Local scribe Patty Jones can add US$35,000 to the millions she pulls in annually as a Georgia Straight film critic. Her screenplay, Joe Banks, is one of five that were selected from 7,251 entries for this year’s prestigious Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting competition. Along with the cash award—part of which will be presented at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills on November 7—Jones is retained by the academy for a year to write an original work.

Jones told the Straight that she started receiving inquiries about Joe Banks “literally three minutes” after the top 11 finalists were announced in late September and was contacted by the Creative Artists Agency "before our contact info was publicly available”. A quick scan of the Academy Nicholl Fellowships committee reveals how deeply the industry connections run. It’s chaired by producer Gale Anne Hurd and includes Hollywood legend Eva Marie Saint, star of North by Northwest, among other classics.

“I was daunted by the fact that there were six screenwriters on the committee,” Jones said. “But, yes, I was completely excited about Eva Marie Saint. I just kept thinking about her clambering around on Mount Rushmore.”