Why This is Good

All discouraged, no-name screenwriters should be rejoicing and taking heart today, after the results of the Academy Awards last night. It was a triumph of story, of great filmmaking, and not big budgets or big actors. These awards showed that you don’t have to be an established, big-name producer with a million-dollar budget and a bunch of blockbusters under your belt to be a contender (I’m talking to you James Cameron). Sure Avatar won where it should win-for Art Direction and Visual Effects, but in every single area where budget shouldn’t matter, the smaller, story-driven, emotionally powerful films prevailed. I’m pleasantly surprised and enormously proud of the Academy for allowing a film like The Hurt Locker to win Best Picture, Best Director, Best Editing, Best Sound Editing and Mixing, and Best Original Screenplay. In the other important areas the exemplify creativity and what movie making should be about, it was other small, story and character driven films that prevailed- for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Supporting Actress, Precious, Crazy Heart for Best Actor, The Blind Side for Best Actress and Inglorious Basterds for Best Supporting Actor.

Let this be a lesson to you, my fellow underpaid, underappreciated and  undiscovered writers- audiences, critics and even the Academy will respond to good storytelling, good acting and quality filmmaking over glitz, glamour and special effects. Precious had a budget of only $10 million dollars, The Hurt Locker around $15 million, (including all those pyrotechnics), while modest estimates put Avatar at over $300 million dollars (and only if you exclude it’s marketing budget) and all that only bought James Cameron two Oscars in categories where the quality of the outcome is dependent upon the amount of money spent. The results of this awards show have restored my faith in American filmmaking, and in the Academy for valuing what is truly important about this industry and about America films. Congratulations to all of the winners, your awards are well-deserved!