Screenwriter Rachel Smith ’06 wrote her first play at the tender age of seven and got hooked on filmmaking after watching Woody Allen and Diane Keaton create cinematic magic in Annie Hall.

This year, Rachel’s screenplay Fix You Up took top honors in the Rhode Island International Film Festival’s “Spotlight on Rhode Island” competition against a pool of 77 entries from as far away as New Zealand. The competition invites screenwriters from around the world to submit scripts set in the Ocean State. As a result of her win, Rachel will receive five free pitches to Hollywood studios and producers on VirtualPitchfest.com, among other perks.

Since graduating from URI, Rachel has been pursuing her craft in London. For Fix You Up, she created Rory, a workaholic transplant surgeon who is indifferent to her patients, until she breaks her wrist. Unable to operate, Rory meets a spirited musician who inspires her to re-examine her life.

“Rory is slowly but surely isolating herself from everyone around her out of a fear of external and internal intimacy and in desperate need of human warmth,” Rachel said. “I am drawn to stories about people who feel disconnected from life and those around them; people in need of love and care.”

“The Rhode Island International Film Festival has been a long-term supporter of the film media program at URI,” said festival executive director George T. Marshall. “It is fitting and appropriate that a graduate of the program would win this prestigious award. It speaks volumes about the great faculty and the talented students in the program.”