Monday, October 28, 1996
FILM:
Three UCLA students win prestigious Samuel Goldwyn Writing
AwardsBy Michael Nazarinia
Daily Bruin Contributor
Feeding your cat may seem like a task you take for granted but
for hard-pressed screenwriting students dealing with next month’s
rent, any financial reward is well received. And if it’s $4,500,
the first-place prize for winning the Samuel Goldwyn Writing Award,
well, that’s enough to cover the kitty for quite some time.
"This really helps me, besides having some money to live off of,
feed my cat, and buy writing supplies, this allows some of the
theaters that are having hard times to be more likely to read my
plays. It’s a great calling card", says Melanie Marnich from UC San
Diego’s writing program, who won first prize for her play,
"Beautiful Again."
For the past 41 years, the Samuel Goldwyn Foundation has awarded
the prestigious Samuel Goldwyn Writing Award to student writers
exclusively from the University of California.
Every spring, feature-length screenplays and theater plays are
submitted to the Foundation by University of California students
from all majors. These scripts and plays are judged by the Samuel
Goldwyn Foundation’s former winners and substantial prize money is
given to each of the finalists.
Students from UCLA are among the majority of the finalists
almost every year and this year was no exception. UCLA finalists
were from the School of Theater, Film, and Television, and among
them, Bess Wiley tied with Marnich for first place for her
screenplay "The Turn." Third place went to UCLA student Sheila
Callaghan for "Smog." And for an unprecedented third year in a row,
Robert Jack DuBois was a finalist for the screenplay "The Last
Grand Tour."
This year’s award ceremony was held at the James E. West Alumni
Center last Monday. Samuel Goldwyn Jr. presented the award that was
named after his father, famous Hollywood film mogul Samuel Goldwyn
who started the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film company.
Notable past winners include UCLA alumnus Francis Ford Coppola,
best known for his work "The Godfather" and its sequels. Another
past winner was Eric Roth, who did the Oscar-winning adaptation for
Forrest Gump.
Along with the monetary prize, the Samuel Goldwyn Award opens
new doors for film students by getting much-sought- after industry
attention. The winners always receive calls from agents wanting to
sign the award winners, and the awards give film company executives
more confidence in deciding who to hire. With the weight of the
award’s stature on writer’s resumes, writers have an easier time
finding jobs and getting support for projects.
Third-year graduate student Bess Wiley is hoping for the flood
gates to open soon. Her screenplay "The Turn" is a "psychological
thriller about a female CIA agent whose father is also an agent.
She gets accused of being a double agent and has to get herself
out," says Wiley who credits her professors for always pushing her.
Wiley spent time doing camera work before coming to UCLA and
continues to do free-lance writing as well as running a mural
business with her husband.
"The professors really make you work your butt off by constantly
writing, and then reading your work assiduously. That’s the biggest
advantage of going to UCLA," Wiley says.
"The professors expect you to do something like 120 pages in
nine weeks, just like you would if you were working as a
professional for a company. Most schools don’t expect you to do as
much work as we do here."
Wiley originally submitted two screenplays, the other a less
extravagantly cinematic piece about a boy and his junkie parents
that was more humble in its theme. "I was astonished, blown-out,
when I heard that I had won the award. The money really helped a
lot, and I’m honored to have won this award."
Marnich is also proud of her success and is grateful to the
foundation for thinking about students struggling to write.
"It means so much for me that there are people like Samuel
Goldwyn Jr. encouraging writers because so much of our time is
spent alone in blind faith that we’re doing the right thing."
Marnich spent a year on her play about an Italian family that
makes promises to each other as a way of showing their love, and
come upon the money to make those promises come true. Every day on
her 7-mile bus ride to her work as a full-time copywriter, she
would write a scene of "Beautiful Again."
"The family really stretches the boundaries of unconditional
love, and they deal with adversity by laughing about it. It’s a
quirky comedy about dealing with the pressure dreams about to come
true. The family built their lives around these promises to each
other, and the change in their economic situation creates a
challenge for them to keep those promises," Marnich says.
"My family could laugh about anything in hard times and I
learned a lot about having a good sense of humor. It’s a way to
keep humble and the world in perspective."
UCLA graduate student Robert Jack DuBois has been a finalist now
for the third time. After winning the award last year, he has had
agents working towards making one of his screenplays into a movie.
In addition to winning the Samuel Goldwyn Award, he has also won
the Jack Nicholson Writing Award twice as well as being a Sundance
finalist for his directing work.
"This is really the most prestigious award of them all and to
have won it three times makes me really happy because of all the
tradition and past winners," says DuBois whose screenplay "The Last
Grand Tour" is about the end of the buggy and carriage era in
1840’s Europe before the train became the way to see Europe.
GENEVIEVE LIANG
Jon Kellerman, a Goldwyn award winner 25 years ago (presented to
him by Lucille Ball), congratulates Robert Jack DuBois, third-year
MFA screenwriting student, who has been a finalist for three
straight years.GENEVIEVE LIANG
School of Film, Television and Theater faculty Gary Gardner
talks with Sheila Callaghan, a second-year MFA playwriting student
who won third place.