The Writers Guild Initiative, the King Family Foundation and the Black List have officially opened submissions for the Michael Collyer Memorial Fellowship in Screenwriting.
The Fellowship launched 14 years ago and its its sixth year where it will be hosted on blcklst.com. The Michael Collyer Memorial Fellowship in Screenwriting provides an emerging screenwriter between the ages of 18-25 with a $10,000 stipend to write an original screenplay. Throughout the fellowship year, the selected writer will also receive mentorship and guidance from a prominent screenwriter.
The purpose of the fellowship is to provide an opportunity for an emerging screenwriter to develop an original screenplay and to assist with the writer’s transition into the professional world of screenwriting. The Writers Guild Initiative (WGI) is looking for diverse and unique voices, and for projects that are character driven and personal in nature. Only feature film scripts will be considered for this partnership.
The Michael Collyer Memorial Fellowship has broadened its parameters for submitting writers – any writer between the ages of 18-25 is now eligible for this partnership, which was previously only available to graduating college seniors. Writers must be no older than 25 years of age on December 3. in order to be considered for this opportunity. Age eligibility will be verified upon submission.
“The Black List is specifically proud to enable the Collyer Fellowship’s ability to accept submissions from exciting young screenwriters whether they’re graduating college seniors or not at all graduating college seniors,” said Franklin Leonard, Black List founder. “Screenwriting is screenwriting regardless of one’s formal education, and we’re excited to support the Collyer’s ongoing search for and support of young screenwriters wherever they are.”
“The Collyer Fellowship has been for me one of the most unique and satisfying ways to guide fresh talent through a film story from its earliest impulse, to a completed script,” added Michael Weller, President Emeritus of the WGI. “Film is structure, and structure is the toughest thing to explain in the abstract. Only through hands-on work with a young writer can we explain and demonstrate scene by scene, moment by moment, word by word, how each gesture does its job, and how that job can be done with increasing confidence and authority.”
The submission window will close on November 19. From there the Black List will choose ten screenplays to send to the Writers Guild Initiative selection committee for consideration. The short list will be determined in early December, and the Fellowship recipient will be selected by WGI no later than January 30, 2022. The winner of this year’s Fellowship will be announced in spring 2022. The selected writer will complete a new script for this fellowship – submitted scripts will be used as samples. For more information about eligibility requirements, please visit the FAQ.
