Check Out The Academy S Nicholl Screenwriter Winners

The 2020 winners are (listed alphabetically by author): James Acker, “SadBoi” Beth Curry, “Lemon” Vanar Jaddou, “Goodbye, Iraq” Kate Marks, “The Cow of Queens” Jane Therese, “Sins of My Father” The 2020 finalists are (listed alphabetically by author): Kris A. Holmes, “The Seeds of Truth” Fred Martenson, “Demons in America” Robin Rose Singer, “The Lions of Mesopotamia” David Harrison Turner, “Safe Haven” Andrew Wankier, “Three Heavens”

The fellowships support each writer’s completion of a feature-length screenplay within the year. (The Academy neither acquires rights to the Nicholl-winners’ scripts nor gets involved commercially with their completed work.) The Academy Nicholl Fellowships Committee is chaired by Academy Short Films and Feature Animation Branch governor Jennifer Yuh Nelson. The members of the committee are John Bailey and Steven Poster (Cinematographers Branch); William Mechanic (Executives Branch); James Plannette and Stephen Ujlaki (Members-at-Large); Julie Lynn, Peter Samuelson and Robert W. Shapiro (Producers Branch); Bobbi Banks (Sound Branch); and Eric Heisserer, Larry Karaszewski, Dan Petrie Jr., Misan Sagay, Dana Stevens, and Tyger Williams (Writers Branch). The global competition, which identifies and encourages new screenwriters, has awarded 166 fellowships since its 1986 launch. Many winners have gone on to storied careers, but a look at last year’s winners is revealing. Matt Harris is in post-production on his fellowship dramedy “The Starling,” which Netflix recently acquired for a reported $20 million based on the script and a four-minute sizzle reel. Also for Netflix, Michael Werwie adapted Robert Kolker’s true story “Lost Girls,” directed by Liz Garbus and starring Amy Ryan (the film debuted at Sundance in January). Rebecca Sonnenshine is the co-creator of a new Netflix horror series based on the horror podcast “Archive 81.” Also for television, Terri Miller and Andrew Marlowe are showrunners for CBS’s “The Equalizer,” starring Queen Latifah. On the film side, Alfredo Botello is co-writing Malcolm D. Lee’s animated “Space Jam: A New Legacy” (July 16, 2021, Warner Bros.), produced by Ryan Coogler. Writer-director Nikole Beckwith is in post-production on “Togetherish,” starring Ed Helms and Patti Harrison.