By Eileen Oldfield, Staff Writer
When Jaylon Kurt learned her screenplay “Us” had been selected as finalist in two festivals for horror, suspense and science fiction films, the 16-year-old’s reaction was similar to what her script was trying to evoke.
”I was freaking out,” Jaylon said. “I was so excited, I screamed.”
The festivals, Shriekfest, held in Los Angeles, and the Eerie Horror Film Festival, in Erie, Pa., will be judged in October. Winners in the screenplay categories will have their scripts sent to producers and directors, and can also win money and other prizes, according to Jaylon’s mother, Pam Kurt. Jaylon’s script will be judged in the 10-to-17 age category.
Though she’s been writing screenplays since sixth grade, it’s the first time the Hillsborough High School sophomore entered her works in any type of contest, she said. She found the contests online, and decided to submit a screenplay she originally wrote when she was 12 after revising it, she said.
Since she’s taken a screenwriting class at Raritan Valley Community College, Jaylon incorporated some of the principles learned in the class into her script. The script involves a Harvard University medical student who ends up being terrorized by four visitors from his past, Jaylon said.
”I just really wanted to scare myself,” Jaylon said. “The screenplay has a lot of twists in it to keep things flowing.
”I thought my script was really good. I thought I had high chances in the students category,” she added. “Two was unexpected.”
In addition to writing, Jaylon takes to the stage, too, and has acted in numerous school and community plays. She spent her first year of high school as a full-time performing arts student at Somerset Vocational and Technical School, but is now splitting her class load with HHS because she wanted to act in the school plays, she said.
Though she loves acting, and hopes to study it, writing scripts and thinking about films comes somewhat naturally.
”I’m a more visual person, not a vocal person,” Jaylon said. “When I read books, I see it just like watching a movie. I see it all in my head.”

