The Michael Collyer Fellowship
Home WGI Programs The Michael Collyer Fellowship
The Michael Collyer Memorial Fellowship in Screenwriting (Collyer Fellowship), underwritten by a grant from the King Family Foundation, is awarded to a student who plans to pursue a career in screenwriting on completion of his or her undergraduate course of study.
The winner receives a $10,000 stipend to write an original screenplay and is mentored during the course of the fellowship (one-year) by a prominent screenwriter.
Submissions open in the fall and are accepted from all over the country via The BlackList. Entrants must be current undergraduate seniors with a demonstrated interest in, and talent for, screenwriting as a profession. Emphasis is placed on feature film projects that are character driven and personal in nature. (No TV pilots at this time.)
To submit material to the competition, entrants should go to blacklist.com's Collyer Fellowship Page, where they'll find submission requirements and a submission agreement.
In early December, the BlackList will chooses 15 finalists to send to the WGI selection committee for consideration. The Fellowship recipient will be selected by the WGI by the calendar year's end.
Further questions can be directed to The BlackList at support@blcklst.com.
The award honors Michael Collyer, a distinguished entertainment attorney in New York City for four decades, who practiced primarily at his namesake firm Kay Collyer & Boose and specialized in television financing and production. The fellowship is presented each year at the Writers Guild of America, East Awards ceremony in New York.
Our Collyer Fellows often go onward to bigger and brighter successes, many times being able to get established using their Collyer scripts. Past winners have received accolades such as the Nicholl Fellowship and the Bahamas International Film Festival residency.