Submit your script to the Nantucket Film Festival Screenplay Competition and have the opportunity to have your script read by a prestigious jury (past Jurors included: Campbell Scott, Tom McCarthy, Diana Ossana, Bobby and Peter Farrelly, Stanley Tucci, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Rosie Perez, Kit Carson, Greg Mottola, Nancy Tenenbaum, Nancy Savoca, Lee Daniels, Anthony Swofford, and Donna Giglotti), receive top industry recognition, participate in a festival focused specifically on screenwriters and win an incredible, all-inclusive month's stay on stunning Nantucket at the Screenwriter's colony where your every need is catered to and all you're asked to do is write!
The Screenwriters Colony is a month long, all-expenses-paid retreat on the island of Nantucket. A select number of writers are invited to workshop their feature screenplay projects with guidance from industry mentors. Participating writers live together in an atmosphere of secluded creativity at picturesque Almanack Farm, perched on the edge of Nantucket's cranberry bog conservation land. In addition to intensive one-on-one feedback sessions, writers and advisors enjoy a sociable colony experience over dinners and island outings.
Campbell Scott, actor/director/screenwriter (Off the Map, Big Night, Rodger Dodger), Oren Moverman, screenwriter (Jesus' Son, Todd Haynes' Bob Dylan project), Bingham Ray, founder October Films and former president of United Artists, L.M. Kit Carson, producer/screenwriter (Paris, Texas, Bottle Rocket), Coleman Hough, screenwriter (Soderbergh's Full Frontal, Bubble), Lawrence Inglee, creative exec Marc Gordon Pictures (Saving Private Ryan, Day After Tomorrow).
In addition the winner will receive:
- Custom leather bound copy of the script, courtesy of Showtime
- VIP week-long festival pass to all events, including air travel and accommodation
- $2000 cash prize from the Nantucket Film Festival
- Name appears in Festival catalogue and on website as a competition finalist
- Print & media coverage
* The Jury for the Screenplay Competition will be announced in early May.
Marc Arneson
Peck, 2007
Peck is a comedy set at American High, where half the class was raised on Ritalin, Prozac is old school and 'Bowling for Columbine' is just another movie. When Michael Peck's overbearing parents force him to compete in the Science Fair, he thinks he can shock everyone. Instead, Peck finds teen angst might be cliché, but it still sucks.
Sophie Barthes
Cold Souls, 2006
When Arthur discovers the existence of a Soul Storage, a lab offering New Yorkers a relief from the burden of their souls, he puts his soul in storage and rents a Russian poet's soul, which guides him to Russia where things take an unexpected turn.
Will Luers
MINK, 2005
MINK is a period drama based on the life of George Catlin, a painter of American Indians. Catlin arrives at an Indian village to demonstrate the best of the civilized world and unleashes the worst. A tale of magic, lust and betrayal set during the 19th century fur trade.
Jennifer Maisel
The Last Seder, 2004
Jennifer Maisel's THE LAST SEDER is adapted from a play that won the Kennedy Center's Fund for New American Plays award and has been produced in Chicago and Washington, DC. Jennifer recently completed her residency at the Nantucket Screenwriters Colony and is currently at work on a new feature script. Besides stage and film, Jennifer has written for television and Disney feature animation. She lives in Los Angeles, CA.
Chase Palmer
Buried Above Ground, 2003
Chase's first feature script 'BURIED ABOVE GROUND' is also a winner of the adult/drama prize at the 2003 Austin Heart of Film screenplay competition. His newest effort is 'THE YOUNG HITCHCOCKIANS'. Mr. Palmer's two award-winning short films-'NEO-NOIR' (2002)-and the Fox Searchlab (Searchlight) commissioned 'SHOCK AND AWE' (2004)-have played at fests worldwide including Sundance, BFI London, Deauville Festival of American Film and Melbourne International Film Festival. He has recently been invited by the State Department to screen and discuss his work as part of a program to promote short filmmaking in Burma. He is currently executive director of The Screenwriters Colony, a not for profit dedicated to nurturing young writers and the craft of screenwriting. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.
Debra Granik
Down to the Bone, 2002
While attending NYU's Graduate Film Program, Debra received multiple awards for her short film, SNAKE FEED, which premiered at the New Directors/New Films Festival at the Museum of Modern Art. SNAKE FEED won the Best Short Film at Sundance and The Wexner Memorial Film Award from the Art Institute of Chicago. She was invited to participate in the Rotterdam Cinemart in 1999 and has twice been awarded the Nestor Almendros Award for Cinematography. Her foray into digital filmmaking was SIDE BY SIDE, her Graduate thesis film for which she received a Wasserman Award at NYU.
In 2004, she completed DOWN TO THE BONE, her first feature. The script for Bone was work-shopped at the Sundance Screenwriting and Directors Labs. At the Sundance Film Festival 2004, Debra received the Dramatic Directing Award, and the lead of DOWN TO THE BONE, Vera Farmiga, received the Dramatic Special Jury Prize for Acting. Most recently the film won the FIPRESCI (International Critics Prize) at 2004 Viennale. Prizes for Down to the Bone also include: grand jury prize at 2004 Florida International Film Festival, Woodstock Film Festival Maverick Award, Brooklyn International Ð Best Narrative Feature. She is currently working on a new script set in Brooklyn that she will be shooting this coming summer.
All official Juries will be announced in May 2008
This competition is named in honor of Tony Cox, former CEO of Showtime Networks, who passionately nurtured emerging talent.
Showtime's Tony Cox Award for Screenwriting (screenplay competition)
Showtime's Tony Cox Award for Best Screenwriting in a Feature Film
Showtime's Tony Cox Award for Best Screenwriting in a Short Film
NFF® Official Awards also include:
AUDIENCE AWARD FOR BEST FEATURE FILM & AUDIENCE AWARD FOR BEST SHORT FILM
A favorite annual distinction where the audience picks their favorites. Cast your vote for the Best Feature and the Best Short after each screening.
TEEN'S VIEW® ON NANTUCKET FILM FESTIVAL AWARD FOR SHORT FILM
The award is given to a short film deemed most inspiring by our teens-only jury.
BEST STORYTELLING IN A DOCUMENTARY FILM
Spurred by 2004's Audience Award Winner (for the documentary Girlhood) we were inspired to recognize and award the craft of storytelling in documentary filmmaking. The 2005 Award went to Jessica Sanders for After Innocence.
The NFF® Official Awards are presented to the recipients at an informal brunch on the last day of the festival.
The Adrienne Shelly Excellece in Filmmaking Award — Nantucket Film Festival commemorates the legacy of Adrienne Shelly by honoring outstanding achievement from a female filmmaker, the winner to be chosen from each year's selection of features, documentaries and short films. Each year's winner will be provided with transportation and lodging at the festival, along with a reception in their honor and a $5000 cash prize.
