SFFILM Sloan Science in Cinema Filmmaker Fellowship

Deadlines & fees

Dates and fees checked against the official site 23 Sept 2026.

Key facts

Formats

Feature, TV Pilot

Eligibility

Open worldwide18+

Required materials

Applicant bio of 400 words · Logline of 95 words and synopsis of 500 words · Support received to date · Description of the scientific or technological ideas and the research conducted so far · What you want from the science advisor · Why this story now, plus artistic vision and style · Up to five key individuals with attachment dates (optional) · Ten consecutive script pages with an explanation of the sample · Optional lookbook or pitch deck and a 5 to 10 minute previous work sample · Finalists additionally submit a writer-director statement, a 1 to 3 page treatment and the full script

Open to filmmakers based anywhere in the United States or internationally, aged 18 or over, excluding SFFILM and Sloan employees and board members. The primary applicant must be in a key creative role as screenwriter, director or producer, so a writer may apply alone with no attachment required, and no prior credits are demanded. The project must be a feature-length fiction film or episodic series, not a documentary, short or work for hire. Realistic scientific or technological content must sit at the centre of the screenplay and drive the story arc or character development; projects with peripheral scientific characters or ideas will not be competitive, and writers must intend to work with scientific advisors on accuracy. The science-fiction bar is stated two different ways on the same page: the eligibility section says science fiction and speculative stories are in almost every case ineligible, with a rare carve-out for a futuristic story involving science truly on the cusp of being introduced to society, while the FAQ states flatly that projects incorporating fictional elements beyond today's scientific capabilities are not eligible. Treat the FAQ definition as the operative test. Reapplication is permitted with a statement of significant progress.

Prizes

A cash grant of 35,000 US dollars to each of two fellows selected annually at the screenwriting phase, plus a FilmHouse residency and a matched science advisor. How the money is staged or paid is not published, and the word unrestricted does not appear. ON REPAYMENT, AN HONEST GAP: nothing on the page mentions recoupment, repayment, profit participation or equity, and the funder frames these purely as grants. But SFFILM links a grantee requirements PDF that would govern exactly this, and that link returns a 404; SFFILM's artist development FAQ is also broken and serves raw template code. The document that would answer the question exists, is referenced by SFFILM, and is not publicly retrievable. We therefore record the repayment terms as unverified rather than as confirmed absent, and would suggest emailing SFFILM before treating the award as unconditional.

Judging

Assessed by an unnamed review panel and committee. Recipients secure a residency at FilmHouse, though the duration is not published on this programme's page: the four-week requirement and the statement that no travel or accommodation stipend is provided both appear only on the sibling Rainin page, so their application here is unverified. FilmHouse is an open workspace rather than living accommodation, and note SFFILM's own pages disagree on its location, giving SOMA on one page and the Presidio on another. No feedback to applicants is published.

Frequently asked questions