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Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting

I

IndiePaul

Some of you know about the Nicholl, others will not.

It is a a screenwriting contest run by the folks behind the Academy Awards.

It's open to non-professional screenwriters. You can enter provided your "total earnings for motion picture and television writing may not exceed US$25,000 before the end of the competition".

Up to five $35,000 fellowships are awarded annually.

If you place in their Finals (9 to 11) or are awarded a Fellowship (5), you will likely land an agent (if you don't already have one), and you'll get a lot of read requests from the industry. Some Nicholl winning scripts have sold and gone into production, Short Term 12 being one of the most recent.

This year's contest will open shortly.

There are three deadlines for 2014:
  1. early bird is February 28 ($35 entry fee)
  2. regular is April 10 ($50 entry fee)
  3. late is May 1 ($65 entry fee)
The online application form must be completed and a PDF version of the script uploaded by 5 p.m. Pacific Time on May 1.

It is a highly competitive contest and difficult to place in, but if you do, some doors like open. Even placing in the quarterfinals, can open doors. State your placement in query letters.

The folks who place will also receive read requests from various prodcos and agencies. The higher your placing, the more read requests you will receive. The Nicholl send details (logline and contact email) of the scripts that place (provided the writer agrees - you can opt out if you so wish) to a list of agencies/prodcos they have at the end of the contest. That's a great benefit to anyone who places.

The Nicholl is the screenwriting contest to place in. It's #1 by a huge margin.

It's also non-profit. They actually make a very big $$$ loss every year. 99.99% of screenwriting contests are run to earn money and profit for the organizers, not so the Nicholl. The Nicholl's aim is to discover (and aid) screenwriting talent.

They also guarantee that every script will be read by at least two readers in the first round.

Readers are told to ignore screenplay potential budget and marketability (or non-marketability) of the subject area.

If you love screenwriting and want a chance to break in, enter the Nicholl.

Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting - About
http://www.oscars.org/awards/nicholl/about/index.html

We have recently published a series of articles on the Nicholl:

Introduction to the Nicholl Fellowship
http://reelauthors.com/script-analysis-coverage/Nicholl-Fellowships.php

How to Win a Nicholl Fellowship #1: What are Nicholl judges looking for?
http://reelauthors.com/script-analysis-coverage/how-to-win-a-Nicholl-Fellowship-1.php

How to Win a Nicholl Fellowship #2: What Makes a Great Script - the Nicholl answers
http://reelauthors.com/script-analysis-coverage/how-to-win-a-Nicholl-Fellowship-2.php

How to Win a Nicholl Fellowship #3: What Makes a Great Story?
http://reelauthors.com/script-analysis-coverage/how-to-win-a-Nicholl-Fellowship-3.php

How to Win a Nicholl Fellowship #4: The Nicholl Fellowship advises on Screenplay Dialogue
http://reelauthors.com/script-analysis-coverage/how-to-win-a-Nicholl-Fellowship-4.php

How to Win a Nicholl Fellowship #5: The Nicholl Fellowship advises on Screenplay Characters
http://reelauthors.com/script-analysis-coverage/how-to-win-a-Nicholl-Fellowship-5.php

How to Win a Nicholl Fellowship #6: Nicholl and AFF Screenplay Competition Directors talk Screenplay Conflict
http://reelauthors.com/script-analysis-coverage/how-to-win-a-Nicholl-Fellowship-6.php

How to Win a Nicholl Fellowship #7: AFF Screenplay Competition Director talks about Verbose Descriptions
http://reelauthors.com/script-analysis-coverage/how-to-win-a-Nicholl-Fellowship-7.php

How to Win a Nicholl Fellowship #8: The Nicholl Fellowship advises on Screenplay Formatting
http://reelauthors.com/script-analysis-coverage/how-to-win-a-Nicholl-Fellowship-8.php

How to Win a Nicholl Fellowship #9: Nicholl Reader Comments
http://reelauthors.com/script-analysis-coverage/how-to-win-a-Nicholl-Fellowship-9.php

How to Win a Nicholl Fellowship #10: Nicholl Fellowship - additional FAQ
http://reelauthors.com/script-analysis-coverage/how-to-win-a-Nicholl-Fellowship-10.php
​
Many Nicholl semifinalist, finalist and fellowship-winning writers have gone on to have highly successful screen or teleplay writing careers - a sample:
  • Melissa Rosenberg (semifinalist) - "Twilight" series screenwriter, "Dexter"
  • Scott Rosenberg (finalist) - "Beautiful Girls", "Con Air", "Happy Town"
  • Vince Gilligan (semifinalist) - "Home Fries", "The X Files", "Breaking Bad"
  • Diane Ademu-John (semifinalist) - "Medium", "Body of Proof"
  • Michael Arndt (semifinalist) - "Little Miss Sunshine", "Toy Story 3"
  • Susannah Grant (fellow) - "Erin Brockovich", "Catch and Release", "A Gifted Man"
  • Gavin Hood (semifinalist) - "Tsotsi", 'X-Men Origins: Wolverine"
  • Ehren Kruger (fellow) - "Arlington Road", "Transformers: Dark of the Moon"
  • Damon Lindelof (semifinalist) - "Lost", "Cowboys & Aliens", "Prometheus"
  • Jon Spaihts (semifinalist) - "Prometheus", "The Darkest Hour"
  • Meredith Stiehm (semifinalist) - "Cold Case", "Homeland"
 
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Thanks for the great info.

I've got 2 scripts for sure ready to send... still trying to figure out the third one to add to the mix...

I wonder if rayw has done a breakdown of genre winners ;)
 
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photon said:
No sci-fi :(
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No, the chart says 2 for Sci-Fi.

Not a huge number but at least some.

Non-professional Sci-Fi writers tend to get stuck in the tech and sci-fi universe, and don't pay enough attention to story and character (and their character arc). I think that's reflected in the low number of Sci-Fi scripts being awarded a Fellowship.

Also the number of Sci-Fi scripts entered would be hugely less than for more popular genres (drama, action/adventure etc), so the Fellowship numbers would reflect that to a large degree.
.
 
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I read in something that they posted that the genre proportion of winners are actually pretty accurate to the proportion of those genres submitted.

Drama is the easiest form which is why I'm assuming that's the highest number of winners / submissions.


Consider this... Her is really a sci-fi flick... but is considered a drama. Same with something like Somewhere in Time.
 
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First off, Thanks IndiePaul for the post.

My question:

How much does politics play in these Screenplay contest selections? In other words, Does someone with a movie script that focuses on Global Warming, Undocumented Workers or Income Equality stand a better chance of winning than someone with a Shoot-em-Up or SciFi script?

Also, Do we still maintain all rights to our scripts once they have been submitted?

-Birdman
 
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Birdman said:
How much does politics play in these Screenplay contest selections? In other words, Does someone with a movie script that focuses on Global Warming, Undocumented Workers or Income Equality stand a better chance of winning than someone with a Shoot-em-Up or SciFi script?
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Some contests award points for maketability - how marketable is the screenplay, could it be a potential big theater hit? The Nicholl does not do that. Nicholl readers are told to ignore budget and maketability (or lack of) in their scoring. To do well in the Nicholl you have to write a damn good screenplay - great dialogue, interesting characters, packed with drama and conflict with a great compelling underlying story and character arcs. So either of the screenplay types you mentioned could do well provided they contain those elements at their core.

Birdman said:
Also, Do we still maintain all rights to our scripts once they have been submitted?
Click to expand...
With the Nicholl (and the vast majority of other screenwriting contests) the writer maintains all rights to their screenplay.

The contest run by Amazon Studios was different - submission granted an option to Amazon Studios on your script for a certain period.
 
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IndiePaul said:
Some contests award points for maketability - how marketable is the screenplay, could it be a potential big theater hit? The Nicholl does not do that. Nicholl readers are told to ignore budget and maketability (or lack of) in their scoring. To do well in the Nicholl you have to write a damn good screenplay - great dialogue, interesting characters, packed with drama and conflict with a great compelling underlying story and character arcs. So either of the screenplay types you mentioned could do well provided they contain those elements at their core.


With the Nicholl (and the vast majority of other screenwriting contests) the writer maintains all rights to their screenplay.

The contest run by Amazon Studios was different - submission granted an option to Amazon Studios on your script for a certain period.
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Indie, I like this! I would love to submit my screenplay. I read the rules and requirements and it all seems very legit.

My biggest concern is I have a two hour movie inside my head , but I have 140 pages of script ...and I'm a little over half way through the movie! I'm looking at a 4 hour butt-nummer! This sucker could rival "Jesus of Nazareth" in length.

By the time I get this damned thing written, chopped down to 120 minutes and then the many re-proofs/re-drafts I will probably be pushing the late entry deadline. ...But I'm hacking away at it! If I get it completed in time I will definitely submit it.

Thanks for the link!
-Birdman

P.S. Any regs on "Unbridled Profanity" and "Gratuitous Violence/Sex"? ...I use a lot of this to hide my blatant lack of plot :D
 
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Birdman said:
Indie, I like this! I would love to submit my screenplay. I read the rules and requirements and it all seems very legit.
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It is run by the Academy Awards folks so yes, it is very much legit.

Birdman said:
P.S. Any regs on "Unbridled Profanity" and "Gratuitous Violence/Sex"? ...I use a lot of this to hide my blatant lack of plot :D
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None. But I presume you're joking. If your screenplay doesn't have an interesting and involving plot/story, there is no point in entering the Nicholl. It's the premier screenwriting contest and very difficult to place in.
 
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geckopelli said:
Don't forget the Page Awards.

http://pageawards.com/

They are accepting entries now and are the other top line screenwriting competition.
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Page is a decent contest but to be clear, it's not in the same class as the Nicholl.

Page is run for-profit.

The Nicholl is not-for-profit.

The Nicholl guarantees every entry at least two readers (and 2x scores) in the first round.

With Page, you get one. So one chance to impress, not two.

The Nicholl is run by the folks behind the Academy Awards (the Oscars).

Page is run by a few for-profit private individuals.

The Nicholl semi-finalist readers include members of the Academy.

The Nicholl finalist team include members of the Academy and sometimes Oscar winners.

The industry recognition of the Nicholl and high-Nicholl placing is excellent.

The industry recognition of Page and high-Page placing is largely indifferent, unless your Page reader is an agent/prodco and they take you on or pass your script to a peer. Some Page Finalist judges are agents/prodco execs. But no offence to Page, they simply have nothing like the industry recognition as the Nicholl.
 
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