Carrie asked:
<I'm thinking this is on topic, because I know this list
has discussed the short story that the movie Memento was
based on. And that's the question - how did the flick manage
to get a "best original screenplay" Oscar nomination? I swear
the credits said "based on the story by . . ." Was the story
not published before the film came out, or did somebody at
the Academy goof?>
The story had not been published. Alex Fung dealt with this
issue on his excellent film awards page:
http://www.ncf.carleton.ca/~aw220/
December 16
<I received a great letter from Mr. Norman Shetler, who
picked up on a remark I made in Oscar Column #1:
I was under the impression that the short story by Chris
Nolan's brother was actually published AFTER the film had
been made, which would make it an Original Screenplay, at
least if you go by the official full name for that category
"...based on material previously produced or published". I
did some investigation on this matter, and Mr. Shetler
appears to be on the money. While Christopher Nolan's
screenplay was based on the short story by his brother,
Jonathan, and hence would generally be considered as an
'adapted' script, the original short story was not published
until March 2001 (in Esquire magazine, apparently), the same
month the film received its theatrical release, and
(obviously) well after the picture had been shot and put in
the can. As such, given that the official title of the
Academy Awards category is "Best Screenplay Based On Material
Previously Produced Or Published" (emphasis mine), it's
difficult to see how the Memento screenplay could fall into
this category; the script was indeed on based on other source
material, but it hadn't been published at the time the
screenplay was written. As such, it follows that Memento's
screenplay should probably be under consideration in the
"Best Screenplay Written Directly For The Screen"
category.
(One should remember that the "Best Original Screenplay" and
"Best Adapted Screenplay" terms bandied about are loose
short-form [and occasionally inaccurate] versions of the
aforementioned actual category titles, which ought to be
interpreted literally.) As Mr. Shether pointed out later in
his letter, this isn't an unprecedented scenario. In 1968,
the screenplay for 2001: A Space Odyssey was penned by
Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke before Clarke's novel
hit the printing press, and as such the 2001 script wound up
with a Best Original Screenplay nomination that year
(eventually losing out to Mel Brooks' The Producers).
If I'm interpreting the Academy rules correctly, then, the
Christopher Nolan screenplay ought to be a contender in the
"Best Screenplay Written Directly For The Screen" category
(a.k.a. "Best Original Screenplay"). Of course, it would be
easy to confirm this if there were any For Your Consideration
trade advertisements in support of the script -- they've
touted Joe Pantoliano for Supporting Actor so far, but litle
else as far as I know. Can anyone in the know confirm that
Memento will be an Original Screenplay for the purposes of
the Academy Awards?>
January 1
<In Oscar Column #3, I explored the confusion surrounding
the potential AMPAS classification of Christopher Nolan's
screenplay for his film Memento, which was based on a short
story by his brother Jonathan that went unpublished until
after the film was shot and released. Through some convoluted
logic
(and referring to the 2001: A Space Odyssey precedence), I
finally concluded that Nolan's screenplay ought to be under
consideration in the
"Best Screenplay Written Directly For The Screen" Oscar
category, rather than the "Best Screenplay Based On Material
Previously Produced Or Published" category.
A few readers thinking along the same lines disagreed with my
conclusion:
"I'm still confused by the reasoning for Memento being
considered an Original Screenplay. As you said, the Adapted
category is actually "Based on Material Previously Produced
or Published". I understand that the short story was not
previously published but it was previously produced, and the
use of "or" instead of "and" in the category title seems to
indicate that it doesnt need to be both. Now the Original
Screenplay category is called "Written Directly For the
Screen". How could Memento qualify here? It clearly was not
written directly for the screen."
- Larry McGillicuddy
"As much sense as your logic makes, I've gotta disagree on
the idea that Memento should be considered in the Original
Screenplay (to use the convenient shorthand) category.
Yeah, the full name of the category is "...previously
produced or published in another medium," but it seems to me
that as soon as the story was written, it had been "produced
in another medium." The category doesn't say "...previously
PUBLICLY produced...in another medium," after all."
- Keith Chaffee
First of all, I'm grateful that my reader[s] are sharp-eyed
enough to catch these nuances and aren't reluctant to call me
on them -- thanks for keeping me on my toes, guys.
Nevertheless, I think my assessment of the situation is still
correct due to an understandable misinterpretation by Mssrs.
McGillicuddy and Chaffee above. Any WGA or AMPAS members out
there, correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure that in
the AMPAS category title "Based on Material Previously
Produced or Published" (emphasis mine), "produced" does not
refer to the act of generating or formulating the idea or
story; I believe it refers to the act of producing the
material as per a stage production or a previous film
production
(short or feature-length). This hence covers situations like
stageplay adaptations and occurrences like Sling Blade (which
was preceded by the short film Some Call It A Sling Blade),
and as such the Jonathan Nolan short story for Memento was
neither produced nor published.
Mr. McGillicuddy brings out a good point with his issue of
Memento not being "written directly for the screen". In fact,
literally speaking, the two sets represented by "Best
Screenplay Written Directly For The Screen" and "Best
Screenplay Based On Material Previously Produced Or
Published" are by no means exclusive; if you think about it,
most adapted screenplays could be accurately described as
"Best Screenplay Written Directly For The Screen Based On
Material Previously Produced Or Published" -- while it's
based on existing material, the script itself is specifically
written for the screen. In fact, in most cases "Best
Screenplay Written Directly For The Screen" is rather
redundant -- screenplays are written for the screen,
teleplays are written for television, stageplays are written
for the stage. (The only case this distinction would really
be applicable is when, say, a teleplay is adapted into a
screenplay.) Ouch, I'm starting to get a headache.
In any case, I've been kindly informed by a chap with
dealings with the Memento publicists -- I'll withhold his
name in case this turns out to be false so as not to put him
on the spot -- that the plan is to indeed promote Christopher
Nolan's script in the Original Screenplay category. I've yet
to see any corroborating FYC ads; we'll have to
see.>
As we have seen, AMPAS has indeed clarified the issue by its
placement of the Memento nomination in the Original
Screenplay category.
Mark Harris
===== Mark Harris Educational Consulting College Admissions
Strategies 773-914-3472 http://admissionsplus.blogspot.com/
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