6 emerging writers win film academy’s Nicholl Fellowships

LOS ANGELES – Six emerging screenwriters are getting a boost from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

The organization announced Thursday the winners of its annual Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting, which comes with a $35,000 prize and yearlong academy support toward the completion of a feature-length screenplay.

Winners will receive the first installment of their prize money and hear their work performed aloud at a Nov. 3 event at the film academy’s headquarters in Beverly Hills, California.

The global competition drew 6,915 screenplay entries. The winners and their hometowns are Michele Atkins, “Talking About the Sky” (Seattle); Spencer Harvey and Lloyd Harvey, “Photo Booth” (Balgowlah, Australia); Geeta Malik, “Dinner with Friends” (Los Angeles); Elizabeth Oyebode, “Tween the Ropes” (Sunnyvale, California); and Justin Piasecki, “Death of an Ortolan” (Los Angeles).