UCLA screenwriting student wins first prize at Samuel Goldwyn awards
Screenwriting graduate student Han-Yee Ling (middle left) earned first prize at the 2014 Samuel Goldwyn Writing Awards for her drama “Spaghetti Bridges.”
(Max Himmelrich/Daily Bruin)
By Eileen Li
Nov. 3, 2014 7:54 p.m.
The 2014 Samuel Goldwyn Writing Awards were announced Monday at the UCLA Faculty Center. The awards, now in their 59th year, recognize screenplays, teleplays and stage plays and are open to submissions from all University of California students. For the sixth time in the past 15 years, all five finalists were students or alumni from the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television.
Winners were selected by Allison Anders, director, writer, producer and UCLA alumna; Ben Feingold, producer and former president of worldwide home entertainment, digital distribution and product acquisitions at Sony Pictures; and Jeremy Kay, U.S. editor of Screen International.
“Each writer had a strong voice and a clear vision of the stories they wanted to tell,” Feingold said.
Screenwriting graduate student Han-Yee Ling earned first prize for her drama “Spaghetti Bridges,” a story of an immigrant Chinese father who works with his American-born son on a high school physics project in hopes of repairing their relationship. Ling won $15,000 for her screenplay.
Ling said screenwriting can be a lonely pursuit, but the community around her provides a springboard for ideas.
“The most valuable thing I learned from my undergraduate experience here was that I could finish a script,” Ling said.
The second prize was a tie between screenwriting graduate student Gaia Violo and alumnus Kevin Human. Viola’s screenplay “Absentia” follows an FBI agent who reappears after nine years with no memory only to have his DNA found at a crime scene. “Hell Is Other Cowboys” is a TV pilot written by Human in the fantasy Western genre.
The jointly created TV pilot “Doubleblind,” by alumni Teresa Sullivan and A.J. Marchisello, received third prize. The sci-fi thriller pilot was the only awarded screenplay that has already been produced.
Alumnus Dan Patrick received honorable mention for his film script “Village of Sweet Dreams.” The horror screenplay tells the story of U.S. soldiers during the Vietnam War who, while infiltrating a tunnel system, discover a supernatural presence.
Teri Schwartz, dean of the School of Theater, Film and Television, said the Samuel Goldwyn Writing Awards are one of the most respected awards in the UC system.
“I like to think of us as the storytelling school,” Schwartz said.
