HUNGER GAMES Screenwriter Billy Ray to Give Keynote Address at Academy Ceremony

Screenwriter Billy Ray will deliver the keynote address at the Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting ceremony on Thursday, November 8, at the Beverly Wilshire.

Ray, who co-wrote this summer's "The Hunger Games," also wrote and directed "Breach" (2007) and "Shattered Glass" (2003). He is the writer of "Captain Phillips," starring Tom Hanks, which is scheduled for release in 2013.

The Academy annually awards up to five Nicholl fellowships of $35,000 each. This year's recipients are:

Nikole Beckwith, Brooklyn, NY, "Stockholm, Pennsylvania"
Sean Robert Daniels, Laezonia, Gauteng, South Africa, "Killers"
James DiLapo, New York City, NY, "Devils at Play"
Allan Durand, Lafayette, LA, "Willie Francis Must Die Again"
Michael Werwie, Los Angeles, CA, "Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil, and Vile"

Including this year's winners, 128 fellowships have been awarded since the program's inception in 1985.

Fellowship recipients are expected to complete a feature-length screenplay during their fellowship year. The Academy acquires no rights to the works of the Nicholl fellows and does not involve itself commercially in any way in their completed scripts.

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