THE CHESTERFIELD WRITER’S FILM PROJECT

The Writer´s Film Project, based at Paramount Pictures, is one of the most prestigious screenwriting fellowships in the United States.  The program was originated with the support of Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment in 1990.

 In an interview in The Dramatist, Pulitzer Prize winner David Auburn (“Proof,” “The Lake House”) credited the WFP with encouraging him to pursue a career in writing: “Getting the fellowship caught me by surprise. I hadn’t expected to pursue a writing career, but I ended up learning to write movies.”

For a look at the 2004 workshop, including current photographs and comments from the WFP Fellows, please click here.  (Updated March 21, 2004)

ALUMNI NEWS

• Mark Poirier’s Chesterfield screenplay “Smart People” has completed principal photography. The film, which stars Dennis Quaid, Sarah Jessica Parker and Thomas Haden Church, is produced by Michael London (“Sideways”) and Michael Costigan (“Brokeback Mountain”), with Chesterfield’s Ed Rugoff serving as Executive Producer.
   
• Leonardo DiCaprio and Warner Bros. purchased Helen Crawley’s Chesterfield screenplay “Hearts & Minds” in a pre-emptive bid. DiCaprio is set to star in the film, with Ed Rugoff attached as Executive Producer.
   
• Variety named Helen Crawley to its 2006 annual Screenwriters to Watch list.  Helen is currently writing a screenplay for Universal’s Focus Features and  is represented by UTA and manager Judi Farkas.
   
• Teena Booth wrote the original Lifetime movie “A Little Thing Called Murder,” which received rave reviews and was one of the top-rated cable movies of 2006.  She is currently completing an original thriller for CBS and is represented by the Paradigm Agency and BlueTrain Entertainment.
   
• Actors Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock star in Chesterfield writer David Auburn’s “The Lake House.”  David’s adaptation of his Pulitzer-prize winning play “Proof” starred Gwyneth Paltrow, Anthony Hopkins and Jake Gyllenhaal and was released by Miramax Films.
   
• Will Strouse is developing an original series for FX and has signed with UTA.
   
• Matthew Carnahan is directing and producing his original series “Dirt” for FX, starring Courteney Cox.
   
• Academy Award-winning screenwriter (and current Chesterfield mentor) Steve Zaillian has joined our Industry Board.
   
• Last year’s fellows have signed for representation with the William Morris Agency, UTA, Brillstein-Grey Entertainment, BlueTrain Entertainment, Electric Entertainment and manager Colin O’Reily..
   
• Lou Berney has sold his thriller screenplay “Tangled Up In Blue” to Universal’s Focus Features.  Collision Entertainment will produce the film for the studio.  Lou completed his fellowship in January.
   
• David Auburn won both the 2001 Pulitzer and the Tony Award for his play “Proof,” which recently became Broadway's longest-running non-musical in 20 years, with 915 performances. He is also adapting Paul Watkins’ thriller “The Forger” for producer Laura Ziskin and Miramax Films.
   
• Lydia Millet’s latest novel, “Oh Pure and Radiant Heart,” was described by Vanity Fair as “possessing the nervy irreverence of Kurt Vonnegut and Joseph Heller... can only be desribed as, well, genius” and by Entertainment Weekly as “Brilliant and fearless... a shattering and beautiful work.”  
   
• Mark Poirier has optioned his novel “Goats” to Francis Ford Coppola’s American Zoetrope and is attached to write the screenplay.
   
• 2002 Finalist Robert Nelson’s Chesterfield submission “Nebraska” will be directed by Alexander Payne (“About Schmidt”). Robert credits Chesterfield with helping launch his career: “I’d entered my script in five or six competitions and contests, but no one had responded positively until I got a letter from Chesterfield that I’d made the final round. After an encouraging phone call from (WFP Executive Director) Ed Rugoff, I submitted the script to a producer, and within weeks I closed my first feature deal.”  Robert is currently writing an original screenplay for Warner Bros.
   
• Jonathan Hludzinski, who also just completed his fellowship, has been hired to write an original comedy for Kathleen Haase (“Detroit Rock City”) and Cherry Road Films.
   
• Kerry Kennedy was nominated for a Writers Guild of America Award for “Baby,” which premiered on TNT and has already won the 2000 Christopher Award.  The film was produced by Glenn Close and starred Farrah Fawcett and Keith Carradine.  Kerry is currently adapting “Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind” for Shirley MacLaine and Dolly Parton to star in.  Her script "Hope", directed by Goldie Hawn, premiered on TNT.
   
• Matthew Carnahan is Consulting Producer on Fox’s “Fastlane”. He recently directed the documentary “Rudyland,” narrated by Susan Sarandon.  Matthew wrote and produced the CBS TV series “The Fugitive.”  
   
• Karen Janszen´s adaptation of the Nicholas Spark novel “A Walk to Remember” grossed over $12 million in its opening weekend.  The Warner Bros. film, produced by WFP Industry Board member Denise DiNovi, stars Shane West and Mandy Moore.  Karen co-wrote an episode with Tom Hanks of HBO's $68 million series “From the Earth to the Moon,” directed by Sally Field and starring Rita Wilson, JoBeth Williams and Sally Field.  She was recently named as one of Variety´s “Ten Screenwriters to Watch.”
   
• Wendy Hammond´s “Julie Johnson” premiered at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival and stars Courtney Love and Lili Taylor. 
   
• Pat O'Connor's “Ricochet River” wrapped principal photography, and stars Kate Hudson (``Almost Famous").
   
• Chuck Evered recently completed “Carrier,” for Dreamworks SKG, to be produced by Bruce Cohen, the producer of “American Beauty” and “The Flintstones”.
   
• Jeff Hoffman has been awarded the prestigious Wallace Stegner Fellowship in poetry at Stanford University. His play “Fish” was recently published in “Under 30: Plays for a New Generation.”
   
• Akhil Sharma´s novel “An Obedient Father” won the Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award, America's best-known prize for a distinguished first book of fiction.
   
• Penny Croft recently completed a television pilot for Lifetime.
   
• Jim Henson Pictures recently optioned Vonda N. McIntyre's novel "The Moon and the Sun", an adaptation of  the original screenplay she developed at Chesterfield.  The book won the Nebula award for best Science Fiction Novel in 1998. 
   
• Chesterfield writers´ Sundance premieres include: “Julie Johnson” (`01), “Digging to China” ('98), directed by Timothy Hutton and starring Kevin Bacon and Mary Stuart Masterson, and "Black Circle Boys" ('97).
   
•  
• “Breakdown,” rewritten by Chesterfield writer Josh Bazell, directed by Jonathan Mostow and starring Kurt Russell, hit #1 at the Box Office in its opening week in 1997.
   
• Carol Kaplan co-wrote “Mother Teresa,” starring Geraldine Chaplin, which premiered on The Family Channel.