REFRESHINGLY HONEST… THE ENDING WAS INCREDIBLY EMOTIVE… THERE ARE MEANINGFUL MESSAGES THAT WE’RE LEFT WITH, THAT WE’VE LEARNT ALONG THE JOURNEY WITH THE CHARACTERS.”
