NRDC, The Black List, The Redford Center, NBCUniversal, and the CAA Foundation Announce Recipients of NRDC’s 2025 Climate Storytelling Fellowship

LOS ANGELES – NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council), The Black List, CAA Foundation, NBCUniversal, and The Redford Center are thrilled to announce the three recipients of the 2025 NRDC Climate Storytelling Fellowship, as well as the Hollywood creatives who will mentor them. The organizations also announced the opening of submissions for the 2025 Fellowship. 

This cycle, L.C. Killingsworth, Annika Marks, and Yasir Masood, have been selected out of more than 500 submissions for their unique and captivating portrayals of the climate crisis. 

This year’s fellowship recipients will be mentored by Lucia Aniello (Broad City, Hacks), Nick Kroll (Adults, Big Mouth) and Chris Sanders (Lilo & Stitch, DreamWorks Animation's The Wild Robot).  

Each fellow will receive a $20,000 grant and will be paired with an entertainment industry professional who will provide mentorship and creative support to further develop their stories set in a climate-altered world.

Now in its fifth year, the first-of-its-kind NRDC Climate Storytelling Fellowship is a program designed to help screenwriters develop compelling stories that reflect climate change and environmental justice. In addition to this creative mentorship, recipients receive counsel from environmental experts on climate issues highlighted in their script, and NRDC’s Rewrite the Future program advises on effective approaches to developing climate themes. 

Additionally, revised scripts may be reviewed for development by prominent studios, agencies and production companies, including Creative Artists Agency (CAA), Hyperobject Industries, Yellow Dot Studios, Madica Productions, UTA, WME, and NBCUniversal.

Last year’s mentors included Brit Marling (Another Earth, Murder at the End of the World, The OA), Daniel Scheinert (Everything Everywhere All at Once, Swiss Army Man), and Mike Schur (Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Parks and Recreation, The Good Place). Past cycle mentors have included Pamela Adlon (Babes, Better Things), Roxane Gay (World of Wakanda, Bad Feminist), Dorothy Fortenberry (Extrapolations, The Handmaid's Tale),  Naren Shankar (The Expanse, Stark Trek: The Next Generation), Sarah Treem (The Affair, House of Cards), and Scott Z. Burns (An Inconvenient Truth, Contagion).

“The urgency of the climate crisis demands creative and compelling narratives—ones that can make audiences see and feel new perspectives,” said mentor Lucia Aniello. “I look forward to working with one of these talented writers as they explore climate themes in their work.”

“These talented writers are telling compelling stories that explore the real impacts of our changing climate on our personal relationships, our plans for the future and our day-to-day lives,” said Katy Jacobs, entertainment partnerships director, NRDC. “It’s more critical than ever to uplift stories like these that can help us reflect on our climate reality and shift our culture to embrace a better future.”

"Entertainment is a powerful engine for change and we couldn't be more honored to continue to support writers who are using their voices to share climate stories with real impact. We are thrilled to have a partner in NRDC that shares the belief that stories matter and can truly affect progress," said Megan Halpern, senior vice president of the Black List.

“While many of these scripts explore increasingly resonant climate themes of anxiety and distress, they also illuminate the role of leadership, community, and human resiliency in a way that feels ripe for the times. We are so fortunate to be able to support this critical program, to nurture early talent and their visions for the future, and to bring these essential conversations to the forefront of the film industry,” said Jill Tidman, executive director of the Redford Center.

“It is more important than ever that we uplift emerging storytellers who are helping audiences imagine what it means to live—and lead—in a climate-altered world,” said Adam Umhoefer, executive, CAA Foundation. “These fellows are offering urgent, human-centered narratives that can shape culture, inspire action, and redefine what climate storytelling can be. We’re honored to support their vision.”

The groups also launched the fifth annual cycle of the fellowship today, which will be accepting applications through November 28th, 2025, here.

This fellowship is a part of the NRDC’s Rewrite the Future program that works alongside entertainment industry experts to transform the on-screen portrayal of climate change. Rewrite the Future leverages NRDC’s environmental expertise to help creators tell entertaining stories about our climate-altered world and the path toward a better future. It consults on film and television projects, advises entertainment companies on integrating content into their sustainability strategies, hosts educational workshops and trainings for entertainment professionals, and encourages new voices through the fellowship. 

Writers hoping to participate in the fellowship are encouraged to submit pilots or screenplays that engage with climate themes in new and unique ways, helping audiences grapple with climate realities beyond narratives of dystopia and apocalypse, and instead depict solutions and envision a better future. All qualifying scripts submitted before the deadline will receive a script evaluation and one free month of hosting for their scripts, even for those not selected. 

About 2025 Climate Storytelling Fellows and Projects:

LOWCOUNTRY (pilot) by L.C. Killingsworth: When a hurricane lays waste to the quirky coastal town of Dundee, Georgia and the area’s last insurance company pulls out, the community must find a new way to survive. 

Killingsworth is a career writer based in Savannah, GA. She earned her BA in creative writing from Yale and has since worked as a writing teacher, nonprofit leader, and messaging strategist while also working on various creative projects.

THE TIPPING POINT (feature) by Annika Marks: EverLeigh and Clay are madly in love. If "opposites attract" is a rule, they’re the couple that proves it. She’s a pragmatic climate scientist; he’s a musician and a dreamer. As we follow them for over a decade, another difference emerges—she’s increasingly convinced that adding children to our struggling planet is irresponsible; he’s increasingly convinced that raising children is the responsibility he was built for.

Annika Marks began her career as an actor and is probably best known as Monte Porter on Freeform’s “The Fosters.” As a writer, she's developed original series for Lionsgate, Sony and Hallmark, and has written on projects for NBC-Universal, Peacock, Paramount+, and Tribeca, among others. Her first feature, Killing Eleanor, which she wrote, produced and starred in, premiered at the SCAD Savannah Film Festival where it won Best Narrative Feature. Her follow-up, Adult Children, is set to hit the festival circuit this summer. Marks has participated in a variety of programs over the years, including the Sundance Labs (as an actor) and the Women in Film Mentoring Program (as a writers circle mentee). She splits her time between Los Angeles and Seattle, where she lives with her husband and frequent collaborator, Rich Newey, and their two wild and wonderful children.

NIGHT OF POWER (feature) by Yasir Masood: Amid Texas's fiercest heat-wave on the eve of Ramadan fasting, three young Muslims reluctantly plunge into a crime spree to save their community, confronting the gritty underworld of Houston and their own struggle for power.

Yasir Masood is a Pakistan-born, Emmy-nominated producer and filmmaker. Masood won the Emerging Filmmaker Award at the Los Angeles Asian American Film Festival for his debut feature film, Istikhara, Nw York. Shot in Brooklyn and self-financed for a budget of $15,000, the film was picked up for finishing and distribution by Nicholas Weinstock’s Invention Studios (Thelma). Masood then produced the film, Out of Order, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and made its debut on VICE. Yasir directed episodes for the Webby-nominated nonfiction series’ Picture Locked & In My Own Words streaming on DOCUMENTARY +. Son of an air conditioning repair man, Masood's work aims to explore the intersectionality of masculinity, migration, and identity in Muslim and working-class communities.

About NRDC

NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) is an international nonprofit environmental organization with more than 3 million members and online activists. Established in 1970, NRDC uses science, policy, law and people power to confront the climate crisis, protect public health and safeguard nature. NRDC has offices in New York City, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Beijing and Delhi (an office of NRDC India Pvt. Ltd).

About The Black List

The Black List is a platform dedicated to identifying and celebrating exceptional storytelling. First established in 2005 as an annual survey of Hollywood's most-liked unproduced screenplays, The Black List has since grown into a comprehensive resource for the film, TV, publishing, and theater worlds, serving thousands of writers, agents, managers, showrunners, producers, financiers, directors, actors, and theater industry professionals.

More than 400 scripts from the annual Black List survey have been produced, grossing over $28B in worldwide box offices. Films produced from those Black List scripts have won four Best Picture Oscars and 12 Best Screenplay Oscars since 2007. A Harvard Business school study found that "Black-Listed scripts were twice as likely to be made into films...They also did better at theaters, with movies of the same budget generating 90% more revenue at the box office."

In October 2012, The Black List launched a unique online community to cater to the needs of screenwriters, creatives, and industry professionals. Since its inception, it has hosted more than 100,000 scripts and provided more than 130,000 script evaluations. Among the films produced: NAACP Award-nominated MR MALCOLM’S LIST, Independent Spirit Award-nominated THE NOVICE, and Golden Globe-nominated NIGHTINGALE, starring David Oyelowo. The Black List also supports various programs for writers–including mentorships, production funds, and direct financial grants–in collaboration with its sponsors. 

In September 2024, The Black List announced its expansion into fiction. This launch allowed fiction writers to use blcklst.com to create a free profile that showcases their completed novels regardless of publication status, purchase professional feedback from The Black List’s experienced readers, and submit their manuscripts to various fiction-specific programs. As a longstanding advocate for increasing access and visibility for screenplays in Hollywood, The Black List aims to bring the same clarity and connectivity to the publishing industry, linking it with the film and television industries and writers around the world.

More information on The Black List is available at www.blcklst.com. For regular updates, follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Letterboxd, and Youtube.

About the CAA Foundation

The CAA Foundation, the philanthropic arm of leading entertainment and sports agency, Creative Artists Agency (CAA),  activates the power and reach of the entertainment, media, and sports industries to create systemic social change for a more equitable and optimistic future. Its efforts are focused on public education, workforce development, civic engagement, and in times of critical need, mobilizing into action through crisis relief. Since its launch in 1995, the CAA Foundation has served as the heart of the agency, investing in our communities and helping our clients achieve their humanitarian goals.

About NBCUniversal 

NBCUniversal is one of the world’s leading media and entertainment companies. We create world-class content, which we distribute across our portfolio of film, television, and streaming, and bring to life through our theme parks and consumer experiences. We own and operate leading entertainment and news brands, including NBC, NBC News, MSNBC, CNBC, NBC Sports, Telemundo, NBC Local Stations, Bravo, USA Network, and Peacock, our premium ad-supported streaming service. We produce and distribute premier filmed entertainment and programming through Universal Filmed Entertainment Group and Universal Studio Group, and have world-renowned theme parks and attractions through Universal Destinations & Experiences. NBCUniversal is a subsidiary of Comcast Corporation.

About The Redford Center

Co-founded in 2005 by activists and filmmakers Robert Redford and James Redford, The Redford Center is a nonprofit that advances environmental solutions through the power of stories that move. As one of the only US-based nonprofits solely dedicated to environmental impact filmmaking, The Redford Center develops and invests in projects that foster action and strengthen the reach of the grassroots efforts powering the environmental movement. Over the years, The Redford Center has produced three award-winning feature documentaries and more than 40 short films, supported over 150 film and media projects with grants and other services, inspired the creation of 550 student films, and disbursed more than $20 million to environmental film projects, amplifying change-making environmental solutions to millions of people worldwide. Learn more at www.redfordcenter.org.