The Don & Gee Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting

Palo Alto writer Kevin Sharp was a previous runner-up in the Don & Gee Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting. The Nicholls -- as they are called in the industry -- are considered the most prestigious screenwriting competition of the numerous ones that exist across the U.S. and the world. Aspiring writers are advised to consider both the prestige of a contest and past winners’ track records, before committing money for an entry fee. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences (AMPAS) has administered the fellowships since 1986; the program was born in 1985 as a collaboration between Gee Nicholl (widow of film producer Don Nicholl) and Julian Blaustein.

The Nicholls recognize up to five amateur screenwriters each year with a $35,000 prize for each. Over $4 million in total has been awarded since the program’s inception. All fellowship winners are expected to complete one new feature film screenplay during the following year; quarterly prize payments are made to assist writers with living expenses, giving them time and freedom to focus on their creative work.

Writers who have earned less than $25,000 profressionally are eligible to enter. Screenplays must be original works, written in English, between 70-160 pages. Scripts are read via multiple rounds of voting; each is read at least twice, while the further a script advances the more times it is read. The quarterfinal round is made up of approximately 5 percent of entries; the semifinal round is approximately 2 percent. Typically, 10-15 scripts reach the finals each year. As of 2017, over 7,000 total entries were received.

Past winners who have gone on to professional writing careers include Alison Anders, Jeffrey Eugenides, Susannah Grant, Karen Moncrieff, Michael A. Rich, Doug Atchison, and Deston Daniel Cretton.