October 10, 2002
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Leslie Unger - (310) 247-3000
                     lunger@oscars.org

Finalists Selected for Academy's Nicholl Screenwriting Competition

Beverly Hills, CA - Ten finalists have been selected for the 2002 Don and Gee Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The scripts will now be read and judged by the Nicholl Committee, which may select as many as five of the writers to each receive one of the prestigious $30,000 fellowships.

This year's finalists are (listed alphabetically by writer's name):

• Larry Brooks; West Linn, Oregon; "Darkness Bound"
  
• John Ciarlo; Brooklyn, New York; "Bend in the River"
  
• David Cowper; San Diego, California; "The Untutored Soul"
  
• Jeffrey Robert Davis; Beverly Hills, California; "A Simple Man with a Simple Plan"
  
• Matt Harris; Burbank, California; "Moon of Popping Trees"
  
• Pamela Kay; Spokane, Washington; "Nude and Naked"
  
• Kurt Kuenne; Burbank, California; "Mason Mule"
  
• Barbara Marshall; Austin, Texas; "Assumption"
  
• Annie Reid; Austin, Texas; "Revival"
  
• Creighton Rothenberger; St. Davids, Pennsylvania; "The Chosin"

The finalists were selected from a record 6,044 scripts submitted for this year's competition. 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.

These ten scripts will now be judged by the Nicholl Committee, chaired by producer Gale Anne Hurd and comprised of writers John Gay, Susannah Grant, Fay Kanin, Hal Kanter, Dan Petrie Jr., Tom Rickman and Dan Taradash, cinematographer John Bailey, editor Mia Goldman, actor Eva Marie Saint, producers David Nicksay 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.

Since the program's inception in 1985, a total of 73 fellowships have been presented and there are numerous success stories among the fellows. Most recently, Mike Rich, a 1998 Fellow, wrote "The Rookie," which was released earlier this year. His Nicholl entry script, "Finding Forrester," was released in 2000. Fellow Karen Moncrieff (1998) directed her Nicholl script, "Blue Car," and 1997 Fellow Anthony Jaswinski wrote and directed "Killing Time," both films premiered at this year's Sundance Film Festival. Ehren Kruger (1996) wrote the about-to-be-released "The Ring;" his other credits include "Reindeer Games" and "Arlington Road." Allison Anders (1986 Fellow) co-wrote and directed "Things behind the Sun," which premiered at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival, and Gabrielle Burton (2000 Fellow) wrote "Manna from Heaven," which premiered at the 2001 South By Southwest Film Festival. Grant, a 1992 Fellow who joined the Nicholl committee last year, received an Academy Award nomination in 2000 for her "Erin Brockovich" screenplay. Also in 2000, Raymond De Felitta (1991) directed his fellowship-year script, "Two Family House," which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and was released later that year; Andrew W. Marlowe (1992) wrote "Hollow Man;" and Randall McCormick (1987) received co-story credit on "Titan A.E."