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Academy's Nicholl Fellowships Writing Program Demolishes Entry Record

Beverly Hills, CA - The Don and Gee Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting competition of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has received almost 5,500 entries this year, shattering the previous record of 4,446 set in 1998, Academy President Robert Rehme announced today.

"We didn't just break the entry record," Rehme said, "we smashed it to smithereens." Entries had been holding steady at 4,000+ for the previous six years.

The 5,487 entries come from 49 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico and 28 countries, including first-time entries from South Korea and the United Arab Emirates. All submissions must be in English.

Rehme said he suspected there were multiple reasons for the surprising jump in the number of entries. Nicholl Fellows had nine pictures in release over the past year, giving the program a lot of extra publicity, and one of the nominees for a writing Oscar, for the original screenplay of "Erin Brockovich," was Susannah Grant, a 1992 Nicholl Fellow. In addition, this year's Nicholl rules permit collaborations for the first time.

Fellowships for the year 2001 will be announced in October and will be presented at ceremonies in November.

The annual competition is open to any individual who has not sold or optioned a screenplay or teleplay for more than $5,000 or received a fellowship or prize that includes a "first look" clause, an option, or any other quid pro quo involving the writer's work.

Fellowships are awarded with the understanding that the recipients will each complete a feature-length screenplay during the fellowship year. The Academy acquires no rights to the works of Nicholl Fellows and does not involve itself commercially in any way with their completed scripts.

Program Coordinator Greg Beal said that since the program's inception in 1986, a total of 68 fellowships have been presented.

The nine films that were in release last year on which Nicholl Fellows received some form of writing credit were Grant's "Erin Brockovich" and "28 Days;" Raymond De Felitta's "Two Family House;" Ehren Kruger's "Scream 3" and "Reindeer Games;" Randall McCormick's "Titan A.E.," Andrew Marlowe's "Hollow Man;" Mike Rich's "Finding Forrester" and "The Virgin Suicides," based on a novel by Fellow Jeffrey Eugenides.

Updated: 06/12/2001

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