Haley Hope Bartels (Pumping Black), Karin delaPeña Collison (Coming of Age), Byron Hamel (Shade of the Grapefruit Tree), R.J. Daniel Hanna (Shelter Animal) and Laura Kosann (The Ideal Woman) are the screenwriters and scripts chosen as the winners of the 2021 Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting competition, AMPAS announced today.
Each of the five fellows will receive a $35,000 prize, along with mentorship from an Academy member throughout their fellowship year, which will see them complete a feature-length screenplay. (The Academy will acquire no rights to the works of its fellows and does not involve itself commercially in any way with their completed scripts.)
From November 8-12, one fellow per day will be featured on the Academy’s YouTube channel, in conversations with filmmakers Destin Daniel Cretton, Phil Lord, Our Lady J, Rawson Marshall Thurber and Olivia Wilde, and other content.
Bartels, Collison, Hamel, Hanna and Kosann’s scripts were chosen from...
Each of the five fellows will receive a $35,000 prize, along with mentorship from an Academy member throughout their fellowship year, which will see them complete a feature-length screenplay. (The Academy will acquire no rights to the works of its fellows and does not involve itself commercially in any way with their completed scripts.)
From November 8-12, one fellow per day will be featured on the Academy’s YouTube channel, in conversations with filmmakers Destin Daniel Cretton, Phil Lord, Our Lady J, Rawson Marshall Thurber and Olivia Wilde, and other content.
Bartels, Collison, Hamel, Hanna and Kosann’s scripts were chosen from...
- 11/8/2021
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Harris Shaw (Michael Caine) is a writer in need of money. Lucy Stanbridge (Aubrey Plaza) is an editor/publisher in need of money. And it just so happens that a contract between him and her company is already on the books to provide some for both. There are a couple problems, though. Shaw hates people, press, and perhaps life itself, while Lucy is constantly being judged against her father (a pillar of the literary world who left her the shingle) and thus constantly disrespected. Does the benefit of teaming up outweigh the obvious issues? In the short-term, yes. If she agrees to not edit a single word he’s written, he’ll participate in her book tour. Unfortunately for Lucy’s sanity and bottom line, Harris never said he’d play nice.
Welcome to Best Sellers, Lina Roessler’s feature directorial debut (written by Anthony Grieco). We have the highly...
Welcome to Best Sellers, Lina Roessler’s feature directorial debut (written by Anthony Grieco). We have the highly...
- 9/13/2021
- by Jared Mobarak
- The Film Stage
For any older men feeling left behind by a world of youth, social media and anti-patriarchal sentiment, “Best Sellers” offers a comforting message: You may yet be a younger person’s savior, provided they come to save you first.
Harris Shaw, the ornery, outdated writer at the center of Lina Roessler’s gentle literary comedy, has been creatively blocked for 50 years since producing one vastly acclaimed novel. Stymied by his own one-time success, he needs to be dragged into an era that has largely left him behind to be freed as an artist. Michael Caine, on the other hand, has never needed any such encouragement. Still working inexhaustibly at the age of 88, he brings to “Best Sellers” a signature screen persona of shaggy, get-the-job-done defiance. Still, it’s the more withdrawn melancholy he locates in the character — or vice versa — that makes this one of his richer recent vehicles.
True to its message,...
Harris Shaw, the ornery, outdated writer at the center of Lina Roessler’s gentle literary comedy, has been creatively blocked for 50 years since producing one vastly acclaimed novel. Stymied by his own one-time success, he needs to be dragged into an era that has largely left him behind to be freed as an artist. Michael Caine, on the other hand, has never needed any such encouragement. Still working inexhaustibly at the age of 88, he brings to “Best Sellers” a signature screen persona of shaggy, get-the-job-done defiance. Still, it’s the more withdrawn melancholy he locates in the character — or vice versa — that makes this one of his richer recent vehicles.
True to its message,...
- 8/26/2021
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
Screen Media has acquired “Best Sellers,” a comedy with Michael Caine and Aubrey Plaza about a pair of misfits that has a literary twist. The deal is for all U.S. rights, and the company plans to release the film theatrically and on-demand in September.
Directed by Lina Roessler (“Little Whispers: The Vow”), “Best Sellers” centers on an ambitious young editor (Plaza) who decides to try to save the flailing publishing house her father left her by going on a book tour with the bitter, hard-drinking author (Caine) who helped establish the company several decades and an ocean of booze ago.
Cary Elwes, Scott Speedman, Ellen Wong and Veronica Ferres co-star in the film. The screenplay, written by Anthony Grieco, won a 2015 Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting award.
“Not since ‘As Good as it Gets’ have we seen such a mismatched pair take to the road,” said Screen Media in a statement.
Directed by Lina Roessler (“Little Whispers: The Vow”), “Best Sellers” centers on an ambitious young editor (Plaza) who decides to try to save the flailing publishing house her father left her by going on a book tour with the bitter, hard-drinking author (Caine) who helped establish the company several decades and an ocean of booze ago.
Cary Elwes, Scott Speedman, Ellen Wong and Veronica Ferres co-star in the film. The screenplay, written by Anthony Grieco, won a 2015 Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting award.
“Not since ‘As Good as it Gets’ have we seen such a mismatched pair take to the road,” said Screen Media in a statement.
- 7/12/2021
- by Brent Lang
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Indie stalwart Cassian Elwes is making a move into management via his Elevated banner, kicking off with signing Best Sellers director Lina Roessler, whose debut feature starring Michael Caine and Aubrey Plaza screened in the Berlin Film Festival’s Special Gala section this week. It’s the first time the film producer and former co-head of William Morris Independent has moved into the management space.
Coming off the back of producing Best Sellers with his daughter Arielle – also a first working partnership between the two – the father-daughter duo are currently in the early stages of development with Roessler’s next project, said to be an “ambitious” and “wildly different” one from her feature debut.
Elwes, who has produced eight films with female directors in the last 20 months, said that while the initial round of management signings are female helmers, the plan is to include male talent as well. He...
Coming off the back of producing Best Sellers with his daughter Arielle – also a first working partnership between the two – the father-daughter duo are currently in the early stages of development with Roessler’s next project, said to be an “ambitious” and “wildly different” one from her feature debut.
Elwes, who has produced eight films with female directors in the last 20 months, said that while the initial round of management signings are female helmers, the plan is to include male talent as well. He...
- 3/5/2021
- by Diana Lodderhose
- Deadline Film + TV
“Best Sellers,” a Berlinale Special Gala screener and debut feature from Lina Roessler, has scored deals from major territories, which were announced by film’s sales outfit Foresight Unlimited at the European Film Market.
Universal Pictures Content Group has acquired major markets including the U.K., Germany, France and Latin America, among others. Other territories sold include Australia (Rialto), Cis (Top Film), Greece (Tanweer), Iceland (Myndform), Israel (Red Cape), the Middle East (Salim Ramia), Portugal (Lusomundo) and Turkey (Mars Cgv).
Films stars Michael Caine, Aubrey Plaza, Scott Speedman, Ellen Wong and Cary Elwes. Anthony Grieco wrote the screenplay, which won a 2015 Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting award. “Best Sellers” revolves around an ambitious young editor (Plaza) who goes on a wild book tour with a curmudgeonly has-been author (Caine), who just wants to live out his days in peace with a bottle of scotch and his cat.
Foresight Unlimited, a Chicken...
Universal Pictures Content Group has acquired major markets including the U.K., Germany, France and Latin America, among others. Other territories sold include Australia (Rialto), Cis (Top Film), Greece (Tanweer), Iceland (Myndform), Israel (Red Cape), the Middle East (Salim Ramia), Portugal (Lusomundo) and Turkey (Mars Cgv).
Films stars Michael Caine, Aubrey Plaza, Scott Speedman, Ellen Wong and Cary Elwes. Anthony Grieco wrote the screenplay, which won a 2015 Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting award. “Best Sellers” revolves around an ambitious young editor (Plaza) who goes on a wild book tour with a curmudgeonly has-been author (Caine), who just wants to live out his days in peace with a bottle of scotch and his cat.
Foresight Unlimited, a Chicken...
- 3/3/2021
- by Carole Horst
- Variety Film + TV
An actress turned director hit the lottery when the likes of Michael Caine, Aubrey Plaza and Cary Elwes lined up for her directorial debut. Canuck Lina Roessler‘s Best Sellers is based on Anthony Grieco’s original screenplay, which won the prestigious Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting award. Production on the Canadian-uk funded dramedy began in mid 2019 in Montreal (with some Los Angeles in the backdrop as well) and pictured locked during the Covid and would be an acquisitions friendly title for adult auds.
Gist: The story follows a has-been author (Michael Caine), who is on a wild book tour with a young editor (Aubrey Plaza), trying to save her father’s boutique publishing house.…...
Gist: The story follows a has-been author (Michael Caine), who is on a wild book tour with a young editor (Aubrey Plaza), trying to save her father’s boutique publishing house.…...
- 11/16/2020
- by Eric Lavallée
- IONCINEMA.com
Exclusive: Animal Kingdom alum Scott Speedman has been tapped for a major recurring role on the upcoming third season of the Netflix series You, headlined by Penn Badgley and Victoria Pedretti.
Speedman will play Matthew, a successful CEO, husband, and uncommunicative father. He’s reserved, at times mysterious, and has a tendency to be withdrawn, all of which masks a deep well of emotion underneath.
The actor is the latest major addition to You for next season, joining recently cast new series regulars Travis Van Winkle and Shalita Grant.
Developed by Sera Gamble and Greg Berlanti, You is based on Caroline Kepnes’ bestselling books You and Hidden Bodies. In the second season, Joe Goldberg (Badgley) moves from New York to Los Angeles to escape his past, and starts over with a new identity. Fresh out of an intense relationship that ended in murder, the last thing he expects is to...
Speedman will play Matthew, a successful CEO, husband, and uncommunicative father. He’s reserved, at times mysterious, and has a tendency to be withdrawn, all of which masks a deep well of emotion underneath.
The actor is the latest major addition to You for next season, joining recently cast new series regulars Travis Van Winkle and Shalita Grant.
Developed by Sera Gamble and Greg Berlanti, You is based on Caroline Kepnes’ bestselling books You and Hidden Bodies. In the second season, Joe Goldberg (Badgley) moves from New York to Los Angeles to escape his past, and starts over with a new identity. Fresh out of an intense relationship that ended in murder, the last thing he expects is to...
- 10/21/2020
- by Nellie Andreeva
- Deadline Film + TV
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