Structure can be learned and form can be taught, but a really well-written screenplay hits moviegoers with both barrels by wowing audiences with true originality. If they feel certain scripts deserve attention, studios submit these screenplays for awards consideration at the end of the year, and every season the distinction between “adapted” and “original” screenplay leaves Oscar pundits scratching their heads. Never one to tire of analyzing the phenomenon that is Oscar blogging, Grantland’s Mark Harris takes a look at one of the most confusing categories.
One would think that Richard Linklater’s Before Midnight would be an original screenplay. After all, the story was created by himself and stars Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke, and the characters Jesse and Celine are wholly original, but as Harris points out, ” in practice, it’s one big gray area.”
“Before Midnight is considered an adaptation solely because its two main characters appeared in two previous movies. Never mind that the story and plot and situational crisis explored in the new film were all invented expressly for Before Midnight and exist in no other form; in awardsland, it’s “adapted,” just not actually from anything.”
Conversely, films that were based off of history sometimes sneak into the original category. The King’s Speech won Best Original Screenplay in 2011 despite the fact that it was based on true events. Aaron Sorkin’s screenplay for The Social Network greatly differed from the source material he worked with and yet he was nominated for adapted screenplay. David Seidler’s win wouldn’t seem so out-of-place if there weren’t far more original contenders competing in that same category like Christopher Nolan’s Inception and Lisa Chokolodenko’s The Kids Are All Right.
In hopes of simplifying the entire process, Harris offers a solution to the headache that are these best screenplay categories.
“So let’s split them up. This year, Best Original Screenplay — in other words, a screenplay based on material not previously produced or published — could encompass works of invention like Before Midnight, Her, Enough Said, Nebraska, Inside Llewyn Davis, and Blue Jasmine. Best Screenplay Based on Factual Material could be a home for 12 Years a Slave, The Butler, Captain Phillips, Fruitvale Station, Saving Mr. Banks, and, if they’re any good, American Hustle or The Wolf of Wall Street. And a third category, Best Adaptation, could be reserved for honoring the transpositional effectiveness of films like August: Osage County, Labor Day, Much Ado About Nothing, Blue Is the Warmest Color, and The Book Thief, the winner to be decided by an apples-to-apples comparison of how well the writers wrestled an existing fictional narrative into cinematic form. That would, I know, make a whole new kind of mess. But it might be a mess that would force people — including voters — to think about what screenwriters actually do.”
Three categories may not be what people want on the night of the Academy Awards (the show is already three hours long), but at least the right people would be recognized.
What do you think? Should we change how screenplays are judged and awarded at the Oscars? How would you fix the classification problem?