Ontario screenwriter Jennifer Archer wins $35K Academy fellowship

LOS ANGELES – Ontario screenwriter Jennifer Archer is among the winners of a $35,000 fellowship from the body behind the Academy Awards.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences awarded five fellowships Thursday in its global competition to elevate up-and-coming screenwriters.

Each winner receives a $35,000 cash prize and mentorship from an Academy member with the expectation that they complete a feature-length screenplay during their fellowship year.

Archer, from Springwater, Ont., was recognized for “Into the Deep Blue,” billed as the story of a man rebuilding his life after the death of his mother, an impaired driving charge and mandatory grief counselling.

Actors are set to read selected scenes from the winning scripts at an event at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles on Nov. 9.

Archer is credited as one of the screenwriters of 2017’s “Awakening the Zodiac” about a couple who stumble into evidence of a notorious serial killer who terrorized California in the late 1960s.

Organizers say 5,526 scripts from 85 countries were submitted for this year’s competition.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 29, 2022.