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1998 Nicholl Fellows
Five new writers - three who live in Southern California, one in
Brooklyn and one in Oregon - were selected to receive the 1998 Don
and Gee Nicholl Screenwriting Fellowships, presented by the Academy
of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the Academy Foundation.
The prestigious competition awarded $25,000 to each winner. In addition,
they were honored at a gala dinner on November 12, 1998 at which
Academy AwardTM winner Curtis Hanson delivered the keynote
address.
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Nicholl Fellows
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Script
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| Jacob A.
Estes |
Mean Creek |
| Robert H. Gyde |
Jelly-Babies |
| Donna McNeely |
Julia's Child |
| Karen M. Moncrieff
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Blue Car |
| Michael
A. Rich |
Finding Forrester |
The scripts were selected by the Nicholl Committee, chaired by
producer Gale Anne Hurd and comprised of writers John Gay, Hal
Kanter, Dan Petrie Jr., Frank Pierson, Tom Rickman and Daniel
Taradash, cinematographer John Bailey, editor Mia Goldman, actor
Eva Marie Saint, producer Peter Samuelson, director Robert E.
Wise and agent Michael Zimring.
The Don and Gee Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting were established
in 1985. The competition was open to any individual who had not
sold or optioned a screenplay or teleplay for more than $1,000
or received a fellowship or prize that included a "first
look" clause, an option, or any other quid pro quo involving
the writer's work.
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1998 Nicholl Fellows (left to right) Michael A. Rich, Donna
McNeely, Robert H. Gyde, Jacob A. Estes, Karen M. Moncrieff
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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.
The 1998 competition drew a record 4,446 entries from all 50 states,
the District of Columbia and 21 countries. Since the program's inception,
a total of 53 fellowships have been presented and several recipients
have gone on to successful careers in screenwriting. Susannah Grant
(a 1992 Fellow) wrote this year's "Ever After: A Cinderella
Story," and also had writing credit on Disney's "Pocahontas."
"Down in the Delta," written by 1993 Fellow Myron Goble,
screened at the Toronto Film Festival and Mark Lowenthal's "Where
the Elephant Sits" received its world premiere at the 1998
Berlin Film Festival; Lowenthal was a 1989 Fellow. During 1997,
four fellows received credit on theatrically-released feature films:
Max Adams ("Excess Baggage"), Andrew Marlowe ("Air
Force One"), Randall McCormick ("Speed 2") and Jim
McGlynn ("Traveller").
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