The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today named four individuals and one writing team as recipients of the 2024 Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting.
Selected from 5,500 scripts representing 80 countries, the new fellows and their screenplays are Alysha Chan and David Zarif (Miss Chinatown), Colton Childs (Fake-A-Wish), Charmaine Colina (Gunslinger Bride), Ward Kamel (If I Die in America) and Wendy Britton Young (The Superb Lyrebird & Other Creatures). Read more about them below.
Each of the five fellows will receive a $35,000 prize, along with mentorship from an Academy member throughout their fellowship year, which will see them complete a feature-length screenplay. The Academy will acquire no rights to the works of its fellows and does not involve itself commercially in any way with their completed scripts.
The global competition aims to identify and encourage talented new screenwriters and has awarded 186 fellowships since 1986. Here are the loglines for each 2024 recipient’s script:
Alysha Chan and David Zarif (Los Angeles), Miss Chinatown
Jackie Yee follows in her mother’s footsteps on her quest to win the Los Angeles Miss Chinatown pageant.
Colton Childs (Waco, Texas), Fake-A-Wish
Despite their forty-year age gap, and the cancer treatment confining them to their small Texas town, two gay men embark on a road trip to San Francisco to grant themselves the Make-A-Wish they’re too old to receive.
Charmaine Colina (Los Angeles), Gunslinger Bride
With a bounty on her head, a young Chinese-American gunslinger poses as a mail order bride to hide from the law and seek revenge for her murdered family.
Ward Kamel (Brooklyn), If I Die in America
After the sudden death of his immigrant husband, an American man’s tenuous relationship with his Muslim in-laws reaches a breaking point as he tries to fit into the funeral they’ve arranged in the Middle East. Adapted from the SXSW Grand Jury-nominated short film.
Wendy Britton Young (West Chester, PA), The Superb Lyrebird & Other Creatures
A neurodivergent teen who envisions people as animated creatures, battles an entitled rival for a life-changing art scholarship, while her sister unwisely crosses the line to help.