EXCLUSIVE: Natural Resources Defense Council, the Black List, CAA Community + Impact, NBCUniversal, and The Redford Center have announced the three recipients of the 2026 NRDC Climate Storytelling Fellowship.

This cycle, Kirby Atkins, Claire Barclay, and Teddy Cecil have been selected out of nearly 700 submissions. Mentors will include Dustin Lance Black (Under the Banner of Heaven, Milk), Stephen Markley (The Deluge, Only Murders in the Building), and JJ Philbin (The O.C., New Girl).

Now in its sixth year, the NRDC Climate Storytelling Fellowship is a program designed to help screenwriters develop compelling stories involving climate change and environmental justice.

Each fellow receives a $20,000 grant and is paired with an entertainment professional who can provide mentorship and creative support to further develop their stories. Additionally, 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. This year, new creative partner Climate Spring will offer yet another dedicated meeting for each fellow with a Climate Spring development executive to provide development advice and consultation on their script.

Revised scripts may be reviewed for development by studios, agencies and production companies, including Climate Spring, CAA, HyperObject Industries, Yellow Dot Studios, UTA, WME, and NBCUniversal.

“As we begin the fellowship’s sixth cycle, we are energized to see so many complex, human-centered stories that reveal how the climate crisis is reshaping our lives and choices,” said Katy Jacobs, Fellowship Founder and Entertainment Partnerships Director, NRDC. “These stories help expand our perspective, and chart the way toward a more hopeful future.”

The sixth cycle of the fellowship launches today, with applications to be accepted through December 4.

For more information on this year’s fellows and projects, read on.

OUT OF ASHES (feature) by KIRBY ATKINS: During the Dust Bowl, a grief-stricken mother joins a desperate caravan west—pursued by the memory of what she’s lost and ancient creatures awakened by a shifting climate.

Kirby Atkins is a writer and director whose work spans animation, visual effects, and feature filmmaking. He has developed projects for Robert De Niro, Miramax and 20th Century Fox, and also directed the Nickelodeon series The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius. In 2019, Kirby wrote and directed Mosley, the first New Zealand/China Film Group co-production. The film received multiple international awards, and was released worldwide by Paramount Pictures in 2021. Kirby played the title role in the film, starring with the all New Zealander cast of John Rhys-Davies (LOTR), Lucy Lawless (Xena, Warrior Princess), Rhys Darby (Flight of the Conchords), and Termuera Morrison (Star Wars).

HINAKI (pilot) by CLAIRE BARCLAY: Hell-bent on proving his radical mother is a fraud, a Māori journalist chases footage of an environmental ‘miracle’ into a confrontation with those who believe only they own the future.

Claire Barclay is a New Zealander of Māori (Ngāti Apa/Ngāti Hauiti) and European descent, based in London. Since completing an NFTS screenwriting programme in 2020 she’s received recognition from the Writers Lab UK, Athena Film Festival Writers Lab and NZFC Black List New Zealand Project. Her work explores how we come undone in the present if we don’t face the past. Hīnaki was inspired by her late father, Māori filmmaker Barry Barclay, and his 1985 documentary The Neglected Miracle about the race by corporations to patent the world’s seeds. At the time it was made he said ‘it is crazy to own life.’ Decades later, struck by its prescience on biodiversity loss, Claire considered a follow-up documentary, but it was a drama that took hold of her instead.

SANDY GRAY (feature) by TEDDY CECIL: In the remote Scottish Highlands, a young teen sets out to prove the existence of a mysterious creature, hoping to preserve the magic of his community and protect it from industrial ruin. This is the unknown, true story of how the Loch Ness Monster became a legend.

Teddy Cecil is a Los Angeles-based writer, director, and producer originally from New York whose work blends history, folklore and genre to explore identity, resilience, and belonging. A graduate of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, he began his career as Ang Lee’s production assistant and mentee before directing music videos for artists including 2 Chainz, Nicki Minaj, Big Sean and YG. His work has been featured in MovieMaker, IndieWire and FilmBuzz, and includes the award-winning shorts Helio, which earned millions of views online and won Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy at San Diego Comic-Con, and Only a Movie!. After overcoming a rare autoimmune disease that forced him into an eight-year hiatus, he returned to filmmaking through Sandy Gray. The project selected for The Black List Projects Lab won the Save the Cat Feature Screenplay Challenge Grand Prize and Best Feature Drama at Shore Scripts, was named a Black List Reader Recommended and Must-Read script, was selected as one of 25 Academy Nicholl Fellowship entrants from 2,500 submissions, and was a finalist in the Austin Film Festival Screenplay Competition and Roadmap’s Top Tier Competition.