Jul 18, 2013
Artist Development
The San Francisco Film Society today announced the eight finalists for the fifth annual SFFS / Hearst Screenwriting Grant. The $15,000 grant will be awarded to a screenwriter who has been practicing for at least five years and who has previously written a minimum of one feature screenplay. The grant is open to writers residing in the United States whose project expresses both a unique personal perspective and an artistic approach to the subject. Priority is given to writers whose previous short or feature screenplays have been produced as an independent film. The finalists were selected from submissions received in response to a nationwide call for entries. The winner will be announced in mid-September.
The 2013 finalists include a number of writer-directors whose work has recently made waves on the international festival scene, including Destin Cretton (Short Term 12), Tom Gilroy (The Cold Lands) and Eliza Hittman (It Felt Like Love).
The SFFS / Hearst Screenwriting Grant, supported by a gift from William R. Hearst III, is a component of the robust grants program administered through Filmmaker360, the Film Society’s robust filmmaker services department. For more information visit sffs.org/filmmaker360.
“The originality and quality of stories is more important than ever,” said Ted Hope, executive director of the San Francisco Film Society. “Audiences are overwhelmed by an abundance of content and the bar has been raised as a result. Artists, and writers specifically, need time to work and get it right free of market concerns. The Film Society’s screenwriting initiatives-which also include the SFFS / Djerassi Screenwriting Fellowship and our Off the Page screenplay workshops-provide serious assistance to storytellers striving to give birth to new ideas through cinema. Every great movie begins on the written page, after all, so we’re thrilled to be able to lend our support at this critical stage in the process.”
2013 SFFS / HEARST SCREENWRITING GRANT FINALISTS
Eliza Hittman – A
Skye, a teenage girl living in rural Pennsylvania, catches a Greyhound bus on a secret journey to New York City to do something for which she might never be forgiven. Hittman’s previous work includes It Felt Like Love (2013). For more information visit elizahittman.com.
Tariq Tapa – The Best That Tomorrow Will Bring
A recently homeless widow drives cross-country on a parade float, hoping to meet the grandson she has never known before he is deployed to war overseas. Tapa’s previous work includes Zero Bridge (2008). For more information visit mongrelworks.com.
Shaka King – Liquid Courage
In the 90’s, drugs and alcohol ruined Deuce Harding’s career. In 2013 they’ll make him a star. King’s previous work includes Newlyweeds (2013).
Destin Cretton – Ma
After being a mom for 30 years, Jan is forced to deal with the fact that her youngest son has finally left the nest. On a road-trip down the Oregon Coast, she begins to learn what it means to live life after motherhood. Cretton’s previous work includesShort Term 12 (2013) and I Am Not a Hipster (2012).
Tom Gilroy – Our Lady of the Snow
When a convent is threatened with dissolution, the elderly nuns begin to have ecstatic visions. When the atheist teenager who cooks for them begins to share in those visions, supernatural events come to the aid of the convent. Gilroy’s previous work includes The Cold Lands (2013).
Alistair Banks Griffin – Snow the Jones
When teenage vagabond Lexi joins a traveling door-to-door sales crew, she discovers a world much darker than the one from which she was trying to escape. Griffin’s previous work includes Two Gates of Sleep (2010).
Matthew Porterfield – Sollers Point
After serving a parole term detained in his father’s house, an ex-offender finds the adjustment to society and the workforce more difficult than the confines of home. Porterfield’s previous work includes I Used to Be Darker (2013) and Putty Hill (2010). For more information visit hamiltonfilmgroup.org.
Jeremy Teicher and Alexi Pappas – Stick and Chub
In a small American town obsessed with competitive running, 21-year-old star athlete Plumb Marigold rebels against her parents, coaches, agents, and teammates just weeks before the upcoming Olympic trials. Teicher and Pappas’ previous work includes Tall As the Baobab Tree (2013). For more information visitstickandchub.com.
Previous winners of the SFFS / Hearst Screenwriting Grant are Maryam Keshavarz and Paolo Marinou-Blanco for The Last Harem (2012), Ian Olds and Paul Felten for The Western Habit (2011), Eric Escobar for Conveyance (2010) and Mora Stephens for Made in the USA (2009).
For more information on the SFFS / Hearst Screenwriting Grant and the other Film Society grant programs, visit sffs.org/filmmaker360/Grants.
As with all Film Society grants, in addition to the cash awards, recipients will gain access to numerous benefits through Filmmaker360, the Film Society’s comprehensive and dynamic filmmaker services program. Filmmaker360 is a leader in the field of non-profit support of cinema and offers unparalleled assistance and opportunities designed to foster creativity and further the careers of independent filmmakers nationwide. Filmmaker360 oversees one of the largest film grant programs in the country, which disperses nearly $1 million annually to incubate and support innovative and exceptional films at every stage of production. Other elements of Filmmaker360 include project development consultation, FilmHouse Residencies, Off the Page screenwriting workshops, membership discounts and benefits, fiscal sponsorship and information resources.
Recent Filmmaker360 success stories include Ryan Coogler’s debut feature Fruitvale Station, which won the Un Certain Regard Avenir Prize at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival, and both the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award in the narrative category at Sundance 2013; Short Term 12, Destin Daniel Cretton’s sophomore feature which won both the Narrative Grand Jury Award and Audience Award at South by Southwest 2013; and Beasts of the Southern Wild, Benh Zeitlin’s debut phenomenon which won Sundance’s Grand Jury Prize and Cannes’ Camera d’Or in 2012, and earned four Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture. For information visit sffs.org/filmmaker360.