This grant provides three years of continued support to the American Film Institute’s (AFI) efforts to encourage young screenwriters and filmmakers to write and produce compelling, engaging narrative films that explore scientific themes or have scientists, engineers, or mathematicians as major characters. AFI’s program includes three annual award programs: a $25,000 award given to the best student film project that brings science and technology to life; a $10,000 annual screenwriting award given to the best science-themed script; and a yearly tuition scholarship worth $35,000 given to an incoming filmmaker with a background in the hard sciences who wishes to incorporate scientific themes in his or her filmmaking. In addition, AFI holds a seminar series where established actors, writers, directors, and producers talk to students about science and Hollywood, and provides access to working scientists to serve as mentors on student scripts.

This grant provides two years of funding for the Sloan Student Grand Prize. This annual prize is awarded to the single best student screenplay produced by a student from one of the Foundation’s six film school partners (AFI, Carnegie Mellon, Columbia, NYU, UCLA, and USC) and supports the development of that script into a finished film. The prize stimulates interest and excitement among the participating film schools and film students by awarding a “best-of-the-best” prize and by fast-tracking the winning project for development so it becomes a major career opportunity. The award package is $50,000 per year, of which $30,000 goes directly to the student filmmaker. The remaining $20,000 funds an industry mentor to guide the project, a committed science advisor, and other marketing (meetings, readings, events) and distribution efforts to maximize the screenplay’s chances of production.

Launched in 2008 by the National Academy of Sciences, the Science & Entertainment Exchange pairs scientists with members of the entertainment industry, giving Hollywood producers, directors, writers, and other filmmaking professionals access to scientific expertise. Through hundreds of film and TV consultations, high-profile events, and “behind-the-scenes” access to scientific venues, the Exchange has successfully worked to enhance and improve the scientific content of many Hollywood productions, from science fiction to action to dramas.  The Exchange has conducted over 800 consultations to date on blockbuster films such as Thor and The Avengers and on TV series such as The Good Wife and The Big Bang Theory. The Exchange works to ensure accuracy when science is used in film, seeds new ideas within the film and television industry, and gives professional science advice.  Funds from this grant provide operating support for The Exchange’s core activities.  Additional funds support the enhancement of The Exchange’s web presence and a planned “signature” networking event to take place in late 2014.

Funds from this grant will allow Film Independent (FIND) to host the 2014 Sloan Film Summit, a major convening of all of the Foundation’s film grantees held every three years, from film schools to film festivals, and from film development to film distribution partners. Supported activities at the summit include screenings of short films produced by Sloan-supported student filmmakers, screenplay readings, scientist-filmmaker panels on a variety of topics related to the incorporation of high-quality science into narrative film, updates on the progress of Sloan-supported projects, and networking events with industry insiders.  In addition to events for participants in the Sloan Film program, the summit will also feature three public-facing events: a full day of screenings of completed Sloan feature films followed by Q&A with the filmmakers, the staged readings of select Sloan-winning screenplays, and a high-profile “conversation” that focuses on science and storytelling.

Funds from this grant support a continuing partnership with Film Independent in its efforts to develop high-quality, science-themed screenplays and support producing teams that can get these films completed.  Grant funds will support a series of incentive awards administered by Film Independent toward this purpose, including a yearly $30,000 award to a producer to develop a science-themed script in FIND’s Producing Lab; a Sloan Fast Track Fellowship to be awarded annually to a producer or producing team and which includes a $20,000 cash grant and participation in the Fast Track film financing market; and an annual $50,000 distribution grant awarded to one exceptional science-themed film a year to incentivize buyers to acquire it for distribution.  Additional grant funds defray the administrative costs of the program and support outreach and publicity efforts aimed at promoting winning projects.

This grant provides one year of continuing support to the Hamptons International Film Festival (HIFF) for a series of activities designed to develop and spotlight high-quality films and film scripts that explore science as a theme or that feature scientists, mathematicians, or engineers as major characters.  Supported activities include a feature film prize for the best science-themed film submitted, a high-profile reception celebrating the winning film and filmmaker, a panel discussion featuring filmmakers and working scientists, and a screenwriting workshop to develop two science-themed scripts that will result in a staged reading of those scripts with well-known actors during the festival.  HIFF will also continue its intensive three-week filmmaking workshop at Stony Brook and will also host a tastemaker event in New York City in the weeks following the festival to promote the Sloan-winning film among prominent industry and press.

This grant provides continuing support to Columbia University, one of the Foundation's six film school partners, for twenty-eight months of activities designed to encourage top film students to develop screenplays and produce short films about science and technology. Activities supported through this grant include the provision of faculty mentors and science advisors for students working on science-themed film projects, two annual awards for production of short films on science and technology, one annual award to develop promising feature film scripts with science content, an annual science information seminar for film students,  and networking events with select film industry producers, agents, and managers.

In 2007, Professor David Kaplan started filming events inside a 17-mile tunnel containing the largest scientific experiment ever conducted by humankind: the Large Hadron Collider. A milestone in scientific collaboration involving more than 10,000 scientists from 100 countries, the Large Hadron Collider is the largest, most powerful, high-energy particle accelerator ever constructed and its operation led to the much celebrated confirmation of the existence of the Higgs boson in 2012—and to a Nobel Prize for Peter Higgs. Kaplan has turned his footage into a documentary about the project, Particle Fever, an affecting portrait of scientists and a beautiful illustration of the value and validity of basic research. Funds from this grant provide support for outreach and promotion of Particle Fever, enabling the producers to build an online community using social media, host live events in the run-up to the official theatrical release, and promote the film in digital and print media.

This grant funds two years of continued support to the Sloan Science-in-Film initiative by the Sundance Institute, which runs the Sundance Film Festival, the premiere independent film festival in the U.S. Funds will support five annual components of the initiative: a commissioning grant for a high quality feature film script that involves science, engineering, or mathematics; a feature film fellowship for a talented filmmaker interested in science-themed narratives; a $20,000 best Science and Technology feature film prize; a moderated panel discussion by filmmakers and scientists, and an awards reception.