Thursday, October 23, 1997
A foot in the door
FILM: In the competitive film world, it helps to be armed with a
Samuel Goldwyn Writing Award. This year’s ceremony commended
student
winners for their originality.
By Aimee Phan
Daily Bruin Staff
The UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television has something to
be proud of this week. Four of their screenwriting graduate
students were finalists for the 42nd annual UCLA Samuel Goldwyn
Writing Awards Monday night. The ceremony and reception held at the
James E. West Alumni Center also honored two other students from UC
Davis and UC San Diego.
The Samuel Goldwyn Writing Awards started with an introduction
by Gil Cates, Dean of the School of Theater, Film and Television,
who recognized the awards as a great inspiration to film
students.
"They give a person who writes a script a feeling of success
that our business doesn’t frequently allow," Cates said.
Cates was followed by the president of the Samuel Goldwyn
Foundation, Samuel Goldwyn Jr., who gave a short speech commending
the finalists. The foundation began handing out the award 40 years
ago to give writers the honor and exposure they deserve and need.
Though the ceremony is a UCLA creation, students from other UC
campuses are eligible for awards.
"The idea is to really give recognition to writers and hope that
this starts them on their way," Goldwyn said. And it seems to be
working.
"We did a survey a couple of years ago and 82 percent of our
winners are today earning their livings as writers," Goldwyn said,
"which shows that the judging has been good."
The last speaker and presenter of the awards was L.A. Times film
critic Kenneth Turan who was on the final judging panel along with
actress Jodie Foster and director Nicholas Hytner.
Before announcing the winners, Turan expressed his pleasure at
being able to judge the screenplays.
"It is a wonderful feeling to help talented people get a start
(in the business)," Turan said. "The only way to be a successful as
a writer is to write what your talent wants you to write."
The top prize went to Christine Sugiyama for her screenplay
"Kozakana (Little Fish)," about a boy living in Japan during the
atomic bomb attack. She was inspired to write the script after
hearing stories about her father’s experiences in Japan. She admits
she was surprised when she found out that she was a finalist.
"When I had sent it in, it was kind of a rough draft and I was
still working on it at the time," Sugiyama said. "But I really
didn’t have anything that I really liked besides that piece. So I
sent it out far from perfect and far from finished, so I’m even
more grateful that they saw something in it."
Another UCLA finalist, Hamilton Underwood, won fifth place at
the writing awards. His drama "Maeve" is about a woman who takes
her twin brother’s place in the Civil War and then falls in love
with another soldier. Underwood said it is kind of like ‘Yentl’
meets Glory.’ He appreciates the attention his script has received
after the honors from the writing award.
"It’s free publicity in the trades and it’s money," Underwood
said. "It’s nice that people in the industry read it. Everyone
likes for their stuff to be read."
Second place went to UCSD’s Michael McClung for "After Sarah."
UCLA’s Vlady Pildysh received third place for "Heartstopper."
Fourth place went to Lesley Renee Maness of UCLA for "Pam &
Denise: ’80s Geeks," and sixth place went to UC Davis’ Rebecca J.
Ennals for "Two Loves and a Worthier Pen."
The winners received prizes of $6,000 for first place, $3,000
for second, $1,500 for third, and $750 for fourth, fifth and sixth
places.
While she appreciates the extra money, Sugiyama is most honored
with the acknowledgment and hopefully, a foot in the door to the
film industry.
"I’ve heard that people have gotten agents after winning this
award," Sugiyama said. "I’m just starting out, so it’s hard for me
to say in which direction I’ll go, but hopefully I’ll get a little
bit of recognition."
Goldwyn hopes that the winners will bring more variation and new
material into the screenwriting genre.
"A lot of the scripts that come into these things tend to be
movies that you saw last night," Goldwyn said. "What we’re trying
to encourage is originality."
Although Turan admits that Sugiyama’s work was his favorite, he
said he enjoyed reading all the scripts that revealed the original
talent of future screenwriters.
"They all were never boring. You really wanted to read them,"
Turan said. "They were passionate. They came from a sense of belief
that clearly showed the writer was interested in the story. None of
these scripts felt like assignments. These are people who really
care about what they’re writing and I think that’s what makes them
stand out."
Photos by MICHAEL WACHT
Samuel Goldwyn Jr. chats with Christine Sugiyama, the
first-place winner in the writing award. She won for her script
"Kozakana."
(Left to right) Kenneth Turan, L.A. Times film critic, talks to
Gil Cates, Dean of the School of Film and Television.