Academy announces Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting finalists
Oct 04, 2007 by Ian Evans
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has chosen ten scripts as finalists for the 22nd annual Don and Gee Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting. 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 author):
- Julian Breece, Los Angeles, California, Ball
- Amy Garcia, Manteca, California and Cecilia Contreras, Pleasanton, California, Amelia Earhart and the Bologna Rainbow Highway
- Lisa M. Gold, Long Beach, California, The Poker Wars
- Michael L. Hare, Moorpark, California, The Fly Fisher
- Sidney King, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Kalona
- David Mango, Japan and Syracuse, New York, Kissing a Suicide Bomber
- John Robert Marlow, Los Angeles, California, Nano
- Brett Nicholson, Katy, Texas, Queen of the Sky
- Andrew Pritzker, Kansas City, Missouri, Sweet in the Saddle
- Andrew Shearer and Nicholas J. Sherman, Los Angeles, California, Holy Irresistible
These finalists were selected from 5,050 scripts that were 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.
The Nicholl Committee, which will judge the scripts, is chaired by writer and 1992 Nicholl fellow Susannah Grant and composed of writers Naomi Foner Gyllenhaal, Hal Kanter, Dan Petrie, Jr. and Dana Stevens; cinematographers John Bailey and Steven Poster; executive Bill Mechanic; producers Gale Anne Hurd, David Nicksay, Robert Shapiro 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. Since the program’s inception in 1985, 98 fellowships have been awarded.