Five emerging screenwriters gained the film academy's stamp of admission into Hollywood with help from an ensemble of actors that included Tyrese Gibson and Rosa Salazar.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences honored each screenwriter at the Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting awards and presentation on Thursday night. The five individuals each received $35,000 fellowships and had their work brought to life through live readings by Gibson, Salazar, Amandla Stenberg and Wes Studi.
The event was held at the academy's headquarters in Beverly Hills, California.
Actors, from left to right, Wes Studi, Rosa Salazar, Tyrese Gibson and Amandla Stenberg pose at the Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting Awards and Live Read at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Samuel Goldwyn Theater on Thursday, Nov. 7, 2019, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Danny MoloshokInvisionAP)
The five screenplays selected include: Aaron Chung's "Princess Vietnam," Karen McDermott's "Lullabies of La Jaula," Renee Pillai's "Boy With Kite," Sean Malcolm's "Mother" and Walter McKnight's "Street Rat Allie Punches Her Ticket."
"I want to write scripts in Hollywood. What kind of fool would want to do that?" asked Pillai, sarcastically, while pointing at herself before the audience burst into laughter. She is the first Nicholl fellow from Malaysia and faced a series of obstacles that almost kept her from attending the event.
Pillai applied for her U.S. visa, was told the earliest appointment she could get wouldn't be until the day after the ceremony. But a fellowship official contacted the cultural affairs office at the U.S. Embassy in Kuala Lumpur on Pillai's behalf, arranging a meeting to appeal to the consul general to expedite her visa request.
Jennifer Yuh Nelson, Academy Short Films and Feature Animation Branch Governor and Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting Committee Chair, third from left, poses with Nicholl fellows, from left to right, Karen McDermott, Aaron Chung, Walker McKnight, Renee Pillai and Sean Malcolm at the Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting Awards and Live Read at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Samuel Goldwyn Theater, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2019, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Danny MoloshokInvisionAP)
Pillai then drove two hours to Kuala Lumpur to attend the granted interview, with only the $160 donated by her friends to pay the visa application fee. She ultimately obtained the visa and took 30 hours to travel by air from Malaysia to Los Angeles — that including layovers in China and Seattle.
"If it wasn't for the academy and my friends, I wouldn't be here," she said. "I would've missed out not only this ceremony, but also the seminars and preparations for the life you want to live. This is the start of my career."
Winners will receive guidance from academy members as they complete a feature-length screenplay during their fellowship year. The winning screenplays were chosen from just over 7,300 submissions.
Peter Samuelson, right, and Eva Marie Saint pose at the Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting Awards and Live Read at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Samuel Goldwyn Theater on Thursday, Nov. 7, 2019, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Danny MoloshokInvisionAP)
Since 1986, the competition has awarded hundreds of fellowships, aiming to identify and encourage talented new screenwriters. The academy says it doesn't acquire rights to screenwriters' work and doesn't involve itself commercially in the completion of scripts.
Past fellows include writer-director Allison Anders, Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Jeffrey Eugenides and Oscar-winning screenwriter Susannah Grant ("Erin Brockovich"). The films "Finding Forrester" and "Transformers: Age of Extinction" were also written by past Nicholl fellows.
Chung gave a heartfelt speech that nearly left Salazar in tears. He said he wants to show how people aren't that different from each other.
Eva Marie Saint poses at the Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting Awards and Live Read at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Samuel Goldwyn Theater on Thursday, Nov. 7, 2019, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Danny MoloshokInvisionAP)
"I want to connect everyone's problems and beliefs together just to show how much we are the same," he said.
Geeta Malik, a 2016 fellow, returned to direct the live reading. She highlighted the importance of the Nicholl Fellowship.
"If you want to get your script made, this is the perfect place to do it," said Malik, who turned her Nicholl-winning script into a feature called "India Sweets and Spices," currently in post-production. "This is the place where you can find people who really support your dream and visions."
Online: https://www.oscars.org/nicholl
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WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump was booed repeatedly while addressing the Libertarian Party National Convention on Saturday night, with many in the crowd shouting insults and decrying him for things like his COVID-19 policies, running up towering federal deficits and lying about his political record.
When he took the stage, many jeered while some supporters clad in “Make America Great” hats and T-shirts cheered and chanted “USA! USA!” It was a rare moment of Trump coming face-to-face with open detractors, which is highly unusual for someone accustomed to staging rallies in front of ever-adoring crowds.
Libertarians, who prioritize small government and individual freedoms, are often skeptical of the former president, and his invitation to address the convention has divided the party. Trump tried to make light of that by referring to the four criminal indictments against him and joking, “If I wasn’t a Libertarian before, I sure as hell am a Libertarian now.”
Trump tried to praise “fierce champions of freedom in this room” and called President Joe Biden a “tyrant” and the “worst president in the history of the United States,” prompting some in the audience to scream back: “That’s you.”
As the insults continued, Trump eventually hit back, saying “you don't want to win” and suggesting that some Libertarians want to “keep getting your 3% every four years.”
Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson won about 3% of the national vote in 2016, but nominee Jo Jorgensen got only a bit more than 1% during 2020’s close contest.
Libertarians will pick their White House nominee during their convention, which wraps on Sunday. Trump’s appearance also gave him a chance to court voters who might otherwise support independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. who gave his own Libertarian convention speech on Friday.
Polls have shown for months that most voters do not want a 2020 rematch between Trump and President Joe Biden. That dynamic could potentially boost support for an alternative like the Libertarian nominee or Kennedy, whose candidacy has allies of Biden and Trump concerned that he could be a spoiler.
Despite the raucous atmosphere, Trump continued to press on with his speech, saying he’d come “to extend a hand of friendship” in common opposition to Biden. That prompted a chant of “We want Trump!” from supporters, but more cries of “End the Fed!” — a common refrain from Libertarians who oppose the Federal Reserve. One person who held up a sign reading “No wannabe dictators!” was dragged away by security.
Trump tried to win over the crowd by pledging to include a Libertarian in his Cabinet, but many in the crowd hissed in disbelief. The former president did get a big cheer when he promised to commute the life sentence of the convicted founder of the drug-selling website Silk Road, Ross Ulbricht, and potentially release him on time served.
That was designed to energize Libertarian activists who believe government investigators overreached in building their case against Silk Road, and who generally oppose criminal drug policies more broadly. Ulbricht’s case was much-discussed during the Libertarian convention, and many of the hundreds in the crowd for Trump’s speech hoisted “Free Ross” signs and chanted the phrase as he spoke.
Despite those promises, many in the crowd remained antagonistic. One of the candidates vying for the Libertarian presidential nomination, Michael Rectenwald, declared from the stage before the former president arrived that “none of us are great fans of Donald Trump.” After his speech, Rectenwald and other Libertarian White House hopefuls took the stage to scoff at Trump and his speech.
Those for and against Trump even clashed over seating arrangements. About two hours before the former president's arrival, Libertarian organizers asked Trump supporters in the crowd to vacate the first four rows. They wanted convention delegates — many of whom said they’d traveled from around the country and bought expensive tickets to the proceedings — could sit close enough to hear the speech.
Many of the original seat occupants moved, but organizers eventually brought in more seats to calm things down.
The Libertarian split over Trump was reflected by Peter Goettler, president and chief executive of the libertarian Cato Institute, who suggested in a Washington Post column that the former president’s appearance violated the gathering’s core values and that “the political party pretending to be libertarian has transitioned to a different identity.”
Trump’s campaign noted that Biden didn't attend the Libertarian convention himself, and argued that the former president's doing so was part of an ongoing effort to reach would-be supporters in places that are not heavily Republican — including the former president’s rally Thursday in the Bronx during a pause in his New York hush money trial.
The Libertarian ticket will try to draw support from disaffected Republicans as well as people on the left. Such voters could also gravitate toward Kennedy.
Trump didn't dwell on Kennedy on Saturday night. But, after previously praising him and once considering him for a commission on vaccination safety, the former president has gone on the attack against Kennedy. He suggested on social media that a vote for Kennedy would be a “wasted protest vote” and that he would “even take Biden over Junior.”
The former president, while in office, referred to the COVID-19 vaccine as “one of the greatest miracles in the history of modern-day medicine.” He’s since accused Kennedy of being a “fake” opponent of vaccines.
In his speech at the Libertarian convention, Kennedy accused Trump and Biden of trampling on personal liberties in response to the pandemic. Trump bowed to pressure from public health officials and shut down businesses, Kennedy said, while Biden was wrong to mandate vaccines for millions of workers.
For his part, Biden has promoted winning the endorsement of many high-profile members of the Kennedy family, in an attempt to marginalize their relative’s candidacy.
Kevin Munoz, a spokesperson for Biden’s reelection campaign, slammed Trump and top Republicans for opposing access to abortion and supporting limits on civil society, saying in a statement Saturday, that “freedom isn’t free in Trump’s Republican Party and this weekend will be just one more reminder of that.”
Republican presidential candidate, former President Donald Trump speaks at the Libertarian National Convention at the Washington Hilton in Washington, Saturday, May 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
EDS NOTE: OBSCENITY - Libertarian delegates jeer Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump as he speaks at the Libertarian National Convention at the Washington Hilton in Washington, Saturday, May 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Republican presidential candidate, former President Donald Trump speaks at the Libertarian National Convention at the Washington Hilton in Washington, Saturday, May 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
EDS NOTE: OBSCENITY - Libertarian delegates jeer Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump as he speaks at the Libertarian National Convention at the Washington Hilton in Washington, Saturday, May 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Republican presidential candidate, former President Donald Trump speaks at the Libertarian National Convention at the Washington Hilton in Washington, Saturday, May 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks at the Libertarian National Convention at the Washington Hilton in Washington, Saturday, May 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Republican presidential candidate, former President Donald Trump speaks at the Libertarian National Convention at the Washington Hilton in Washington, Saturday, May 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Libertarian delegates jeer Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump as he speaks at the Libertarian National Convention at the Washington Hilton in Washington, Saturday, May 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Libertarian delegates jeer Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump as he speaks at the Libertarian National Convention at the Washington Hilton in Washington, Saturday, May 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Libertarian delegates jeer Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump as he speaks at the Libertarian National Convention at the Washington Hilton in Washington, Saturday, May 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Libertarian delegates jeer Republican presidential candidate, former President Donald Trump as he speaks at the Libertarian National Convention at the Washington Hilton in Washington, Saturday, May 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Republican presidential candidate, former President Donald Trump speaks at the Libertarian National Convention at the Washington Hilton in Washington, Saturday, May 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks during the Libertarian National Convention at the Washington Hilton in Washington, Friday, May 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
This combination photo shows Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump at a campaign rally on May 1, 2024, in Waukesha, Wis., left, and presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. during a campaign event, Oct. 9, 2023, in Philadelphia. Trump is addressing the Libertarian National Convention Saturday, May 25, 2024, courting a segment of the conservative electorate that's often skeptical of the former president's bombast while trying to ensure attendees aren't drawn to independent White House hopeful Kennedy, Jr. (AP Photo)
