Amy Tofte Wins Academy’s Screenwriting Fellowship

Nicholls Fellowships have been announced. (Image: Victor Gregory)

CalArts alumna Amy Tofte (Theater MFA 11) was recently named one of five winners of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences 2015 Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting. Her screenplay, Addis Abeka, focuses on a young Ethiopian boy  who “loses his family and must navigate the world on his own for ten years until he can be reunited with his brother.”

Addis Abeka was one of 7,442 scripts were submitted for the competition. Now in its 30th year, the prestigious fellowship selects and encourages talented new screenwriters. Each winner receives a $35,000 prize, with the understanding that the recipients compete a feature-length screenplay during the year.

The first installment of the fellowship will be awarded on Nov. 4 at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills, Calif. For the third consecutive year, the event also features a live reading of selected scenes from the fellows’ winning scripts.

In addition to Tofte, this year’s winners are:

• Elizabeth Chomko, “What They Had”
• Andrew Friedhof, “Great Falls”
• Anthony Grieco, “Best Sellers”
• Sam Regnier, “Free Agent”

The 2015 Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting Awards Presentation & Live Read is a free event, but tickets are required.

(Image: Victor Gregory via Flickr, Creative Commons)