• About Us
  • Sasha Stone
  • Editor Ryan Adams
  • Clarence Moye
  • Contact Us
No Result
View All Result
Awardsdaily - The Oscars, the Films and everything in between.
  • Home
  • Oscar Predictions
    • Best Picture
    • Best Actor
    • Best Actress
  • Good As Gold
  • AD TV
  • Podcasts
  • FYC Gallery
  • Interviews
  • All News
  • Home
  • Oscar Predictions
    • Best Picture
    • Best Actor
    • Best Actress
  • Good As Gold
  • AD TV
  • Podcasts
  • FYC Gallery
  • Interviews
  • All News
No Result
View All Result
Awardsdaily - The Oscars, the Films and everything in between.
No Result
View All Result

OscarWatch: Screenplay Categories Still a Mystery

by Sasha Stone
June 19, 2016
in ADAPTED SCREENPLAY, featured, News, ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
64
OscarWatch: Screenplay Categories Still a Mystery

With the Writers Guild the last of the major awards to announce, just a few days before the final Oscar ballots are due — though how many voters will have already cast their ballots? Either way, both categories remain wide open.

Original Screenplay is a three-way race between The Grand Budapest Hotel, Birdman and Boyhood. The BAFTA chose Budapest over Birdman, which was surprising. In fact, both scripts that were disallowed by the WGA (King’s Speech and The Artist) both won the BAFTA for screenplay. Will the Academy, with all of its actors dominating final voting, go for Birdman instead? If Birdman is to win Best Picture, as all of the major guilds have dictated, will it also have to win writing?

The predictions at Gold Derby are all over the place, truth be told, with 7 predicting Birdman and 12 predicting Grand Budapest Hotel.

The Globes gave their screenplay award to Birdman because Budapest took the top prize. The BAFTA gave Birdman just one award for cinematography, a highly unusual move for a Best Picture frontrunner. In fact, it’s never happened that a film won the PGA/DGA/SAG and only won a single Bafta in the techs.

All of the films that won those three, since BAFTA shifted their date, also won a significant award at BAFTA.

That already makes Birdman breaking with precedent in a third significant way. One thing we’ve learned from our past, though, is that when they want to pick a movie they like all stats and history go out the window.

But just in terms of Best Picture we now have to add, for a Birdman win, to overcome:

Not winning the Golden Globe for comedy (it went to Budapest)
Not having an editing nomination
Not winning screenplay or actor or any major award beyond cinematography at BAFTA

All three of these things make Birdman’s potential win a long shot, even with the big three. Remember, the big three have always resulted in a major award at BAFTA, if not Best Picture. How do films with the big three stack up with the WGA?

UPDATE: Birdman is not eligible for the WGA – for some reason I forgot this when I first wrote this piece — that puts it in the King’s Speech/The Artist territory. BOTH won the BAFTA for Screenplay but Birdman did not. One won the Oscar, the other didn’t. Both in original.

2012 – Argo: PGA/DGA/BAFTA/SAG/Oscar – WGA/Oscar
2011 – The Artist: PGA/DGA/SAG/BAFTA/Oscar – was not eligible for WGA, won Oscar SILENT FILM
2010 – The King’s Speech: PGA/DGA/SAG/BAFTA/Oscar – not eligible for WGA/won Oscar
2009 – The Hurt Locker: PGA/DGA/BAFTA/Oscar – WGA/Oscar
2008 – Slumdog Millionaire (PGA/DGA/SAG/BAFTA) – WGA/Oscar
2003 – Return of the King (PGA/DGA/SAG/BAFTAs) – WGA/Oscar
1999 – American Beauty  (PGA/DGA/SAG) – WGA/Oscar
1995 – Apollo 13 – (PGA/DGA/SAG) – did not win WGA

Therefore, if you’re predicting Birdman to win Best Picture you should predict it to win the WGA.

We can’t really count BAFTA much in terms of history because of their date change (2000) and their changes in voting procedure (2012) but since 2012, the Best Picture winner has won the BAFTA for Best Picture, Argo and 12 Years a Slave.

Adapted Screenplay is also quite a toss-up. Since the Best Picture heat is in the original category, adapted is kind of up in the air.  Gillian Flynn and Gone Girl would have won this prize, I think, had Whiplash not knocked it out of the category.  The reason being the buzz would have grown every time Flynn hit the mic. She’s funny and she would have made Academy history. What a shame to see these opportunities vanish like that.

The Imitation Game has the overwhelming support over at Gold Derby. That is primarily because it won the Scripter and the predictions took place before the BAFTAS.  Clearly, the brits did not much care for the film since it didn’t even get a directing nominations. The Oscar voters and the industry DO care for the film because they have Morten Tyldum nominated both at the DGA and a the Oscars.

But now you have to factor in Whiplash, which was put in the adapted category and is very much loved by both BAFTA and Oscar.  Now we have three films to choose from and we have no precursor to go off of, not until the WGA and even then it’s a toss-up.

Other than Argo, you have to go back to 1998 to find a year when the Adapted Screenplay Oscar went to a film without a directing nomination. The BAFTA picked The Theory of Everything, which did have a directing nomination.  But the Oscars did not give James Marsh a nomination for directing, which means that The Imitation Game is the stronger of two.

Finally, Anne Thompson is predicting American Sniper to win the Oscar for Adapted. I think that’s a very strong prediction – and thus, Sniper would be a great prediction for both the WGA and the Oscar.

The bottom line: both screenplay categories are wide open and unpredictable.

 

 

Tags: BirdmanScreenplayThe Imitation Game
Sasha Stone

Sasha Stone

Sasha Stone has been around the Oscar scene since 1999. Almost everything on this website is her fault.

Next Post
John Legend, Common and Beyonce Bring Glory to the Grammys

John Legend, Common and Beyonce Bring Glory to the Grammys

Sign up for Awards Daily's Breaking News

* indicates required

All This and the Oscars Too Podcast Predicting the Globes

Oscar Podcast Post Globes, SAG Awards Dump

Abstract starburst, sunburst graphic. Converging, radiating lines.

by Sasha Stone
February 26, 2021
0

21st Annual No Guts No Glory Contest!

21st Annual No Guts No Glory Contest!
by Sasha Stone
February 26, 2021
22

Predictions Friday – Here Come the Golden Globes!

Predictions Friday – Here Come the Golden Globes!
by Sasha Stone
February 26, 2021
22

Clip: Netflix’s ‘Made You Look’ Explores Extraordinary Case of Art Fraud

Clip: Netflix’s ‘Made You Look’ Explores Extraordinary Case of Art Fraud
by Clarence Moye
February 26, 2021
0

Writer-Director Jasmila Žbanić Offers Complex Narratives in Potent ‘Quo Vadis, Aida?’

Writer-Director Jasmila Žbanić Offers Complex Narratives in Potent ‘Quo Vadis, Aida?’
by Frank J. Avella
February 26, 2021
0

Team AD TV’s Final Golden Globe TV Predictions!

Team AD TV’s Final Golden Globe TV Predictions!
by Clarence Moye
February 26, 2021
2

The State of the Race — Forget Your Troubles, Come On Get Happy

The State of the Race — Forget Your Troubles, Come On Get Happy
by Sasha Stone
February 25, 2021
47

‘Mank,’ ‘Mulan,’ ‘Ma Rainey’s’ Among Nominees for 25th Art Directors Guild Awards

‘Mank’ Co-Producer Peter Mavromates On Accentuating a 1930s World Through VFX

San Simeon Interior After VFX (Photo: Netflix)

by Clarence Moye
February 25, 2021
37

Marcell Rév On Capturing the Volatility of ‘Malcolm & Marie’

Marcell Rév On Capturing the Volatility of ‘Malcolm & Marie’

(Photo: Dominic Miller/Netflix)

by Joey Moser
February 25, 2021
0

‘Ma Rainey’s’ Team Reflects on George C. Wolfe’s Acclaimed Direction

First Look at Viola Davis and Chadwick Boseman’s Transformative Work in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (2020): (L to R) Viola Davis as Ma Rainey, Director George C. Wolfe, and Chadwick Boseman as Levee. Cr. David Lee / Netflix

by Clarence Moye
February 25, 2021
4

Disney and Pixar’s Luca Gets a Trailer

Disney and Pixar’s Luca Gets a Trailer
by Sasha Stone
February 25, 2021
2

Woody Allen Doc Makes a Strong Case for the Prosecution but It’s Missing the Defense

Woody Allen Doc Makes a Strong Case for the Prosecution but It’s Missing the Defense
by Ryan Adams
February 26, 2021
46

Predict the Golden Globes!

Predict the Golden Globes!
by Sasha Stone
February 24, 2021
15

Join us Facebook

AwardsDaily Crew

  • About Us
  • Sasha Stone
  • Editor Ryan Adams
  • Clarence Moye
  • Contact Us

ADTV Crew

  • ADTV Home
  • Megan McLachlan, Co-Editor
  • Clarence Moye, Co-Editor
  • Jalal Haddad, Senior Contributor
  • Joey Moser, Senior Contributor
  • Kevin Dillon
  • Shadan Larki
  • Ben Morris
  • David Phillips

Follow on Twitter

ADTV Twitter

  • Contact
  • About Us
  • Advertising on Awards Daily

© 1999-2021 AwardsDaily.com

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Oscar Predictions
    • Best Picture
    • Best Actor
    • Best Actress
  • Good As Gold
  • AD TV
  • Podcasts
  • FYC Gallery
  • Interviews
  • All News

© 1999-2021 AwardsDaily.com