Four aspiring screenwriters from Southern California and one from Austin, Texas have won the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Don and Gee Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting, the Academy announced on Wednesday.
The fellowships include a $30,000 prize given with the understanding that each recipient will complete a feature-length screenplay during the next year. (The Academy does not acquire the rights or otherwise involve itself in the commercial future of those screenplays.) The first installment in that prize will be handed out at the Nicoll Fellowship dinner and ceremony in Beverly Hills on November 4.
Michael Arndt (left), the Oscar-winning screenwriter of “Little Miss Sunshine,” will deliver the keynote address at the ceremony.
The winners were selected from a shortlist of 10 by the Nicholl Committee, which is chaired by producer Gale Anne Hurd and consists of writers Naomi Foner, Daniel Petrie, Tom Rickman and Dana Stevens; actor Eva Marie Saint; cimematographer John Bailey and Steven B. Poster; executive (and the past Oscar show producer) Bill Mechanic; producers Peter Samuelson and Robert W. Shapiro; and agent Ronald R. Mardigan.
Two of the winners are from North Hollywood, one from Beverly Hills and one from San Diego. The only non-Californian among the winners is from Austin, Texas.
The winners, with the screenplay for which they won:
Destin Daniel Cretton, San Diego, Calif., “Short Term 12”
Marvin Krueger, North Hollywood, Calif., “And Handled with a Chain”
Andrew Lanham, Austin, Texas, “The Jumper of Maine”
Micah Ranum, Beverly Hills, Calif., “A Good Hunter”
Cinthea Stahl, North Hollywood, Calif., “Identifying Marks”
Past Nicholl Fellowship winners include Susannah Grant, who went on to win an Oscar for "Erin Brockovich," and Raymond De Felitta, who wrote and directed this year's indie hit "City Island."
(Photo by Matt Petit/AMPAS)
