Meet our new SFFILM / Sloan Science in Cinema Filmmaking Fellows

We’re excited to announce that two new filmmaking teams have joined our FilmHouse community to start their Sloan Science in Cinema Filmmaker Fellowships! Sloan Fellows are selected from an open call for screenwriters working on feature scripts exploring scientific or technological themes and characters. Each recipient gets a $35,000 cash grant and a two-month residency at FilmHouse, our bustling collaborative artist space, to write their screenplays.

Sloan Science in Cinema Filmmaking Fellowships are funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and are given twice annually. The program kicked off earlier this year with Michael Almereyda (Experimenter, Marjorie Prime) as our inaugural Sloan Fellow, to develop his upcoming screenplay about Nikola Telsa.

For more information, visit sffilm.org/makers.

Here are the details on our newest Fellows and their projects:

BELL
Darcy Brislin and Dyana Winkler, co-writers

After years of lawsuits surrounding the invention of the telephone, Alexander Graham Bell is anxious to refocus on his true passion: the deaf. Relocating to Washington D.C. with his deaf wife Mabel, Bell begins to teach speech at the prestigious deaf college, Gallaudet. Sign language is quickly growing in popularity, but Bell develops a deep hatred for its existence, fearing deaf integration will be impossible. On the other hand, Mabel’s eyes are opened to a world she never knew existed, where deafness is a culture, not a handicap, and signing is a language, not an animalistic gesture. When Mabel discovers Bell’s ultimate plan — to eradicate deafness through eugenics — she is forced to choose between her marriage and the community she loves.

Currently based in Los Angeles, Darcy Brislin is a freelance writer and producer. She is the recipient of a number of fellowships, including the 2016 Sundance / Sloan Commissioning Grant, the 2017 Sundance Screenwriting Lab, the Kenyon Playwrights Conference, and the 20/20/20 Killer Films Residency lead by Christine Vachon and Pamela Koffler. Her feature screenplay Crown Chasers is in development at UTA, with Maria Bello attached to produce. She is currently assisting director Ondi Timoner on the production of Mapplethorpe, a biopic about the acclaimed photographer, starring Matt Smith and John Benjamin Hickey.

Dyana Winkler is a freelance filmmaker who produces, directs, shoots, edits, and writes for hire in Brooklyn, NY. Clients include JP Morgan Chase, Under Armour, the US Open, Outside Television, TV on the Radio, and more. Her most recent fiction screenplay, Bell, was awarded the 2016 Sundance / Sloan Commissioning grant and participated in the 2017 Sundance Screenwriter’s Lab. Her first feature length documentary, United Skates, is currently in postproduction and has received awards from the Sundance Institute, IFP, Chicken & Egg Pictures, Film Independent, The Fledgling Fund, New York State Council on the Arts, and California Humanities.

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DARK WEB
Mark Eaton and Ron Najor, co-writers

When Maggie Hamilton takes third place in a coding competition at a hacker competition, her talent attracts the attention of a recruiter for a non-profit specializing in exposing corrupt companies. She joins their team, and works long hours in disguise on public computers, attempting to take down large conglomerates that are trying to take advantage of common citizens. After one job makes headlines and Maggie learns that the FBI is investigating, she decides to go “off the grid,” but not before she learns disturbing information about her employer and decides to do something about it.

Mark Eaton is a writer and director who got his start creating imaginative Super 8mm short films. He has written and directed commercials and music videos for a number of artists and brands including Blink-182, Tom DeLonge, Angels & Airwaves, Against Me, Good Old War, Macbeth Footwear, and James Coffee Co., bringing a careful balance of spirit and design to their collaborations. Eaton’s passion for visual narratives continued, directing the feature documentary Start the Machine and producing the independent sci-fi feature film Love. His feature script Dark Web was selected to be part of the Film Independent Screenwriting Labs in 2016.

Ron Najor’s first production was the feature film I Am Not a Hipster, which was an official selection of the Sundance Film Festival in 2012. He next produced the film Short Term 12, which won both the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award at SXSW in 2013. The film appeared on over 30 top-ten lists in 2013 and garnered a Gotham Award for Best Actress for Brie Larson and a Film Independent Spirit Award for Best Editing. Najor feature script Dark Web was selected to be part of the Film Independent Screenwriting Labs in 2016.