When Rob Kotecki heard that he was a finalist in the 2009 Samuel Goldwyn Writing Awards Competition, he thought it was a mistake.
“I was in disbelief. I had seen an online article announcing it, but I hadn’t heard from the judges, so my first inclination was that it might have been a typo,” said Kotecki, a graduate student in UCLA’s School of Theater, Film and Television screenwriting program.
The five finalists in the competition were announced on Sept. 29 and include Kotecki and current UCLA students Joseph Tremba, Eli Mael and UCLA alumnus Bradford Schmidt. Jennifer Barclay, a student at UC San Diego, is the fifth finalist.
Open to all full-time University of California students, the Samuel Goldwyn Writing Awards Competition recognizes excellence in feature-length, original screenplays. This year more than 150 screenplays from eight campuses were submitted to the competition. A panel of industry professionals, including actress and producer Hilary Swank, will select the winners and the awards, with a first place prize of $15,000. The awards will be presented at UCLA on Nov. 2.
For the four Bruins being considered for the awards, however, it is the cachet of the awards that is most attractive. Past recipients have included notable screenwriters such as Francis Ford Coppola.
“To be honest, I’m not thinking about the money. The only thing I care about is securing a future in my career as a storyteller, so I care more about the prestige of the award,” said Mael, a fifth-year student in directing and screenwriting.
Kris Young, a screenwriting professor, sees the awards as an exciting validation for aspiring screenwriters.
“There are a lot of insecurities with writing, so since they were chosen by professionals out of a lot of other entries, it gives them a sense that they can really do this,” Young said.
Since the Goldwyn awards began in 1955, UCLA students have always done well in the competition, so the fact that the majority of this year’s finalists are Theater, Film and Television students comes as no surprise to Young.
He tells his students that while expectations in the screenwriting program are extremely high, they have already proven themselves by getting accepted into the program, and he urges them to focus on their work and do the best they can, rather than fixate on winning awards.
“I tell my students they have it all in them already, that I’m not so much of a teacher, but more their personal trainer. I like to say things like, “˜Just give me 10 more pages,'” Young said.
Being a finalist in the competition also gives students the opportunity to have their work read by people in the industry, and it can invite calls from producers and agents.
Since being nominated as a finalist, Schmidt, who graduated from UCLA in 2009, has been fielding calls from agents, managers and production agents.
“There are definitely prospects on the horizon,” Schmidt said. “The Goldwyn awards bring a whole lot of opportunities and get you a lot of attention.”
All four of the UCLA finalists credit the high caliber of teachers in the School of Theater, Film and Television and the collaboration between students as instrumental to their success as writers.
“The teachers are so talented and supportive, and a lot of them are working professionals, so the fact that they are willing to share their knowledge with us helps make UCLA one of the best film schools in the nation,” said Tremba, a graduate student in the screenwriting master of arts program.
The finalists all said that the collaborative atmosphere fostered between peers at UCLA really helped them improve their screenplays.
“You revise theirs, they look at yours, you push each other to get better. There’s very intense sharing and it’s great,” Schmidt said.
“A lot of people have this concept of writers going into a hole and producing something, but that’s not the case at UCLA. It’s very active and you’re getting a lot of ideas from your classmates,” he added.
Whatever the outcome of the competition, all of the finalists said they feel honored to be in the running and to receive recognition for their writing.
“All five of us have already won,” Schmidt said. “To me, getting to be a finalist was a huge deal. … I’d be happy with fifth place. I’m already so pleased and I feel fifth is about as good as first place.”