Laura Alsum struggled through writing sections of what would become her award-winning screenplay not as a result of a creative block, but because of the painful memories that resurfaced. Read more...

Photo: Laura Alsum is a graduate student in screenwriting at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television. She is also the 2014 recipient of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Student Grand Jury Prize for Screenwriting for her screenplay “Survival of the Fittest.” The award offers a $30,000 cash prize as well as an additional $20,000 to help develop the screenplay into a film. (Dang-Co Vu/Daily Bruin)

If the essence of this spring's movies were to be put into one megablockbuster, the product would likely be a dark, gritty reboot of a story once shared fondly by families gathering at the theater. Read more...