Renee Pillai is the first Malaysian ever to win a prestigious Oscar Govern-Grant, namely the 2019 Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting by The Academy Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
She is one of the five winners whose submission beat out over 7,300 scripts from all over the world!
Photo: medium.com
Renee won the annual screenwriting competition with her film script, Boy With Kite.
According to The Star, Renee had tried submitting other scripts for the Nicholl Fellowship but was unsuccessful, and previously only managed to beat 10% out of 700 scripts submitted.
Winning a Nicholl Fellowship is seen as an opportunity to screenwriting careers in Hollywood - and with Boy With Kite, she won!
Photo: medium.com
She received a total of USD$ 35,000 (RM143,000) in prize money from The Academy (the same people who gives out the Oscars), in Beverly Hills, California.
Boy With Kite is currently in its early stages of making it to the big screen.
Boy With Kite tells the story of a 50-year-old woman who has to take care of her 10-year-old nephew after her brother, whom she never met passed away. The story is set in Nebraska.
“I love this script - the bickering, the fussing, the bantering, the fighting, the little boy who’s not talking… I have to say, yes, she made me cry. And we’re happy to have her here.” said Tyger Willams, Film and TV Writer at the 2019 Academy Nicholl Fellowships Awards ceremony.
Photo: AP Entertainment
Renee will receive guidance from the academy members to complete a feature-length screenplay during her year-long fellowship.
She revealed during her interview with The Star, that she has been working as a freelance writer in Malaysia for many years - when she sent in her application for the Nicholls Fellowships, the self-taught writer had little very little confidence in herself.
Renee said “Fact is, I’ve never taken a writing class. I come from 14,000 miles away. I don’t even speak English half the time, and I want to write movies here in Hollywood. What kind of fool thinks that’s possible?”
Her win marks an exciting time for Malaysian filmmakers, and Renee will be doing her Fellowship here in Malaysia due to financial constraints.
Thank you Renee for inspiring the young Malaysians to never lose hope. Congratulations!
By: Aishah Akashah Ahadiat
