It's Oscar season and I will providing a view on the different ways one can win the Golden Statue.
Today is the screenplay.
There are two different types of wins that fall under this category: the adapted and the original. Adapted screenplay is a written work that has been turned into a movie. This where you see "based on" in the opening credits of a movie. This is much easier to be categorized in, as there is already a source material to which you can reference if you get lost in your own work. These tend to be easier to write and as such are much harder critiqued since there is something to reference where it is written poorly for an adaptation.
On the other side is the original screenplay. This can be easier or harder depending on the genre you write about. Since there is no subcategory, everything from comedy to drama is clumped into here making the competition a lot more fierce, but also stiff. It is tough to come up with an original concept and even harder to get that to the screen. The idea not only has to resonate with the executives at a studio, but also a director who has a keen eye for the story you are telling. Which is why most original screenplay writers are also the directors of their works. They wrote it, so they know how the shots are going to look on screen before anything else.
If however you become unlucky enough to have your screenplay made into a movie, don't be discouraged. There is a list that comes out every year titled "The Black List" which is not as scary as it may sound. This is a list writers want to be on. It means that executives like your script, but for one thing or another it just never made it to production. Most scripts that end up on this list are made within a year or two because they attract attention from being on the list.
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