Lloyd Harvey and Spencer Harvey.
Sydney-based siblings Spencer and Lloyd Harvey have been named one of the five winners of the 2016 Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting for their script, Photo Booth.
Speaking to IF about the win, the pair said they were thrilled to be amongst this year's group of talented writers.
"It is such an honour to join the ranks of the Nicholl fellows and to have had that news delivered this morning by the esteemed Nicholl committee, whose combined portfolio of work is truly humbling. It's been a good day!" said Lloyd.
The pair will receive $35,000USD, the first installment of which will be presented November 3 at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills. The event will also involve a live read of selected scenes from the winning scripts.
The Academy established the Nicholl Fellowships competition to identify and encourage talented new screenwriters from around the world. This year’s five winners were selected from 6,915 entries.
The Harveys told IF earlier this month that they had worked on the script for Photo Booth for around three years.
Set in Sydney, it follows a successful performance artist who whose husband has a one night stand with a waitress and gets her pregnant. After having already tried and failed to adopt through the system, the wife decides to adopt the as-yet unborn baby.
“On a broader note, it is about choices and how near to impossible it is to pinpoint the moment, the choice, that defined who we are and how we got here. It is also about how women can be judged and often limited in choices when it comes to family versus career,” the Harveys said.
The filmmaking duo have previously made shorts such as The Gift and Sorry Baby.
The full list of Fellowship winners:
Michele Atkins, Talking About the Sky
Spencer Harvey and Lloyd Harvey, Photo Booth
Geeta Malik, Dinner with Friends
Elizabeth Oyebode, Tween the Ropes
Justin Piasecki, Death of an Ortolan
The Academy awards the fellowships with the understanding that the recipients will each complete a feature-length screenplay during their fellowship year, but acquires no rights to the work of the fellows and does not involve itself commercially with their completed scripts.