2010 Nicholl Fellowships competition receives 6304 scripts

Jul 06, 2010 by Ian Evans

Now in its 25th year, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting competition has received 6,304 entries for 2010, including first-time entries from Azerbaijan, Barbados, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Cameroon, Uganda and Uruguay.

The Academy will award up to five fellowships of $30,000 each in November. The Nicholl Fellowships competition is open to screenwriters who have not earned more than $5,000 writing for film or television. Entry scripts must be feature length and the original work of a sole author or of exactly two collaborative authors. The scripts must have been written originally in English. Adaptations and translated scripts are not eligible.

Since the program’s inception in 1985, 113 fellowships have been awarded. Several past Nicholl fellows have gone on to successful screenwriting careers, including Oscar®-nominee Susannah Grant (The Soloist, Charlotte’s Web, Erin Brockovich), Doug Atchison (Akeelah and the Bee), Mike Rich (Radio, The Rookie, Finding Forrester), Ehren Kruger (Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, The Ring, Arlington Road) and Andrew Marlowe (Hollow Man, Air Force One, ABC Television’s Castle).