The Social Network’s Armie Hammer will present Oscar winning writer Aaron Sorkin the UCLA School of Theater Film and Television’s 2011 Distinguished Achievement in Screenwriting Award. The award presentation is a part of TFT’s Festival of New Creative Work’s Screenwriters Showcase on June 6th at Ralph Freud Playhouse in Westwood. Writer/producer Mike Werb will serve as master of ceremonies for the event. At the Festival’s Producers Marketplace June 7th Producer’s Guild co-president Hawk Koch will present this year’s UCLA TFT’s Vision Award to producer Lawrence Bender at the Billy Wilder/Hammer Museum. Bull’s Eye Entertainment partner and producer of Crash and The Illusionist Tom Nunan will be the evening’s host. The 16th annual Screenwriters Showcase celebrates the work of UCLA's Graduate students past and present. Portions of eight scripts (five feature film and three television scripts) will be previewed in five-minute staged excerpts. These scripts were selected by a panel of over 200 industry judges in a competition that began in March. In addition to the Vision Award presentation the Producers Marketplace will feature three graduate student finalists from UCLA’s distinguished Producers Program: Ryan Slattery’s Burden Of Proof; Aisha Summers for Confessions of A Modern Day Dog; and The Poker Kid from Michael Acosta. Each finalist will present their feature film projects to a panel of top-tier industry judges take to the stage and present their five-minute concept pitches. They then field a battery of questions from the judges about how they plan to get their projects made. The judges will select the most promising proposal and present the winning producer the UCLA Producers Marketplace Award as well as a cash award from Producer/Alum Dan Angel '90. The audience will also get to select its favorite pitch. The Vision Award is presented by the Producers Guild of America and UCLA’s TFT.
