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2001 Nicholl Fellows
Five new writers were selected to receive the 2001 Don and Gee
Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting, presented by the Academy of
Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Each received the first installment
of the accompanying $30,000 prize at a dinner in Beverly Hills on
November 15, 2001, at which Academy Award winning screenwriter Stephen
Gaghan ("Traffic") delivered the keynote address.
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Nicholl Fellows
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Script
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| Patricia Burroughs |
Redemption |
| Greg M. Dawless |
One Hour Development |
| Robert S. Edwards |
Land of the Blind |
| Albert Letizia |
The Northern Lights |
| Cameron B.
Young |
Saint Vincent |
The winning scripts were chosen from a group of eleven finalists,
which had been selected from nearly 5,500 entries submitted for
this year's competition - a record number. 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.
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2001 Nicholl Fellows Back row (left to right) Peter Samuelson,
Frank Pierson, Gale Anne Hurd, Hal Kanter, Dan Petrie, Jr.,
Ron Mardigan, John Bailey, Eva Marie Saint Front Row (left
to right) Mrs. Gee Nicholl, Stephen Gaghan, Patricia Burrows,
Greg Dawless, Albert Letizia, Cameron Young, Robert Edwards,
Fay Kanin.
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Final judging of the competition was conducted by the Nicholl Committee,
chaired by writer Fay Kanin and comprised of writers John Gay, Susannah
Grant, Hal Kanter, Dan Petrie Jr., Tom Rickman and Dan Taradash,
cinematographer John Bailey, editor Mia Goldman, actor Eva Marie
Saint, producers Gale Anne Hurd (who serves as committee vice-chair),
David Nicksay, Peter Samuelson and Buffy Shutt, and agent Ronald
Mardigian.
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.
A total of 73 fellowships have been presented since the program's
inception in 1985 and there are numerous success stories among the
fellows. Most recently, Grant, a 1992 Fellow who joined the Nicholl
committee this year, received an Academy Award nomination for her
"Erin Brockovich" screenplay. The most recent project
of 1986 Fellow Allison Anders is "Things behind the Sun,"
which she co-wrote and directed and which premiered at the 2001
Sundance Film Festival. Gabrielle Burton (2000 Fellow) wrote "Manna
from Heaven," which premiered at the 2001 South By Southwest
Film Festival. In addition, Deborah Pryor's 1989 Nicholl-winning
script "Briar Patch" is in post-production, as is Karen
Moncrieff's 1998 Nicholl-winning "Blue Car." In 2000,
Raymond De Felitta (1991) directed his Fellowship-year script, "Two
Family House," which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival
and was released theatrically last October; Ehren Kruger (1996)
wrote "Reindeer Games" and "Scream 3," Andrew
W. Marlowe (1992) wrote "Hollow Man;" Randall McCormick
(1987) received co-story credit on "Titan A.E." and Mike
Rich's 1998 Nicholl entry script, "Finding Forrester,"
directed by Gus Van Sant and starring Sean Connery, was released.
Numerous other winners have sold their Nicholl entry screenplays
and other work.
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