Graduate Division Special Fellowships
With a December 15 deadline, the GDSFs are the first opportunities to look out for. The only way to get the Fellowship Application for Entering Graduate Students is to download it off the internet — http://www.gdnet.ucla.edu/asis/entsup/fellproc.htm. You’ll fill out one form, checking off all of the fellowships for which you qualify—based on things like academic merit, disabilities, ethnic background, etc. There's one for cancer survivors, another for Armenians. You get the picture.
You'll be competing for these funds with other university students. NOTE: Three faculty recommendations are required, so start getting this together well before Winter Break.
TFT Fellowships (often called Donor Awards)
The Donor Awards are wide array of scholarships large and small administered by independent donors ranging from John Frankenheimer to the George Burns estate and available only to students in the School of Theater, Film & Television. Some awards require full TV or feature scripts; others ask for an essay; others need only a simple form to be filled out.
A basic information session about the awards happens during Orientation and again in Winter Quarter. The site listing the details of the awards goes live for two weeks toward the end of the Quarter; application materials are generally due sometime around finals week.
NOTE: The financial end of the donor awards is a bit confusing. You’ll be told that the awards are meant to be used to pay off tuition, yet they are received long after you’ve already paid for the final quarter of the year. If you have loans, the money can be put to that. Or if you have some TFT project or need you want to put it toward, for example a new computer or a shoot you want to do, you can petition to use the money in that way.
Other financial aid question can be answered at: Financial Aid Office – 310/206-0400. Website: http://www.fao.ucla.edu/officeinfo.html
Contests & Competitions
There are tons of independent screenwriting competitions. Often announcements will come out over the listservs. The major UCLA ones to know about are:
The Sloan Foundation (http://legacy.tft.ucla.edu/sloan/) offers a $10,000 prize for the best screenplay about science. Applicants must attend a one-day seminar in the fall, submit a script proposal, then work with a scientist mentor before entering a screenplay in the competition.
The Samuel Goldwyn Award (http://legacy.tft.ucla.edu/goldwyn/) provides five awards, including a Grand Prize of $15,000. Any student in the UC system who is eligible can submit. Script submissions are due in late May, with finalists and winners announced over the Listservs early in the Fall Quarter.
The Academy Nicholl (pronounced like "nickel") Fellowship. It takes submissions in the spring: http://www.oscars.org/nicholl
The HBO Writing Fellowship: https://www.hbo.com/hboaccess/write.html
With a December 15 deadline, the GDSFs are the first opportunities to look out for. The only way to get the Fellowship Application for Entering Graduate Students is to download it off the internet — http://www.gdnet.ucla.edu/asis/entsup/fellproc.htm. You’ll fill out one form, checking off all of the fellowships for which you qualify—based on things like academic merit, disabilities, ethnic background, etc. There's one for cancer survivors, another for Armenians. You get the picture.
You'll be competing for these funds with other university students. NOTE: Three faculty recommendations are required, so start getting this together well before Winter Break.
TFT Fellowships (often called Donor Awards)
The Donor Awards are wide array of scholarships large and small administered by independent donors ranging from John Frankenheimer to the George Burns estate and available only to students in the School of Theater, Film & Television. Some awards require full TV or feature scripts; others ask for an essay; others need only a simple form to be filled out.
A basic information session about the awards happens during Orientation and again in Winter Quarter. The site listing the details of the awards goes live for two weeks toward the end of the Quarter; application materials are generally due sometime around finals week.
NOTE: The financial end of the donor awards is a bit confusing. You’ll be told that the awards are meant to be used to pay off tuition, yet they are received long after you’ve already paid for the final quarter of the year. If you have loans, the money can be put to that. Or if you have some TFT project or need you want to put it toward, for example a new computer or a shoot you want to do, you can petition to use the money in that way.
Other financial aid question can be answered at: Financial Aid Office – 310/206-0400. Website: http://www.fao.ucla.edu/officeinfo.html
Contests & Competitions
There are tons of independent screenwriting competitions. Often announcements will come out over the listservs. The major UCLA ones to know about are:
The Sloan Foundation (http://legacy.tft.ucla.edu/sloan/) offers a $10,000 prize for the best screenplay about science. Applicants must attend a one-day seminar in the fall, submit a script proposal, then work with a scientist mentor before entering a screenplay in the competition.
The Samuel Goldwyn Award (http://legacy.tft.ucla.edu/goldwyn/) provides five awards, including a Grand Prize of $15,000. Any student in the UC system who is eligible can submit. Script submissions are due in late May, with finalists and winners announced over the Listservs early in the Fall Quarter.
The Academy Nicholl (pronounced like "nickel") Fellowship. It takes submissions in the spring: http://www.oscars.org/nicholl
The HBO Writing Fellowship: https://www.hbo.com/hboaccess/write.html
