Wellington-based film-maker Michelle Savill has been awarded the 2011 US Screenwriting Scholarship, securing her an internship with Killer Films, NYC. Michelle will spend three months in New York as an intern in the script development department of Killer Films.
Killer Films, led by producers Christina Vachon and Pam Koffler, has made a number of successful independent features including Kids, Happiness and Oscar nominated Far from Heaven.
Michelle's first short film, Betty Banned Sweets, was a self-funded student film produced on a budget of only two thousand dollars before receiving a post-production grant from the New Zealand Film Commission. It screened at numerous international festivals including Melbourne, Gijon and Rotterdam. It is currently screening in France at Clermont-Ferrand as part of the NZ focus. Michelle has recently completed her second short film Elaine Rides Again.
The internship selection panel of producer Philippa Campbell, filmmaker Leo Woodhead, filmmaker Roseanne Liang and Script to Screen Executive Director Esther Cahill-Chiaroni described writer/director Michelle Savill as having "a distinctive voice."
The panel was also very impressed by the general quality of the applicants, in particular the other shortlisted candidates, Catherine Bisley and Jamie Lawrence: "It was a challenging decision with so much excellent creative talent coming up through our industry."
Script to Screen thanks The Film Investment Corporation Foundation and The New Zealand Film Commission for their generous support, without whom the 2011 US Screenwriting Internship Scholarship would not have been possible.