Writers Guild Initiative Names Screenwriting Fellowship Winner

The Writers Guild Initiative has chosen Megan Rico of the University of Miami to receive its 2015 Michael Collyer Memorial Fellowship in Screenwriting. The fellowship, which is funded by the Charles and Lucille King Family Foundation, is awarded to a student who plans to pursue a career in screenwriting upon completion of undergraduate study. Rico will receive a $10,000 stipend to write an original screenplay, which she will do under the mentorship of David Auburn (Proof, The Lake House). She will be presented with her fellowship at the 67th annual Writers Guild Awards on Saturday, February 14 in New York City at the Edison Ballroom.

Rico’s fellowship project, NED, focuses on Sam and her friend Alex who think it is going to be another boring summer, cleaning jerky neighbors’ swimming pools, until they find a severed arm floating in one of the pools. Suddenly, they are caught in a government conspiracy involving an escaped extraterrestrial, casual grave-robbing, and a crazy old dad with a podcast.

The Writers Guild Initiative, the new name of the Writers Guild of America, East Foundation, seeks to engage some of the nation’s most prominent writers in working with people from all walks of life to perpetuate the art and craft of storytelling, through education and practical experience on local and national levels.