Sloan Foundation Awards

The Sloan Foundation Grant is designed to assist writers and filmmakers in the creation of entertaining films about science and technology.

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.  This innovative program awards prizes at six leading film schools:  American Film Institute; UCLA School of Theater, Film, and Television; Carnegie Mellon University School of Drama; Columbia University Film Department; NYU Tisch School of the Arts; and USC School of Cinematic Arts.

Eligibility:
Tisch students in the Undergraduate and Graduate divisions of the Kanbar Institute of Film and Television and in the Rita and Burton Goldberg Department of Dramatic Writing who are motivated to write and produce new films that challenge existing stereotypes about science and technology.

Type of grant offered/award amount:
The Screenwriting Awards: Up to Four $10,000 awards
The Production Grants: Up to Two $30,000 grants

Submissions for the Screenwriting Awards must be for feature-length films; submissions for the Production Grant must be for short films made within the Tisch curriculum.

Screenwriting Grant Applicants will also be eligible for the $50,000 Sloan Grand Jury Prize, which includes a year of industry mentorship commissioned by the Tribeca Film Institute, valuable industry contacts, and the chance to move their screenplay toward production.

Selection process:
All applicants are required to attend the NYU colloquium and to meet with a science advisor for consultation on their script.  To request a science advisor, please email Dara Feivelson at DLF1@nyu.edu.  Specify the area of science in your script and include a brief synopsis.  Requests for science advisor are due by December 7, 2012.

Once the script has been approved by the science advisor, applicants submit a digital copy of their script, a synopsis of their project, and the application.  Applicants for the Production Grant are also required to submit a budget.  

A rotating panel of Tisch faculty from the Goldberg Department of Dramatic Writing and the Kanbar Institute of Film and Television, as well as scientists from the NYU Faculty of Arts and Science and the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences selects the recipients of the grant.

2012-13 Colloquium:

The 2012 Colloquium for the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Grant
will be held on Thursday, November 8th at 7pm
at the Cantor Film Center

Please join us for a screening of ROBOT & FRANK and a Q&A discussion with NYU alum and screenwriter, Chris Ford and Kanbar Film Professor Ezra Sacks.

Please check back for dates of additional Information Sessions about Sloan grant opportunities.

Deadlines:
Requests for a science advisor are due by December 7, 2012.
Scripts and applications are due by April 19th, 2013.
Recipients will be notified in June/July, 2013.

Please note that the deadlines may change; applicants will be notified of any changes.
If, in the opinion of the Sloan Grant Committee, no candidate meets the standards set forth for the Sloan Grant in a given year, no funds will be awarded.

For more information contact:

Dara Feivelson, DLF1@nyu.edu