Final Draft, a Cast & Crew company known for its screenwriting software, has revealed the honorees for the 17th Annual Final Draft Awards. The awards, which recognize outstanding and elevated achievements in storytelling, will be held in a virtual ceremony on March 16, 2022. This year’s Final Draft Awards will break tradition and feature 15-minute conversations with each honoree and another esteemed writer about the process and challenges involved with the art of writing.
Academy Award® winning filmmaker Guillermo del Toro (“Nightmare Alley”) will be presented with the Final Draft Hall of Fame Award, honoring a writer whose body of work has had a profound influence on the industry. The inaugural Final Draft Trailblazer Award will go to Academy Award® winning filmmaker Jane Campion (“The Power of the Dog”), and recognizes a writer whose career exudes excellence and who consistently tells compelling and bold stories. Two Storyteller Awards will be presented recognizing writers who consistently maintain a level of excellence and surpass expectations. Academy Award® nominee Nicole Holofcener will receive the Storyteller Award (Film) for “The Last Duel” and two-time Emmy® winner Danny Strong will receive the Storyteller Award (TV) for the critically acclaimed limited series “Dopesick,” currently streaming on Hulu. Additionally, Final Draft will present two New Voice Awards recognizing rising and vital talents in the industry. The New Voice Award (TV) will go to Ashley Lyle & Bart Nickerson, the husband-and-wife writer/producer team whose acclaimed new series “Yellowjackets” just recently wrapped its first season on Showtime. The New Voice Award (Film) will be presented to Jeymes Samuel, whose celebrated feature debut, “The Harder They Fall,” is currently streaming on Netflix.
“Storytellers have been revered throughout history for their ability to connect us,” stated Final Draft president Shelly Mellott. “This year’s honorees are using their considerable talents to tell brave, audacious stories in imaginative ways that entertain, provoke and enlighten audiences. We could not be more proud to honor them and their outstanding work and the impact their stories have on our culture.”
The winners of the 2020 Big Break Screenwriting Contest, an annual screenwriting competition that launches careers and awards over $100,000 in cash and prizes will also be celebrated at the event.
Previous Final Draft Award winners include Quentin Tarantino, Nancy Meyers, Aaron Sorkin, Lawrence Kasdan, Paul Schrader, Scott Alexander & Larry Karaszewski, Callie Khouri, Steven Zaillian, Robert Towne, Oliver Stone, and Sydney Pollack. The Storyteller Award was introduced in 2021 and was presented to Steve McQueen and Sofia Coppola. The New Voice Award was introduced in 2017 and past recipients include Ramy Yousef, Steven Canals, Lulu Wang, Liz Hannah, Issa Rae, Boots Riley, Radha Blank and Tanya Saracho.
William Dafoe, Jonathan Bailey and Peter Dinklage join the voice cast for Starburn Industries’ “Lincoln in the Bardo”
Actors Willem Dafoe, Jonathan Bailey and Peter Dinklage have joined the voice cast of Starburns Industries’ “Lincoln in the Bardo,” based on acclaimed author George Saunders’ New York Times bestseller and 2017 Booker Prize-winner. Saunders adapted the screenplay, with Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Duke Johnson directing. It was announced earlier that Tom Hanks stars as the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, in the live action portion of the film. CAA Media Finance and WME Independent are handling sales at the upcoming TIFF: The Market.
The film employs a unique blend of stop-motion animation and live action to explore one of the most intimate moments of Lincoln’s life, centering on his relationship with his recently deceased eleven-year-old son. Blending history and imagination, the story unfolds through an unforgettable ensemble of characters – living and dead, historical and invented – to explore themes of love, empathy, and the human capacity for connection in the face of unimaginable grief.
Reverend Everly Thomas – the ghost of a minister who died believing he would go to heaven, but, to his dismay, found out otherwise – is voiced by Dafoe. Bailey is voicing Roger Bevins, the ghost of a young gay man who took his own life over a failed love affair and instantly regretted it. Dinklage is voicing Hans Vollman, a ghost obsessed with his dream of being reunited with his much-younger wife.
Four-time Academy Award nominee Dafoe’s credits include animated films “Finding Nemo,” “Fantastic Mr. Fox” and “The Boy and the Heron,” as well as “At Eternity’s Gate,” “The Florida Project,” “Shadow of the Vampire” and seminal Vietnam movie... Read More
