Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Film School Program (Screenwriting Grants at Partner Film Schools)

Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Film School Program (Screenwriting Grants at Partner Film Schools) is sponsored by Alfred P. Sloan Foundation (administered through partner film schools).

This opportunity supports mission-aligned projects and measurable outcomes.

Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Feature Film Award Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Feature Film Award Alfred P.

Sloan Foundation Feature Film Award 2026-27 SLOAN FEATURE FILM AWARD The goal of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation film school program is to influence the next generation of filmmakers to create more realistic and dramatic stories about science and technology and to challenge existing stereotypes about scientists and engineers through the visual media.

An annual award in the Kanbar Institute of Film & Television, this production award for $150,000 is given to the director of a feature-length narrative project that portrays intellectually engaging, entertaining images of scientists/engineers, a scientific discovery, or technology.

Alumni who graduated from the Kanbar Institute of Film & TV between 2018 and May 2026 Current thesis students in the Kanbar Graduate Film Program Current juniors and seniors in Kanbar Undergraduate Film & TV To apply for the fund, the applicant must be attached to the film as the DIRECTOR. Applicants submit a 1-page synopsis/pitch and an application to the faculty committee that will select up to 12 quarter-finalists.

These quarter-finalists then submit three to five page treatments. From these treatments, the committee selects up to six semi-finalists. The finalists have development meetings with committee members and consult with a science advisor.

Finalists (up to three) will be selected to receive a $5,000 grant to write a first draft of their feature screenplay while continuing to consult with a science/technology advisor to ensure the accuracy of their project. Finalists submit the first draft of their script and a budget. The $150,000 award should be a significant portion of the film's budget.

Narrative Feature Scripts should be no more than 120 pages, written in English, and written or co-written by the applicant. Contact Dara Feivelson at dlf1@nyu. edu for more information.

Friday, June 19 - 1-page synopsis/pitch due Week of September 21 - Announcement of up to twelve Quarter-Finalists September 21 – November 6 - Quarter-Finalists write 3-5 page treatments Friday, November 6 - Quarter-Finalists submit treatments Week of December 7 - Committee announces up to six Semi-Finalists and holds development meetings with Semi-Finalists December 7 – February 19 - Semi-Finalists consult with science advisors and write revised 5 to 7-page treatment/production plan, and a budget top sheet Friday, February 19 - Semi-Finalists submit treatments and budgets Friday, April 23 - Up to three Finalists announced; each receive $5,000 to write their scripts April - August - Finalists write feature script and continue to meet with advisors August - Finalists submit script and revised budget September - Committee selects winner Winner must go into production within eighteen months of announcement.

Please note that the schedule is subject to change. Sloan Foundation Feature Film Award Application Benji Santayana Zusman, Grad Film 2024-25 Written by Benji Santayana Zusman Story by Benji Santayana Zusman and Elliot Aguilar On the brink of the Austrian Civil War, Kurt Gödel and the idealistic Vienna Circle resist Fascism by using math to separate truth from lies, creating a legacy that ranges from computers to emojis.

Based on Truth (sort of). Jorge Corona, Grad Film 2023-24 Under immense pressure to marry so her undocumented mother can live a normal life in the U.S., very Catholic 30-year-old baseball data scientist Sarahí dives into statistics to outline what decisions she should take for her own ideal future performance.

Extrapolating the data science she uses professionally for a below-minor-league baseball team in Staten Island, her growing obsession with controlling her life outcomes through empirical methods strains her relationships with her loved ones—and even her faith—as she struggles to live in the present.

Sara Crow and David Rafailedes Grad Film 2022-23 Written by Sara Crow and David Rafailedes When her dad loses everything in the 2008 financial crisis, a teenaged, anime-obsessed hacktivist realizes money isn't fair, so she sets out to reinvent it with a new digital currency called Bitcoin. SATOSHI is a comedic imagined origin story of one of the most polarizing technologies of our time.

Mark Ingber, Grad Film 2020-21 When Marianne, a rebellious college student, finds herself trapped back at her family vineyard to care for her ailing father, she escalates a contentious relationship with her conservative mother into a war between generations when she hatches a plot to humiliate her family by winning the regional wine championship with a lab-made artificial wine.

Tim Delaney, Grad Film 2019-20 When the redefinition of planethood threatens to exclude Pluto, a motley coalition of astronomers and outsiders conspires to defend it by any means necessary, challenging what it means to be special in an indifferent universe.

Nicholas Ma, Grad Film, 2018-19 Written by Nicholas Ma & Joy Goodwin No one at her new school gets Callie, an awkward kid whose one friend, Mabel, is a potted plant—except Ms. Garrett, the charismatic science teacher who introduces her to the controversial world of “plant intelligence.

” Desperate to impress her teacher, Callie starts building a secret greenhouse laboratory in her backyard, but Callie’s obsession threatens her first real friendship with another kid. Rezwan Shahriar Sumit, Grad Film 2016-17 Written by Rezwan Shahriar Sumit Javed, a young techie, finds his life stuck in limbo between heaven and hell when he tries to bring his broken family together using virtual reality.

A drama set in the underbelly of Dhaka's fringe studios. Eric Cohen, Grad Dual MBA/MFA 2015-16 Based on a true story that occurred in 1994. A sixteen-year-old chemistry prodigy sets out to build a prototype nuclear reactor in his mother’s backyard for a Boy Scout merit badge, endangering his life and the community in the process.

Adapted from the book by Ken Silverstein. Shawn Snyder, Grad Film 2014-15 Written by Shawn Snyder & Jason Begue Shmuel Rosenblum, a 48 year old Hassidic Rabbi in Upstate New York, distraught by the untimely death of his wife, struggles to find solace in traditional mourning rituals, while secretly nurturing an unexpected obsession with the science of decomposition and a desperate need to understand how his wife's body will decay.

Frances Bodomo, Grad Film 2013-14 Written by Frances Bodomo On 16 July 1969, America prepares to launch Apollo 11. Thousands of miles away, the Zambia Space Academy hopes to beat America to the moon. Inspired by true events.

Ginny Mohler, UGFTV 2012-13 Written by Ginny Mohler & Brittany Shaw A mysterious illness propels working class teenage sisters into a radical coming of age. Marni Zelnick, Grad Film 2009-10 Druid Peak is a coming of age story about a troubled teenage boy who finds his place in the world tracking wolves in the wild lands of Wyoming. Musa Syeed, UGFTV 2008-09 In war-torn Kashmir, a lakeside city is plunged into a military curfew.

Stranded together on breathtaking Dal Lake, a working-class boatman and a beautiful young scientist form an unlikely bond. But as violence spills in from the city, their budding romance may not survive. Equal Opportunity and Non-Discrimination at NYU - New York University is committed to maintaining an environment that encourages and fosters respect for individual values and appropriate conduct among all persons.

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