ENTRY DEADLINE APPROACHING FOR 2016 ACADEMY NICHOLL FELLOWSHIPS IN SCREENWRITING COMPETITION

Posted: 
Monday, April 11, 2016 - 10:30

The regular deadline to submit entries for the 2016 Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting competition is Monday, April 18, at 11:59 p.m. PT.  In November, as many as five $35,000 fellowships will be awarded to emerging screenwriters.  

Deadlines and entry fees are as follows:

Regular deadline: April 18, at 11:59 p.m. PT; entry fee US$60
Final deadline: May 2, at 11:59 p.m. PT; entry fee US$85

Online applications and complete rules are available at www.oscars.org/nicholl.

Current entrants also may purchase, for an additional $40, review comments from at least two Nicholl readers for each submitted script.  For details, visit www.oscars.org/nicholl/about. 

Since 1986, 142 fellowships have been awarded.  Nicholl fellows have written or co-written projects that have generated over $7.1 billion in box office revenue.  Recent accomplishments of Nicholl fellows include:

  • Destin Cretton and Andrew Lanham are collaborating as co-writers on “The Glass Castle,” with Cretton also directing.
  • Raymond De Felitta directed the ABC-TV miniseries “Madoff."
  • Robert Edwards wrote and directed “One More Time,” opening theatrically this month.
  • Anthony Jaswinski wrote “The Shallows,” slated to be released in June.
  • Karen Moncrieff and Rebecca Sonnenshine are collaborating on “The Keeping Hours,” with Sonnenshine writing and Moncrieff directing.  Sonnenshine also is a writer and supervising producer on “The Vampire Diaries."
  • Creighton Rothenberger co-wrote “London Has Fallen,” which opened theatrically in March.
  • Abel Vang and Burlee Vang co-wrote and co-directed “Bedeviled,” now in post-production.

Other notable fellows include Allison Anders (“Gas Food Lodging,” “Things behind the Sun”), Doug Atchison (“Akeelah and the Bee”), Jacob Estes (“The Details”), Jeffrey Eugenides (The Virgin Suicides, Middlesex), Ehren Kruger (“The Ring,” “Transformers: Age of Extinction”), Andrew Marlowe (“Air Force One,” “Castle”) and Terri Edda Miller (“Castle”). 

The Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting competition is open to any individual who has not earned a lifetime total of more than $25,000 from the sale or option of screenplays or teleplays.  To enter, writers must submit a completed application online, upload one PDF copy of their original screenplay in English, and pay the required entry fee before the regular deadline at 11:59 p.m. PT on April 18, or the final deadline at 11:59 p.m. PT on May 2.

Fellowships are awarded with the understanding that the recipients will each complete a new feature-length screenplay during the fellowship year. 

Last year's competition drew 7,442 submissions.