This is one of a trio of three-year renewal grants from the nation's leading film schools to continue awarding screenwriting and production awards for science and technology films and to hold an annual science and technology seminar. Many producers are now combing through all the Sloan student winners for new scripts. Our 2008 Sloan Summit, which showcased the work of student winners, attracted executives from the major studios and independent film companies. University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), which had some earlier issues due to personnel changes, has made great strides during the past three years. In the last cycle, UCLA turned in the best performance of any Sloan film school, including two outstanding scripts (The Magic Pill; The Ten Commandments of Leo Szilard). Several Sloan films UCLA submitted to festivals across the country have won awards and one production (Death Strip) took home a Student Emmy. UCLA is now next in line should we support another first feature production grant. While UCLA has increased its film production grants to offset rising production costs and added a modest stipend for more science advisors, it has compensated for these increases with other cuts so there is no net budget increase from 2006.

This is one of a trio of three-year renewal grants from the nation's leading film schools to continue awarding screenwriting and production awards for science and technology films and to hold an annual science and technology seminar. Many producers are now combing through all the Sloan student winners for new scripts. Our 2008 Sloan Summit, which showcased the work of student winners, attracted executives from the major studios and independent film companies. University of Southern California (USC) is the oldest film school in the country and consistently competes with New York University for the ranking of number one film school in the nation. It boasts the biggest program among our six schools and is also the only one that gives out a Sloan animation prize. USC has very strong ties with the industry and active alumni involved with the school include George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Robert Zemeckis. USC graduates have done well in securing industry jobs and enjoy the benefits of a very strong network. USC has been very sensitive to the economic situation and this request is $5,000 lower than the previous request in 2006.

This is one of a trio of three-year renewal grants from the nation's leading film schools to continue awarding screenwriting and production awards for science and technology films and to hold an annual science and technology seminar. Many producers are now combing through all the Sloan student winners for new scripts. Our 2008 Sloan Summit, which showcased the work of student winners, attracted executives from the major studios and independent film companies. New York University Tisch School of the Arts, arguably our strongest overall performer, has continued to develop and refine its program. This year they propose several changes, including the addition of a "script doctor"-Professor Ezra Sacks, an established screenwriter-to advise and assist students in the development and writing of their screenplays. These changes and improvements have all been offset by cuts in other parts of the budget so the only net increase from 2006 is a small one for film production-from $20,000 to $25,000 a film or an increase of $10,000 a year for three years-because production costs have increased significantly. From the start, NYU Tisch has demonstrated a high degree of commitment and belief in this program. Tisch, usually tied with University of Southern California for number one in the national film school rankings, has devoted more faculty, administration and resources and given out more awards than any other Sloan film school. Trustee Campbell excused herself from the meeting when this grant was discussed.

Film Independent is one of the largest and most prominent film organizations dedicated to independent films in the United States. FI sponsors screenings, special events, film education and talent development for its 6,000 filmmaker members, who include established Oscar-winning actors and directors. Film Independent performed very well with the one previous two-year grant they received, yielding two outstanding projects: Basmati Blues, a romantic comedy with Bollywood elements about a female geneticist from the U.S. who goes to India to help farmers with genetically modified rice; and The Man Who Knew Infinity, a tale about the great Indian mathematician Ramanujan. FI requests a renewal for two years of continued support for the Producer's Lab grant, an intense seven-week program that focuses on ten scripts each year, and would also like to establish a $25,000 named fellowship for a second science-themed project. This fellowship would include a $10,000 production grant, underwriting for participation in Fast Track, an intensive film financing market that takes place at the Los Angeles Film Festival, and year-round support and resources from FI, including mentorship from science advisors. The thrust of both these programs, as with projects like Hedy Lamarr, is to try and push more of these science and technology film projects into production and distribution.