The BAFTA pushed its date back to be before the Oscars in 2000. The USC Scripter began giving out their awards in 1997. The Golden Globes only has one category for screenplay, which includes original and adapted. Only the Critics Choice, the WGA and the BAFTA divide their categories. Since you could put all of those together, no writer has landed on all of those lists and not been nominated for the Oscar.
Had Flynn been nominated, she would have become the second female writer in Academy history to be nominated for adapting her own novel. But alas, they opted out of that opportunity.
Making matters worse, there’s a good chance she might have won. Or she could have been like Jason Reitman, who lost out in the final lap. But at least he had a nomination. The closest you get to the Gone Girl snub is About Schmidt, which did not have a BAFTA nod but had everything else. Flynn, who should have been the frontrunner, was knocked out so the Academy could make room for Whiplash, which should have been in original anyway and now could win, unless Imitation Game barrels through.
At the beginning of the season my 16 year old daughter became a fan of Flynn’s when she read one of her short stories. She liked it so much she even drew character art for the short story. Explaining why Flynn didn’t get a nomination was not one of the best moments for me as a mom. How do you explain institutional sexism to a 16 year-old who is about to take on the world? I think she gets the message loud and clear, though. I suspect she won’t be the only teenage girl out there who will come of age believing the Academy is way behind the times.
Sure, I know Amazing Amy made them feel like their balls were curling into tiny raisins but I figured hey would acknowledge a woman who wrote such a successful film – how could they not, especially when the script had already been vetted by BAFTA, WGA and Scripter. Here is a perfect example of the why the Academy needs the precursors to light their way.
Let us never forget how women got screwed in 2015’s Oscar. All 10 of the writing nominees are male. All 10. All five of the directing nominees are male.
My only hope is that the crowd of voters doesn’t diminish Flynn’s success because of the unforgivable Oscar snub. My hope is that she slays the season in a clean sweep. History tells me that they don’t vote that way. They don’t vote to show up the Academy. They like to vote to stand alongside the Academy proudly — on the side that’s winning.
Here are the charts…
