Get To Know Sloan Student Grand Jury Prize Winner Barnett Brettler

Tuesday night TFI celebrated the announcement of this year's Sloan Student Grand Jury Prize for Screenwriting award being given to UCLA student Barnett Brettler with a reception at Silver Lining in NYC.

Flying in for the event, Brettler was ecstatic to receive his $30,000 cash prize (plus consultation from TFI throughout the year) as well as getting the chance to rub elbows with some prominent members in the film industry.

The Sloan Student Grand Jury Prize for Screenwriting recognizes the very best student screenplay in the nation that uses science and technology themes or characters to tell an engaging story. Brettler's script, Waking Hours, is set in a near-future where people are losing the ability to sleep. The story follows a British border agent as he leaves the safety of his country to search for the woman that he loves. 

Brettler, who went to Syracuse University as an undergrad and struggled for some time to find his calling after graduating—including working as a security guard and at a museum to get by—he decided to go to UCLA to study screenwriting. After creating mostly horror and comedic material, he began thinking of a story around science through the help of the Sloan Foundation's involvement at the school. "At first it was a daunting idea, I had never written about science before," said Brettler.

But he found a groove when he discovered sporadic fatal insomnia.

"Basically your brain tells you to stop sleeping and about a year later you’ll die of exhaustion."

Through his research he came up with a story about a British boarder agent named Owen who spends his days turning away refugees at the English/French boarder. With word of a weird insomnia disease popping up in the Middle East , Owen's now ex-girlfriend, Isabelle, who is a doctor, decides to travel to Yemen to learn more about the disease. However, two years later she is believed to have died after a bomb goes off at the embassy in Yemen. However, Owen believes she's still alive, leading him to dress like a refugee and be sent to France where he starts his journey to find her.

Brettler says the story originated as a tale set at the U.S./Mexican boarder but decided on England as it's more isolated and their free health care would lead to a more hectic setting at the boarder if a disease like this were to spread.

Brettler now will take part in our industry meetings held during the Tribeca Film Festival staring next week in hopes to find collaborators on the project.

He admits to not having an interest in directing, a rarity in these scenarios. "My heart has always been that of a writer and that's my main concentration," he says. "I'm excited in the collaboration and make a hell of a movie."

When asked if he fells he has an obligation to protect his work, he replied, "I think that's a fear of a lot of writers and I think that's fictitious. I would expect producers and and director to come in with their own ideas and I think that's what makes it fun."