2017

ACADEMY NICHOLL 2017 CEREMONY | 2017
Academy's Samuel Goldwyn Theater
Thursday, November 2, 2017
Highlights
Memorable Moments

Fellows

Cesar Vitale
Cesar Vitale
São Paulo, Brazil
Script: The Great Nothing
Description:

In order to sustain his heroin addiction, a terminally ill professor of nihilism takes on the job of doing homework assignments for a colleague's daughter who's herself struggling with grief in the wake of her mother's sudden death.

Max Lance and Jen Bailey
Jen Bailey and Max Lance
Los Angeles, California
Script: The Queen of Sleaze
Description:

When the most notorious woman in publishing history decides to legitimize her reputation, Judith Regan, aka the Queen of Sleaze, must get O.J. Simpson to confess to murdering his wife in a book deal and TV interview.

rockmaker
KG Rockmaker
Montclair, NJ
Script: Last Days of Winter
Description:

When a notorious hitwoman from Detroit’s gritty east side takes on one last job before having a baby, she becomes entangled with a crooked homicide detective who wants her to take out his wife.

SJ Inwards
SJ Inwards
Marina Del Rey, CA
Script: Jellyfish Summer
Description:

A young black girl's family in 1960s Mississippi decides to harbor two human-looking refugees who have mysteriously fallen from the sky.

Vigil Chime
Vigil Chime
New York, NY
Script: Bring Back Girl
Description:

A 14-year old girl kidnapped by human traffickers and sold as a child bride plots her escape, even as her father, a hunter, lets nothing stand in his way in his pursuit to recover her.

Chris Ryan Yeazel
Chris Ryan Yeazel
Playa del Rey, California
Script: The Savage
Description:

After being kidnapped from his lands as a child, the Patuxet Indian Squanto spends his life fighting impossible odds to return home, setting in motion a series of events that changes the course of history.

Donn Kennedy
Donn Kennedy
Sherman Oaks, CA
Script: Roll the Bones
Description:

A series of river killings plague a small Wisconsin town. Two young Sheriff Deputies must unravel the case, before it unravels them. True Detective meets Prisoners.

Lillian Wang
Lillian Wang
Moorestown, NJ
Script: P.O. Box 1142
Description:

Inspired by true, historical events, P.O. Box 1142 is about a Jewish interrogator stationed in a U.S. Nazi POW camp who learns that she must extract information from the high-ranking Nazi responsible for the death of her parents.

Michael Wright
Michael A. Wright
Toronto, Canada
Script: Still Life
Description:

An awkward loner seeks purpose and forgiveness after a video he shoots goes viral and causes a family tragedy.

Sharon Walker
Script: The Cutting Season
Description:

Chased by their families and with little money, 3 young girls are forced to make a dangerous journey alone through rural Tanzania to try & reach a women's refuge & avoid having to undergo female genital mutilation during The Cutting Season.

2017 NICHOLL SEMIFINALISTS
Sylvia Batey Alcalá, "Suicide Run"
Mark Anderson, "Send"
Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz, "Mütter"
Brian Askew, "The Dead Farang"
Adite Banerjie, "Coaching Class"
Kevin Bauer and E.L. Whittemore, "Undertow"
David E. Baugnon, "Trip"
Flo Linus Baumann, "50 Miles from Boomtown"
Manuela Bernardi, "Alien Highway"
Varun Bhuchar, "The Descent"
David Biscevic, "Montana Quagmire"
Shannon Blatt, "Blood Angel"
Brian Boesl, "The Urge"
Ryan Bright, "We Came From the Sea"
Montgomery Burt, "The Outskirts of Paradise"
Josh Capizzi, "Unforgettable"
Alan Caudillo, "Frontier"
Annakate Chappell, "Daddy's Girls"
Elizabeth Chatelain, "Sundogs"
Jeff Cocco, "Jersey Blue"
Nolan Cubero, "The Wavelength"
Michael Cummings, "The Suicide Box"
Alexander Davidson, "Crossfire"
Ryan Denmark, "Flying Objects"
Conor King Devitt, "Graves of Lesser Men"
Matt Doherty and Joseph McCord, "The Hanged Man"
Joel Dorland, "Archer"
Theresa Drew, "Give Me a Reason"
Daniel Druhora, "Marjan"
Liam Durcan, "Morningstar"
Ryan Elkins, "Baggage"
Matthew K. Firpo and Ryan Firpo, "Ruin"
Dave Florez, "The Postmaster of Wincanton"
Bridget Foley, "Principles of Flight"
Melissa Fonzino, "And They Lived..."
Pat Ford, "Dume"
Aaron Galvin, "The Grave of Lainey Grace"
Billington Garrett, "Pity"
Connor Gaston, "Litter"
Liz Gilbert, "Lovely"
Kulvinder Gill, "Flesh and Blood"
Lynn Esta Goldman, "The Fifth Prisoner"
Lisa Gomez and Gina Gomez, "The Starry Night"
Paige Gresty, "Plan B"
Darren Grodsky and Danny Jacobs, "Midwestern"
Hal Haberman, "Frankie & Bob"
Diane Hanks, "Paragraph 175"
Lukas Hassel, "Le Mécano"
Kieron Holland and Ben Damon, "Boxing Day"
Robert Holt, "Trench Dogs"
Christina Hulen, "A Gentleman of Good Hope"
Kamal John Iskander and Richard Goldgewicht, "Clandestino"
Andrea Janakas, "Tiger and the Lion"
Dominique Johnson, "Getting Over You"
Lisa Joyce and Baz Hatfield, "Treehuggers"
Jordan Kalms, "Pusherman"
Max Kaplow, "Sons of Havana"
Mark Keavney, "Stuffed"
Caroline Keene, "My Name is Lorena Weeks"
Jack Kendall, "Shadows & Light"
Marc Ketchem, "Sounds of a Stone"
Matthew Kic and Mike Sorce, "One Day Notice"
Matthew King, "DownTown"
Helen Kingston, "The Flood"
Kendell Courtney Klein, "Vampira"
Cybele Knowles and Laura C.J. Owen, "The King of California"
Jim Kozyra, "IVF'ed"
Walker Lamond, "Oswald"
Michael Larson and Mark Larson, "Reclamation"
Bill Lawrence, "Pinewood Derby"
Brian Jude Leahy, "Was"
Chris Leavins, "Hard Candy Christmas"
Chris Lee, "Black Market"
Anya Leta and Josh Billig, "Points of Origin"
L. Lynch, "God's Law"
Puja Maewal, "Jaya"
Patrick Mahon, "Engram"
John Mahony, "Blacktop"
Sean Malcolm, "Mother"
Andrew Manson and Matt Manson, "Resist"
Billie Jo Mason, "The Cargo"
Daniel T. McCann, "Newtown Square"
Caitlin McCarthy, "Wonder Drug"
Karen McDermott, "The Custom of the Sea"
Keaton McGruder, "Cold Fire"
Ian McWethy, "The Future Says Die!"
Aaron Mobley, "Twinfluence"
Doua Moua, "The Harvest"
Simon Nagel, "The Wind at Spanish Needle"
Michael Noonan, "Childproof"
Samuel Oh, "Drive Like Your Kids Live Here"
Bret Paris, "The Sun Also Sets"
Jonathan Parks-Ramage and Marla Mindelle, "The Big Gay Jamboree"
Nathan Patton, "Apocalypse Pizza"
Tracy Pellegrino, "What Alice Found There "
John J. Perez, "Reluctant Dragons"
Nicolas Pinzon, "El Camino"
Tim Plaehn, "The Reconstruction of Huck Finn (Over Mark Twain's Dead Body!)"
Bill Poore, "Call Me, Crazy"
Rob Poquez, "Charity Falls"
Enrique Posner, "13 East"
Josh Powell, "Sunshine Torpedoes: A Kind of Love Story Sort of on the Spectrum or Something"
Lise Pyles, "Banner Hero"
Gabriela Quiroz and Noah Campbell Smith, "Naira"
Jackson Raders, "Last Night in LA"
Laura Ranney, "Natalie"
Chris Retts, "A Revolution"
Nick Rheinwald-Jones, "Worst Case Scenario"
Robert Riley, "The Man From the Deep"
Craig Rosenthal, "#Cloudman"
Andrew Ruiz, "Mr. Twain and Collins"
Matt Russell, "Great North"
Erin Sanger, "Girl Show"
Steve Savitz, "The Anti-Comic"
Kern Saxton and Daniel Murphy, "Stanley Kubrick's Moonshot Odyssey"
Todd Scheiperpeter, "The Kingdom of the Dead"
Kim Scupham, "Hagi Second"
Nick Shafir, "Saving Grace"
Josiah Signor, "Sequoia Blue"
Magdalen Silberman, "Roadkill"
Nichol Simmons, "Baby Fat"
Alex Simon, "Baron of Havana"
Alexandra Skarsgard, "Power Chord"
Clare Sladden, "Broken Head"
T.A. Snyder, "The Volunteer"
Ariel Sobel, "Assemblance of Truth"
Renee Stock, "Goldfish and Minotaur"
Nickolaus Swedlund, "Junk"
Eve Symington and Robin Zamora, "Californianas"
Jacob Terrell, "The Last Harvest of Holiday Farm"
Brett Treacy and Dan Woodward, "Trapline"
Ren Trella, "Moral Inventory"
Einat Tubi, "Providence"
Limary Vargas, "The Hike to Sagerton"
Dylan Visvikis, "I Wanna Fuck Adolf Hitler"
Alex Webb, "Pro Life"
Tracy Whitaker, "Cost"
Katie White, "Your Children Well"
Wenonah Wilms, "Dust"
Kelly Yaksich, "Escape From Hong Kong"
Christopher Zafirson, "Reverse Mentor"

 

2017 NICHOLL QUARTERFINALISTS
Omid Abrams, "The Gentile"
Darryl J. Adamson, "Ruthless Swagger"
Clara Aranovich, "Mayacamas"
Kyle Art, "Midway Kid"
Robert Axelrod, "Hopeful Soul"
Jen Badasci and Christopher Allan Poe, "Chimera"
Michael Balin, "Thou Shalt Not"
Nancy Bannon, "Blood"
David Barba, "Knuckles, Love, and Hate"
Jane Barr, "12 Days"
Danielle Barros, "The Executioner"
Julia Batavia, "Stella and Marlon"
Michael J. Beall, "Smartphone"
Chris Blum, "Fathom"
Timothy Bowe, "What We've Become"
Lori Bowen and Shannon Lark, "The Philosophy of Milk"
Patrick Bradley-Moore, "Wife After Death"
Dan Brice, "Puma"
Andrew Briedis, "Making the Airband"
Cornelius Broderick, "Cemetery Hill"
Isabel Bronté, "All the Pretty Little Horses"
Gerald B. Browning, "In the Shadow of the Mind"
Liz Buda, "In Thy Blood"
Keir Burrows, "A Spriggan"
Dontonio Cabreana, "Coming in Second"
Robert D. Cain, "Gagarin"
George Carlos, "Anything"
Nick Carr, "Get Back In"
Tristan Carrasco, "The Prayer"
Rex Carter, "Holiday Magic"
Sarah Jefferson Carter, "Of Thistles & Rye"
Debbie Castanha, "The Water Tower"
Ted Cava, "Rookery Branch"
Chaitanya Chopra, "Kumaon"
Jonathan Clancy, "Broken Chain"
Dennis James Clarke, "Necropolis"
Jennifer Helen Coates, "Shotgun"
Morgan Collins, "Canned Cranberries"
Michael Colucci, "The Last Man of Thebes"
Markham Cook, "Restoration"
Dominic Croucher, "I-15"
H. A. Daas, Jr., "King for a Day"
Sebastian Davis and Mark Ganek, "106"
Sophie Dawson, "Thrills, Kills and Scotch"
Frank del Aguila, "Holy Moly"
Samantha Dillard, "Keep and Bear"
Adam Drew, "The Falcon"
Shaun Duffy, "The Dichotomy Paradox"
Peter Malone Elliott, "Colfax"
Nathan Ellis, "Man on the Mountain"
Sonya Ellis, "The Subject"
Daniel Eve, "Face"
Lucy A. Fazely, "The Good Book"
Gentry Ferrell, "The Night Visitor"
Chris Fetherolf and Brian Holm, "The Magnificent Kevin"
Chuck Fitzpatrick, "In an Instant"
Patricia Fox, "Anatomy of a Town"
LaToya Franklyn, "No Contact"
Sean Patrick Geraghty, "The Hounds of House Rearden"
Bryan Gerou, "Decades to Blossom"
George V. Ghanem, "Threshold Apprehension"
George Gier, "Sturgis"
Lisa Gold, "The Secret of Shangri-La"
Reid Goldin, "Faerelands: The Great Awakening"
Andrew Gray, "Temporal"
Zak Green, "The Homeplace"
Gabe Grossman, "Typecast"
Richard Guimond, "Deep Water Blues"
Rob Gunnerson, "Polar Bear"
Kate Hackett, "Purify My Heart"
Sam Hancock, "Cassandra"
Ron Hanks and Lizz Leiser, "Capacity"
Jake Lee Hanne, "El Camino"
Greta Harrison and Matthew C. Vaughan, "They Should Be Dead"
Austin Hart, "Marscape"
Max Hersh, "The Net"
Adan Higgins, "Chaparral"
Isaac Ho and Judy Soo Hoo, "Cadaver Dog"
Daniel Hogan, "Weekend Warriors"
Caroline J Hoover, "The Trip"
Sara W. Hopkins, "The Truffle Hunter"
Chris Howlett, "False Flag"
Dale Janda, "The Birdhouse Maker"
Grant Janes, "Holler Rumble"
Linda Caryn Jenkins, "A Restoration Comedy"
Sunil Johal, "As-Salamu Alaykum (Peace Be Upon You)"
David Dell Johnson, "Choke Job"
Ryan Jennifer Jones, "On"
Rob Jones, "Unfollow"
Maazin Kamal, "Buraq"
Vincent Kazer, "The Stargazer of Samarkand"
Gary King, "Frankie Day"
Mark Kingsbury, "Crystal Rain Falls From Black Clouds"
Kendell Courtney Klein, "Tiny"
Michael Kogge, "Odyssey"
Aaron Kozak, "Hal Hitler"
Nick Kujawski, "Jugend"
Nick Kunze, "Dubar"
Eugene La Haye, "Escape from Glacier-Kalais"
Jesse La Plante, "Etta"
Scott LaFortune, "Spoon Fed: A Pyramid Scheme"
Robert M. Languedoc, "Snowfall"
Michael Larson and Mark Larson, "The Legionnaires"
Brian Jude Leahy, "Beholding Hines"
A. Lee  and Paul Hart-Wilden, "Haunting at 1600"
Jeff Lewis, "Bonnaroo"
Noelle Liljedahl, "The Mermaid"
Cheryl Little, "Neversink"
Joshua Losben and Scott Gabriel, "Space Kids"
JoAnn Ludovici, "Chipping"
Glennyce Lynn, "The Secret City"
Kimberly L. Manky, "Magnus"
Eric Marks, "The Black Gun"
Stu Marks, "She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain"
David Scott Martin, "Dead Drunk & Naked"
Jonathan Marx, "Halcyon"
Maria Matteoli, "Lady of the Canyon"
Karen McDermott, "The Sanctuarian"
Michael McGee, "When the Moon Is in the Seventh House"
Kaitlin McLaughlin, "Loyal"
Sheri McMahon, "Grand Prize"
Sachin Mehta, "Westchester"
Michael Mengoli, "The Whispers of Providence"
Benjamin Mercado, "Don't Be Afraid"
Lily Mercer, "My Old Man"
James Meredith, "The Color of God"
Andrew Mersmann, "Baron"
Shannon Michael Mier, "Finding Fletcher's Fingers"
Laetitia Mikles, "Four Hands"
David Miller, "False Light"
Sergio Missana, "Patagonia"
Katherine E. Morgan-Scharhon, "Rules for Drowning"
Tamir Mostafa, "The Trouble with Paul"
David Mulholland, "Misunderestimated"
Eddie Murphy, "Nevada Dawn"
Taj Jenkins Musco, "Experience"
(Name withheld by writer), "M.T.D."
Mark Netter and Michael Rotondi, "All the Way Down"
Travis Newton, "Woodshed"
Thao Nguyen, "Little Big Men"
Kelsey Nicklaw and James Kendall, "Mad Jack"
Alex Odaguar, "Crush the Monster"
Peter Ostebo, "After the Invasion"
Randall Palmer, "Isaac Newton"
Lafayette Parish, "Why the Willow Weeps"
W.A.W. Parker, "Leo"
Gaaby Patterson, "Sure of You"
Edward Pereira, "Amazon"
Michael Peterson, "In a Flash"
John Phillips, "The Orange Curtain"
Mark Playne, "The Magical Adventures of Me, My Duck and a Man Called Wolof"
Daniel Plyam, "The Carnival"
Tom Powell, "Noir"
Ashley P. Quach, "Lift"
Shaun Raad, "Conviction"
Phillip Ramati, "Madame Cavell"
Joseph Ramunni, "The Beachhead"
Anna Ray-Jones, "Blood Tartan"
Darrin Reed and Tom Crehan, "Marking Time"
Erich Rettstadt, "The Bridesman"
Harrison Richlin, "Happy People"
Neil Riley, "Private School"
Lisa Robertson, "Commerce"
Zach Roe, "The Monsters Are Here"
Chad Rouch, "The Multiverse"
A.M. Sanchez, "Daughters Lost to the Desert"
Justin Sane, "Heart of a Corpse"
Joel David Santner, "Tunnel Rat"
Bill Savage, "Running to Daylight"
Elizabeth Savage Sullivan, "Splitting Shadows"
Michael Schmueck and Marc Muszynski, "The Pit"
Eric Schuman, "Proxy"
Stacy Scott, "The End of the Line"
Lisa Scott, "Lysistrata Cell"
Danny Sheehy, "The Flower Hunter"
Robert Shupe, "Shyner Billion"
Andrew Siara, "Cabo"
Zachary Sims, "Going to see the King"
Andrew Slattery, "Constitution"
Spencer A. Slishman, "Sharing Needles"
Jeff Smith, "Redshift"
Tatjana Soli, "The Lotus Eaters"
Angela Spaniol, "Anne Morrow Lindbergh"
Abigail Sparrow and Forrest Leo, "Off the Record"
Luke Spears and Minji Kang, "Illicit"
Luke Spears, "The War"
Stephanie Stanley, "The Radical"
Adam B. Stein and Zach Lipovsky, "Freaks"
Marni Sullivan, "Syvertsen's Complex"
Oliver Tatom, "The Precedent"
Darren Teo, "Butter Bridge"
Charlton Thorp, "Hard Money"
Ann Thurber, "The Patron Saints of Lost Causes"
Frank Tremblay and Francesco Giannini, "Man Lost World"
Melissa Turkington, "Little Pieces of Everything"
Lou Voiler, "Alligator Blood"
Christopher Walker, "Rocketland"
Russell Ward, "The Pilot in the Dark"
Andrew Wells and Samuel Clark, "I Love You Let's Die!"
Rachel Michiko Whitney, "American Loyalty"
PT Wilkinson, "Trumpshow"
Clint Williams, "Freedom Fort"
Martin Williams, "Maybe This Time"
Paul J. Williams, "Rolling Dark"
Alex Wilson, "Mountain Meadows"
Andrew Wood, "Henchman"
Katharine Yee, "Little Sinner"
Aaron Yeung, "Darlings"
Clifford Zimowski, "Land of the Free, Home of the Slave"