Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting
The Palm Desert Low Residency MFA program at UC Riverside has been selected as a partner of the 2026-2027 Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting, a talent development program that supports screenwriters at the cusp of success.
Faculty members of the MFA program will evaluate movie scripts submitted by recent MFA alumni and current students beginning this July, before selecting two finalists for the fellowship pool. Fellows will be announced in Spring of 2027.
“The Nicholl is the premier screenwriting fellowship in the world,” program director Tod Goldberg said. “To be selected as a partner is a huge honor for the MFA. I believe it speaks to the long-term success of our alumni in the industry, but also our history of opening doors to opportunity. Since our launch, the goal of this program has been the same: To help our students become professional writers. This partnership with the Nicholl Fellowship gives our community yet another amazing opportunity to succeed. I’m excited for our screenwriters and delighted to be a partner.”
The MFA program is one of 58 organizations, or Nicholl partners, that include universities, film schools, and film festivals. Each partner will vet screenplays and make recommendations to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, whose members will read and evaluate them to determine 10 finalists. Academy members who serve on the Nicholl Committee will then select as many as five fellowship recipients from the group of finalists.
The yearlong fellowship is named for Don Nicholl, a British-born writer and producer who worked on “All in the Family” and helped create “Three’s Company” and “The Jeffersons,” and his wife, Gladys “Gee” Nicholl, a British-born actress, dancer, and writer.
Fellows engage in a series of events and career development programs, including an annual awards ceremony at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills, where professional actors read excerpts from the fellows’ screenplays; pitch workshops; media training; meet-and-greets with Oscar nominees, Oscar winners, and academy members; and continued career support through the Academy Gold Alumni Network.