Post by kijii on Sept 22, 2017 23:18:08 GMT
The following quote sort of shows how complicated the subject of screenwriting is (and has been). Namely, the definitions have changed over time :
Source: www.filmsite.org/bestscreenplays.html
But, if you look at Woody Allen, he can't be compared to Charles Brackett, Billy Wilder, Coppola.
While Chayesky and Allen both came from the TV writing "workshop" and usually wrote their works alone, Wilder almost always wrote with Brackett or Diamond (group writers much as with the early writers).
Preston Sturges.....where did he come from and did he change the modern mold or did he follow Charlie Chaplin?
History of Changes in the Award:
See an entire detailed listing of Academy Award Script/Screenplay Winners from 1927/28 to the Present on this site.
This awards category has varied considerably over the first 30 years of the awards ceremony, but solidified itself by about 1970:
in the first year of the Academy Awards, 1927/1928, there were only two writing categories: Best Writing, Adaptation and Best Original Story; there was also a short-lived category termed Best Title Writing, discontinued after this year at the end of the silent era
in the second and third years of the Academy Awards (1928/29 and 1929/30), there was only a single writing award: Writing Achievement, with no distinction between original works and adaptations. Only the titles of the nominated films were announced. Writers were nominated for all of their work that year, rather than nominating the writer for a specific film
In the next four ceremonies (1930/31, 1931/32, 1932/33, and 1934), the distinction between original works and adaptations was resumed with two categories: Best Writing, Adaptation and Best Original Story
beginning in 1935, the term screenplay was first used as a nomination category (replacing Best Writing, Adaptation - it was used to indicate an adaptation rather than an original story), so now there were two categories: Best Original Story and Best Screenplay (adaptation)
(Because of these rules, The Story of Louis Pasteur (1936) remains the only film to win its two writing nominations in one ceremony for the same screenwriters (Pierre Collings and Sheridan Gibney), for both Best Original Story and Best Screenplay (adaptation). Collings and Gibney are the only screenwriters to win two Oscars each for their work on a single film.)
in 1940, the Academy started a new category - Best Original Screenplay, in addition to the other two categories: Best Original Story and Best Screenplay (adaptation). Best Original Story was intended to give credit to the authors of performance works (not novels) that films were based on. Therefore, oftentimes, the source and its adaptation would earn nominations - and Oscars.
(Besides The Story of Louis Pasteur (1936) with more than one writing Oscar, Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941) was the first to win two writing Oscars, followed by Going My Way (1944) and Miracle on 34th Street (1947). But in these other three cases, the script authors were different people from the writers credited with the screenplay.)
in 1942, the titles for the three awards were: Best Screenplay (adaptation), Best Original Screenplay, and Best Original Motion Picture Story
in 1948, the award went back to only two awards: Best Motion Picture Story (original screenplay) and Best Screenplay (adaptation); the Best Original Screenplay category was dropped
in 1949, the award was expanded back to three nebulous categories: Best Motion Picture Story, Best Screenplay (adaptation) and Best Story and Screenplay (the new name for the Best Original Screenplay category)
in 1956, there were again three nominees, retaining Best Motion Picture Story and two other renamed categories: Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Original Screenplay
in 1957, the modern division of the award into "original" and "adapted" screenplays was finally implemented - with only two renamed categories: Best Screenplay - Based on Material From Another Medium (Adapted Screenplay) and Best Story and Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen (Original Screenplay); the category of Best Motion Picture Story was discarded by being merged into the other categories
in 1969, the category of Best Story and Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen was renamed: Best Story and Screenplay - Based on Factual Material or Material Not Previously Published or Produced
since then, the category names for the writing awards have been simplified to Adapted Screenplay and Original Screenplay
Currently, there are two basic categories of writing awards:
Writing, Adapted Screenplay: awarded to the writer of a screenplay adapted from another source (novel or play usually)
Writing, Original Screenplay: awarded to the writer of a script not based on previously published material
Top Academy Award Screenwriting Nominations and Winners:
Woody Allen (16) and Billy Wilder (12) have been nominated the most for any screenwriting category. Five individuals have been awarded with three (3) screenwriting Oscars: Billy Wilder, Charles Brackett, Francis Ford Coppola, Woody Allen, and Paddy Chayefsky.
See an entire detailed listing of Academy Award Script/Screenplay Winners from 1927/28 to the Present on this site.
This awards category has varied considerably over the first 30 years of the awards ceremony, but solidified itself by about 1970:
in the first year of the Academy Awards, 1927/1928, there were only two writing categories: Best Writing, Adaptation and Best Original Story; there was also a short-lived category termed Best Title Writing, discontinued after this year at the end of the silent era
in the second and third years of the Academy Awards (1928/29 and 1929/30), there was only a single writing award: Writing Achievement, with no distinction between original works and adaptations. Only the titles of the nominated films were announced. Writers were nominated for all of their work that year, rather than nominating the writer for a specific film
In the next four ceremonies (1930/31, 1931/32, 1932/33, and 1934), the distinction between original works and adaptations was resumed with two categories: Best Writing, Adaptation and Best Original Story
beginning in 1935, the term screenplay was first used as a nomination category (replacing Best Writing, Adaptation - it was used to indicate an adaptation rather than an original story), so now there were two categories: Best Original Story and Best Screenplay (adaptation)
(Because of these rules, The Story of Louis Pasteur (1936) remains the only film to win its two writing nominations in one ceremony for the same screenwriters (Pierre Collings and Sheridan Gibney), for both Best Original Story and Best Screenplay (adaptation). Collings and Gibney are the only screenwriters to win two Oscars each for their work on a single film.)
in 1940, the Academy started a new category - Best Original Screenplay, in addition to the other two categories: Best Original Story and Best Screenplay (adaptation). Best Original Story was intended to give credit to the authors of performance works (not novels) that films were based on. Therefore, oftentimes, the source and its adaptation would earn nominations - and Oscars.
(Besides The Story of Louis Pasteur (1936) with more than one writing Oscar, Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941) was the first to win two writing Oscars, followed by Going My Way (1944) and Miracle on 34th Street (1947). But in these other three cases, the script authors were different people from the writers credited with the screenplay.)
in 1942, the titles for the three awards were: Best Screenplay (adaptation), Best Original Screenplay, and Best Original Motion Picture Story
in 1948, the award went back to only two awards: Best Motion Picture Story (original screenplay) and Best Screenplay (adaptation); the Best Original Screenplay category was dropped
in 1949, the award was expanded back to three nebulous categories: Best Motion Picture Story, Best Screenplay (adaptation) and Best Story and Screenplay (the new name for the Best Original Screenplay category)
in 1956, there were again three nominees, retaining Best Motion Picture Story and two other renamed categories: Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Original Screenplay
in 1957, the modern division of the award into "original" and "adapted" screenplays was finally implemented - with only two renamed categories: Best Screenplay - Based on Material From Another Medium (Adapted Screenplay) and Best Story and Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen (Original Screenplay); the category of Best Motion Picture Story was discarded by being merged into the other categories
in 1969, the category of Best Story and Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen was renamed: Best Story and Screenplay - Based on Factual Material or Material Not Previously Published or Produced
since then, the category names for the writing awards have been simplified to Adapted Screenplay and Original Screenplay
Currently, there are two basic categories of writing awards:
Writing, Adapted Screenplay: awarded to the writer of a screenplay adapted from another source (novel or play usually)
Writing, Original Screenplay: awarded to the writer of a script not based on previously published material
Top Academy Award Screenwriting Nominations and Winners:
Woody Allen (16) and Billy Wilder (12) have been nominated the most for any screenwriting category. Five individuals have been awarded with three (3) screenwriting Oscars: Billy Wilder, Charles Brackett, Francis Ford Coppola, Woody Allen, and Paddy Chayefsky.
But, if you look at Woody Allen, he can't be compared to Charles Brackett, Billy Wilder, Coppola.
While Chayesky and Allen both came from the TV writing "workshop" and usually wrote their works alone, Wilder almost always wrote with Brackett or Diamond (group writers much as with the early writers).
Preston Sturges.....where did he come from and did he change the modern mold or did he follow Charlie Chaplin?