I never took a job I couldn't quit," says Annemarie Morais. For years Morais (BFA '95) worked for peanuts at odd jobs after she graduated, consumed with the dream of becoming a film writer. Every year she'd churn out a screenplay and take it to Canadian producers and every year she'd get rejected - sometimes they wouldn't even read her pieces.

But hard work finally paid off. Morais was a finalist in the 1999 Nicholl Screenwriting Fellowship for her screenplay Bleeding. The award confirmed Morais' talent and gave her $25,000(US).

The Nicholl is no B-movie contest. In 1999 the fellowship received 4,000 entries from 26 countries. Previous finalists have included Jim Ulhs, author of the screenplay for Fight Club, and Ehren Kruger (Arlington Road).

How did Brantford-born Morais become the only Canadian ever to win the fellowship? "My parents always encouraged me to use my imagination and make my own fun," she says. "I thought I wanted to be a director when I was at York but my screenwriting professor told me I had a talent. Although looking back some of those scripts I sent out were pretty bad..."

It was while working part-time in Brantford General Hospital's pediatrics unit that Morais found her muse. "I had a patient who was a 'cutter'," says Morais. "She couldn't have sharp objects in her room or she would hurt herself. It was shocking to see how someone so beautiful and bright could be so messed up and confused."

Her patient became the inspiration for Bleeding's main character. The story revolves around two sisters, the younger one claiming to have been raped by her stepfather.

"I know this is an opportunity lots of Canadian writers don't get," says Morais, whose screenplay goes into production next year. "I finally feel like all my hard work wasn't in vain. Sometimes success is the best revenge."