2014 ACADEMY NICHOLL SCREENWRITING COMPETITION NOW UNDERWAY

BEVERLY HILLS, CA – The 2014 Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting competition is now underway.  In November, as many as five $35,000 fellowships will be awarded.

Since 1986, 133 fellowships have been awarded, including one to Destin Daniel Cretton, who wrote and directed “Short Term 12” from his 2010 Nicholl Fellowship-winning script.  Other fellows include Creighton Rothenberger, who co-wrote “Olympus Has Fallen,” which opened in theaters last March; Rebecca Sonnenshine, a writer and co-producer on “The Vampire Diaries”; Andrew Marlowe, the creator of and an executive producer on “Castle”’; and Terri Edda Miller, a writer and consulting producer on “Castle.”  Fellow Raymond De Felitta directed “Rob the Mob,” which is slated to open theatrically on March 21, 2014.

The Academy Nicholl Fellowships competition is open to any individual who has not earned a total of more than $25,000 from the sale or option of screenplays or teleplays, or received fellowships or prizes of more than $25,000 that include a "first look" clause, an option or any other quid pro quo involving the writer's work.  To enter, writers must submit a completed application online, upload one PDF copy of their original screenplay in English and pay the entry fee before the regular deadline at 5:00 p.m. PT on April 10, 2014.

Entry fee schedule and deadlines are as follows:
      Early deadline:  5:00 p.m. PT, February 28; entry fee US$35
      Deadline:  5:00 p.m. PT, April 10; entry fee US$50
      Late deadline:  5:00 p.m. PT, May 1; entry fee US$65

Online applications, rules and other details are available at www.oscars.org/nicholl.

Fellowships are awarded with the understanding that the recipients will each complete a new feature-length screenplay during the fellowship year.  The Academy acquires no rights to the works of Nicholl fellows and does not involve itself commercially in any way with their completed scripts.

Last year's competition drew a record 7,251 entries.

SOURCE Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

ROB THE MOB

Distributed by Millenium Entertainment.

Limited Release in March!

Michael Pitt ("Boardwalk Empire," Seven Psychopaths), Tony Award® winner Nina Arianda (Midnight in Paris, Broadway's "Venus in Fur"), Academy Award® nominee Andy Garcia (The Godfather: Part III, Ocean's Twelve) and Emmy® winner Ray Romano ("Everybody Loves Raymond," "Parenthood") star in Rob the Mob, a thrilling and poignant crime-thriller about two lovers whose audacious heists of Mafia social clubs result in a discovery that could forever change the face of organized crime in America. Directed by Oscar® nominee Raymond de Felitta (City Island, Bronx Cheers), the film is based on the true story of Thomas and Rosemarie Uva.

New York City, 1991. Small-time crooks TOMMY (Pitt) and ROSIE (Arianda) have two things in common: a crazy-passionate love for one another and-after they're caught robbing a florist on Valentine's Day-prison records. Trying to go straight, Rosie lands a job at a debt-collection agency and persuades Tommy to join her. But soon Tommy is skipping his shifts to do something much more interesting-attend the landmark trial of Gambino-family boss John Gotti where Mafia hit man Sammy "The Bull" Gravano provides graphic testimony that could finally bring him down.

Tommy's fascination with the mob is deeply personal; when he was a boy, he saw his father suffer a brutal beating beat at the hands of local gangsters. So when he hears Sammy name a Mafia-owned social club where no guns are permitted, he has an idea: Why not rob the joint? And so begins a series of Bonnie-and-Clyde-style stickups of mob hangouts around the city, with Tommy wielding an Uzi and Rosie driving the beat-up getaway car. The brazen daylight raids net enough cash for the lovers to move in together, taking their fiery romance to the next level. They also draw the attention of the FBI and veteran mob reporter CARDOZO (Romano), who splashes their unlikely story across the front page of the paper. But while the attacks enrage the mob, Bonanno crime family head BIG AL (Garcia) orders his men only to scare the couple.

After all, he says, eagles don't kill flies.

It's a decision Big Al will come to regret. During one of their heists, Tommy and Rosie stumble upon a Mafia secret so closely guarded that rank-and-file mobsters don't even know it exists. To the Feds, it's the smoking gun they've been looking for-a key to finally dismantling New York's already-faltering crime syndicate. To Big Al, it's the high cost of his earlier leniency-a mistake he quickly moves to correct. For Tommy and Rosie, caught between the law and a mob contract, the future all depends on who gets to them first.

Distributor: Millennium Entertainment
Cast: Michael Pitt, Nina Arianda, Andy Garcia, Michael Rispoli, Samira Wiley and Ray Romano
Director: Raymond De Felitta
TRT: 104 Minutes
Release Date: March 21st, 2014