This Academy Award? Instant Film Clout

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(Free-Press-Release.com) November 18, 2006 -- Last week they were regular folks with big-screen dreams. One worked in an AIDS clinic, another spent his nights in a freezer, moving cases of shrimp for a seafood seller.

Today, they are sought-after screenwriters the freshest new voices in Hollywood fielding calls from agents, studios and production companies.
It almost sounds like a movie script, but it's reality for six writers who won this year's Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting, an annual competition administered by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Oscars people.

The winning screenwriters were honored Thursday night and presented the first installment of their $30,000 fellowship.

"This is better than an Oscar," said filmmaker Kevin Smith, who delivered the night's keynote speech. "It's a cash prize."

But more important than the cash is the instant cachet that comes with this particular Academy award. Instead of trying to edge a foot into Hollywood's door, the winning screenwriters even finalists and semifinalists are immediately besieged with calls from agents, managers and movie houses begging to see their scripts.

"It's a transformative experience," said 1998 fellow Mike Rich, who won for his screenplay "Finding Forrester."

"The results were posted in the trades. The day before, there were zero messages on my machine. The day after, there were 60."

Rich, 47, found a manager, quit his job as a morning radio host on his local Portland station and has been working as a screenwriter ever since. His next film, "The Nativity Story," will be released next month.

Rich isn't alone in his Nicholl-fueled success. Susannah Grant, chairwoman of the fellowships committee, said winning the prize in 1992 kick-started her screenwriting career.

Source: http://www.msn.com

nicholl fellowships     winning screenwriters