Written By... Writers snubbed in Oscar coverage, once again

With the Oscar nominations coming out this week I was looking forward to see who was nominated for Original Screenplay and Adapted Screenplay. Man was it frustrating.

First place I go to is www.Oscar.com/nominations. It takes me several seconds to find out the nominees. Not because I looked at the actor categories, but because I had to scroll all the way to the bottom of the page past the technical categories to find out the writing categories. Okay, fine.

Now knowing the nominees, I look for more stories regarding the Oscars in general. In this weekends USA Today paper, there were 3 articles regarding the Oscars. There was not one mention of anything that had to do with writing. Are you serious?

Now, the internet. There’s gotta be some article (not in Screenwriting/Writing magazines) about the Writing categories. AOL, nothing. Newsweek, nada. I look into smaller news outlets. Crap. More of nothing.

Guess what Clooney, DiCaprio, and Winslet fans? Those actors wouldn’t be who they are without the stories and dialogue that come from those people that sit in front of their computers or writing pads, locked in a small room with maybe one other person, punching out scenes, fretting over dialogue, character arc and development, until finally (after several months) they come out with a story written in screenplay form. Not to mention the team of writers on set of the movie that are continuously working on scenes on the fly. Oh, yes, those actors. They have input as well. They are the ones that have to believe in the character those writers created, all the while making suggestions that those writers will have to change and make everything else in the screenplay work.

John Travolta? Do you remember those awful, baby talking movies? He was fading in obscurity until some writer by the name of Tarantino created that cool character, Vincent Vega in Pulp Fiction. All those movies with John Travolta after his role in Pulp Fiction (1994) may not have happened without the writing of Quinten Tarantino.

Does anybody remember Mickey Rourke? You know him now because Robert D. Siegel, the writer of “The Wrestler”, with the direction of Darren Aronofsky who demand that Mickey Rourke play the part, made his comeback possible.

Richard Jenkins. I’m sure everyone knows who Richard Jenkins is by name. As you watch the Oscars, you will see Richard Jenkins and remember him in all those small roles he played in movies, and TV shows that are not on air anymore. He and Mickey Rourke will be seen in more movies, playing bigger roles, because the screenplays for “The Visitor” (written by Thomas McCarthy) and “The Wrestler” were written.

No Respect!