OPEN CALL: Submit Scripts for Nicholl Fellowship Recommendation

Published: 22.05.2025

Submit Scripts:

Academy’s Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting Recommendation

Nicholl Fellowships partner, The International Sámi Film Institute, invites emerging Sámi and Indigenous writers to apply for recommendation to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting.

This international program identifies and nurtures talented new screenwriters. Submit your script for a chance to be recommended for a $35,000 USD fellowship, professional mentorship, and career opportunities.

HOW TO APPLY

Your application must include:

A short bio including your full name, email address, phone number, and a brief summary of your CV.
Completed feature-length screenplay (must be between 80–125 pages), short synopsis, and a motivation letter.

DEADLINE

June 11, 2025 at 23:59 (CET)

Contact:

Eva Måsø, Communications Consultant.

WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR IN THE SCRIPT

Nicholl Fellows are selected based on the quality of their completed screenplay as defined by the Nicholl Scoring Rubric. See more here. Please ensure that you read all information thoroughly before submitting your application.

LENGTH

Scripts should be in standard industry format (12 pt Courier)
- Scripts should be no shorter than 80 pages and no longer than 125 pages (not including cover page)
- Submitted scripts must have been written originally in English; translations will not be accepted.
- No multi-part, episodic scripts can be submitted.
The screenplay must be the original work of the writer. Adaptations of stories in the public domain are not eligible.
- Submitted scripts may not be based, in whole or in part, on any other fiction or nonfiction material, published or unpublished, produced or unproduced.
- Entries may, however, be adapted from the entrant’s original work.
- Scripts that include dialogue, characters, or scene descriptions generated by artificial intelligence (AI) are ineligible.

RULES

You must be 18 or older at the time of entry.
Your lifetime earnings as a screenwriter may not exceed USD $25,000. If you have earned over US $25,000 in your lifetime as a screenwriter, you are not eligible for the Nicholl Fellowship.
- This limit applies to compensation for motion picture and television writing services as well as for the sale of (or sale of an option on) screenplays, teleplays, stage plays, books, treatments, stories, premises, and any other source material.
- In most instances, fellowship and fellowship money are not counted as earnings unless they include a “first look” clause, an option, or any other quid pro quo involving the writer’s work.
- If you become ineligible during the course of the submission process, you must notify the Nicholl Fellowships in a timely manner.
Writing teams of two are eligible only if both writers contributed equally to the screenplay.
- A screenplay where one writer came up with the story and the other writer wrote the script is not eligible.
- Collaborative work by three or more writers is not eligible.
- Current Academy employees (full-time and part-time), officers, Governors, Trustees, current Nicholl Executive Committee members, and the immediate families of these individuals are not eligible. Current Academy consultants, third-party vendors, and the immediate families of these individuals are not eligible. Active and Emeritus Academy members and their immediate families are not eligible to submit. Alumni from any Academy’s talent development programs are not eligible until they are two years past the completion of any of these programs. Nicholl Fellowship winners are not eligible to enter again.

If you get selected as a Nicholl Fellow

Nicholl Fellows receive support from the Academy and mentorship from an Academy member throughout their fellowship year. They also participate in a week of virtual seminars, a virtual meet and greet with the Nicholl Fellowships committee, and in-person networking events. Fellows additionally receive ongoing career advancement support through the Gold Alumni Program, which provides continued access, opportunity, professional development and education for alumni of the Academy’s talent development programs. Fellowships are awarded with the understanding that recipients will complete feature-length screenplays during their fellowship year.

For more information and updates on the Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting and its partners, visit oscars.org/nicholl.