Get to know the inaugural winners of the SFFILM Sloan Stories of Science Development Fund

2019 was a very busy year for the SFFILM Makers team, with a record number of grants and fellowships awarded to independent filmmakers from all over the world. SFFILM’s newest artist support program was developed in partnership with the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the non-profit dedicated to bridging the cultures of science and the humanities, and focuses on the adaptation of important scientific and technological discoveries to the big screen.

Four screenwriting teams that have been selected to receive funding through the new Sloan Stories of Science Development Fund, which is the latest addition to a suite of screenwriting programs that cultivate and champion narrative feature films exploring scientific or technological themes and characters.

The Sloan Stories of Science Development Fund supports the screen adaptation of specific scientific articles and discoveries, catalogued in the Sloan Stories of Science Sourcebook as inspiration for filmmakers. The Sourcebook library featured articles from outlets such as Wired magazine, the New York Times Magazine, the Verge, Discover magazine, The Atlantic, and the New Yorker, as well as a list of recent momentous scientific and technological discoveries, whose stories are well suited to be adapted into feature film screenplays.

These inaugural winners each receive a $10,000 cash grant and access to a two-day filmmaker retreat. designed to provide guidance and mentorship from scientists, science and tech journalists, and film industry professionals to help them shape their storytelling vision; and from producers and legal advisors to help navigate adapting true stories to the screen.

Let’s get to know the winning screenwriters and their projects:

Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea
Tasha Van Zandt, writer/director

A world-renowned marine biologist risked his reputation and welfare on an obsessive hunt for the sea’s most elusive creature. Now, retired and far from his life of adventure, he is told he will soon lose his eyesight due to a rare degenerative condition. In a race against time, he must decide if he is willing to risk it all again and embark on one last expedition to capture the giant squid.

The Futurist
Shawn Snyder, co-writer/director; Jason Begue, co-writer

The Futurist depicts the rise and maddening descent of a scientist once on the cutting edge but now on the outer fringes. When the scientific community abandons him, a neurologist takes matters into his own brain — using himself for cyborgian research. Recovering from experimental brain surgery, he embarks on a journey of the mind that reaches back into his personal and professional obsessions and forward into man’s distant future, all in search of connection and a lasting legacy.

Sort You Out
Isabel Shill, writer

It’s the Swinging Sixties in East London. A spinster opens a marriage bureau and enlists the help of the chip shop lady to design the world’s first computerized matchmaking machine.

Start a Fire
William Moran, writer

A Calistoga artist runs an art exhibit based on the DNA sampling of his community. Unknown to the locals, he is also uploading their DNA profiles to an ancestry website with the hope of identifying a serial arsonist who started the fire that killed his wife. His actions unleash police investigations, secret DNA collections, and suspicion throughout the community.

The Stories of Science Development Fund is part of SFFILM and the Sloan Foundation’s year-round Science in Cinema initiative, which is designed to develop and present new feature films and episodic content that portray fully-drawn scientist and technologist characters; immerse audiences in the challenges and rewards of scientific discovery; and sharpen public awareness of the intersection of science, technology and our daily lives. Leveraging its position in the heart of the innovation capital of the world, SFFILM seeks to forge meaningful connections between the artistic and scientific communities through a suite of programs. In addition to this program, the initiative also features the Sloan Science in Cinema Filmmaker Fellowship, which also supports the development of narrative feature screenplays; Sloan Science in Cinema Prize, which celebrates a finished narrative feature film each fall; and Sloan Science on Screen, a spotlight program at the San Francisco International Film Festival that debuted in 2016.

For more information, visit sffilm.org.