The playing field for women in film has, at least, been leveled in this year’s shortlist for the 2016 Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting.
Eleven individual screenwriters and one writing team have been shortlisted for this year’s honors — and seven out of 13 of them are women. That’s just more than half, a rarity in the competitive Hollywood environment.
Those odds are much better than what’s happening in the greater professional field of screenwriting, where women are outnumbered by more than three to one.
Writers on the shortlist are (in alphabetical order):
Michele Atkins, “Talking About the Sky” (Seattle, WA)
Josh Barkey, “Marlene the Divine” (Waxhaw, NC)
Beanie Barnes, “Little Toro” (New York, NY)
Todd Condie, “John Wayne Slept Here” (Brooklyn, NY)
Spencer Harvey and Lloyd Harvey, “Photo Booth” (Balgowlah, Australia)
Geeta Malik, “Dinner with Friends” (Los Angeles, CA)
Danielle Ownbey, “The Blast-Off Inn” (Glendale, CA)
Elizabeth Oyebode, “Tween the Ropes” (Sunnyvale, CA)
Justin Piasecki, “Death of an Ortolan” (Los Angeles, CA)
Michael Toner, “Hey Jude” (Van Nuys, CA)
Arun K.