Film student wins first place in national screenwriting awards

Monday was a good night for UCLA Theater, Film and Television's Rocco Pucillo. The screenwriting grad student walked away with a $15,000 prize when he was named the first-prize winner of the 58th Annual Samuel Goldwyn Writing Awards. His script, "Inspector Sun and the Curse of the Black Widow," was chosen from a pool of five finalists.

 

Samuel Goldwyn Jr., president of the Samuel Goldwyn Foundation, announced the winners during the Nov. 4 ceremony at UCLA’s Faculty Center.

 

Second place went to Jared Robbins (UC Riverside) for his script "Farang" and carried a prize of $7,500. Jeffrey Baker (UCLA, "Dr. Acker’s English Elixir"), Sean Harrigan (UC Irvine, "Dust Red"), and Turner Hay (UCLA, "Broken Grey") tied for third place ($4,000).

 

The judges for this year’s ceremony were Pete Hammond, Deadline Hollywood awards columnist and Movieline film critic; Jennifer O’Kieffe, writer and 2007 Samuel Goldwyn Award winner; and Tom Rothman, chairman, TriStar Productrions.

 

Previous winners of the Goldwyn Award include filmmakers Francis Ford Coppola, Allison Anders, screenwriters Pamela Gray, Colin Higgins, Eric Roth and novelist Jonathan Kellerman, among others.