Nicholl Fellowships reach finalist stage

Oct 20, 2005 by Ian Evans

Ten scripts have been selected as finalists for the 20th anniversary Don and Gee Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The scripts will now be read and judged by the Nicholl Committee, which may award as many as five of the prestigious $30,000 fellowships.

This year’s finalists are (listed alphabetically by script title):

• Chalk, Weiko Lin, Los Angeles
• The Days Between, Morgan Read-Davidson, Downey, California
• Dogwoods, Robert Zameroski, Stevenson Ranch, California
• Fire in a Coal Mine, Seth Resnik, West Hollywood, and Ron Moskovitz, Los Angeles
• The Last Wish Girl, Lauren Sheppard, Austin, Texas
• Masterpiece, Shannon Elizabeth Slater, Somerset, United Kingdom
• No Country, Michael D. Zungolo, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• Pirates of Lesser Providence, Colleen Cooper De Maio, Los Angeles
• Ring of Fire, Gian Marco Masoni, Santa Monica, California
• Sane, Robin Brown, Santa Monica

The finalists were selected from 5,879 scripts submitted for this year’s competition. The competition is open to any individual who has not sold or optioned a screenplay or teleplay for more than $5,000 or received a fellowship or prize that includes a “first look” clause, an option, or any other quid pro quo involving the writer’s work. These ten scripts will now be judged by the Nicholl Committee, chaired by writer and 1992 Nicholl Fellow Susannah Grant and comprised of writers John Gay, Fay Kanin and Hal Kanter, cinematographers John Bailey and Steven Poster, editor Mia Goldman, actor Eva Marie Saint, executive Bill Mechanic, producers Gale Anne Hurd, David Nicksay and Buffy Shutt, and agent Ron Mardigian.

Fellowships are awarded with the understanding that the recipients will each complete a feature-length screenplay during the fellowship year. The Academy acquires no rights to the works of Nicholl Fellows and does not involve itself commercially in any way with their completed scripts.