For Your Consideration
One of the perks of being in the WGA is that you get sent scripts and screener DVDs for many of the year’s best movies. Just this week, I got Juno and The Savages. My Christmas holiday to-watch list keeps getting longer.
WGA members are sent these scripts and screeners in the hopes that they’ll be nominated for the awards, obviously.1 But it’s not always clear why some movies are “For Your Consideration,” while others aren’t.
The answer has less to do with critics than calendars; the decision is made months before the movie is released. It’s made by studio marketing departments, who are looking at dates, cast and comparable films to figure out whether it’s worth the money and time it takes to mount a serious FYC campaign.
Sony decided Big Fish was an awards contender, so they bought the ads and publicity to support it. We screened for the National Board of Review and all of the other tastemakers. In the end, we got a handful of nominations. I got Best Adapted Screenplay nominations from the Broadcast Film Critics and the BAFTA’s.
But a few years earlier, the studio didn’t try to get anything for Go. We’d debuted at Sundance, and had gotten terrific reviews, but since we hit theaters in February of that year, there were other movies for the studio to promote by the time awards season came. Doug Liman, Sarah Polley and I would have been longshots — but our names could certainly have been placed in the mix. But for Sony, a couple of award nominations would have meant very little for an R-rated teen comedy already at Blockbuster.
With the summer release of The Nines, I knew there was little chance we’d be remembered come awards time — and zero money for ads, mailers and screenings to refresh people’s memories.2 I would have loved some actorly appreciation for Ryan and Melissa, who are consistently singled out in reviews for being terrific in multiple roles, even by critics who didn’t like the movie.
But I’ve tried not to be frustrated when looking at the 14th full page For Your Consideration ad in Variety for a “worthy” movie I know is worthless. The awards campaign was always part of these Very Important Movies’ marketing. It wasn’t for ours. Our target audience was the intersection of sci-fi geeks and Sundance aficionados, who we’ll reach better when the movie comes out on DVD
We didn’t send out the script of The Nines, although it’s been available for download for months. With a bit of stomping and fuss, I probably could have gotten the distributor to mail it to at least WGA members. And I kind of regret not pushing for it, because I have a hunch that the small subset of members who actually read the scripts they’re sent3 are the ones inclined to log in and do the new online nominations for the WGA Awards.
So if you’re a WGA member who falls into that category, let me invite you to read it and nominate it if it seems like one of the five best contenders for Original Screenplay this year. (We’re number #109 on the ballot. The deadline is January 8th at noon.)
Did that feel uncomfortable? Because it was. It’s so much nicer to sit behind a glossy trade ad than ask a reader for his or her vote. But I just did.
I’ll be heading out for a Christmas holiday, but I’ll be checking in occasionally. If I don’t see you, have a good one.
- Specifically the WGA Awards, which I have a hunch will not be picketed, unlike some others. ↩
- It didn’t matter that we’d only come out in New York, LA and Austin. Most of the awards-givers are conveniently housed there. ↩
- My great frustration is that awards for Best Screenplay are given without any direct exposure to the screenplay. You’re watching the finished movie and guessing which ones were well-written. The more honest award would be given to the director for Not Fucking Up What Was Probably a Good Script. ↩
December 22nd, 2007 at 3:57 am
I’m not a WGA member, haven’t read the screenplay (because I’d like to see the movie first, and in Germany it’s probably fastest to wait for the US DVD) and I wish you the best of luck. But I’d like to suggest you read your paragraph set in bold again. I believe it’s bad luck for a writer to ask for a vote with a huge typo bordering on jive.
December 22nd, 2007 at 10:16 am
Since you mention The Nines DVD in this post, any idea on a planned HD release of the movie? Read the script a while ago and formed my own mental image of the movie - seeing how it was turned into actual screen time will be quite interesting and educational!
December 22nd, 2007 at 11:11 am
John, in all honesty, if you were to poll your most ardent fans, including those of us who do have major representation and have produced award-winning work, The Nines was not a good film, nor was it a good script.
And seriously — this posting is just…beneath you.
December 22nd, 2007 at 11:42 am
Talking about your DVDs… I just re-watched “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”. The first boy who wins a ticket for entering the factory comes from Germany. The village shown in the film is obviously a Bavarian village… but why does it say it would be “Düsseldorf”? I live next to it… we don’t walk around in Lederhosen and Dirndls here. Although it’s a funny idea.
December 22nd, 2007 at 2:55 pm
Hi John.
Loved ‘The Nines’ in the theater (where you presented it), loved the script… and keenly look forward to being a proud owner of the DVD.
Though not a Writer’s guild member yet, just wanted to say that in my mind, on a scale of 1-5, yours is a 9.
Sidenote: Whenever I accidentally catch the weather-channel, I think of the number 8. And Koalas. Ah, the wonderful power of cinema…
December 22nd, 2007 at 4:21 pm
Hi John. Like Red Cat, I’m an anonymous self-important jackass. I’ve also won awards1. (Have you won awards, Mister August? I think not.) While I haven’t seen “The Nines”, I have seen “The Whole Nine Yards” and can’t condone your derivative coat-tailing.
And to follow this hackery up with a humble request to your peers? Insulting. You know how this works. You’re supposed to demand recognition with a blitzkrieg of self congratulatory industry advertising, costing hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Mister August, I find you the lowest form of garbage.
Sincerely, Your Ardent Fan
1. Penmanship, Miss Harkey’s first grade class, 1988.
December 22nd, 2007 at 4:29 pm
Red Cat (#3):
And you are who, exactly? Oh. An award-winning writer who won’t sign his own name to a post. Thanks.
You can email me, you know — ask@johnaugust.com — in case you’d prefer to tell me privately. Because if you’re a writer whose work I know and respect, that honestly kind of stings. But if you’re not (and I think you’re not), I’m not going to lose a lot of sleep over it.
(Note to everyone else: I know it would be fun to post a ridiculous comment as Red Cat. Please don’t. I really like that I’ve never had to turn on any kind of sign-in or registration.)
December 22nd, 2007 at 7:40 pm
John, I am about to pre-order The Nines & I saw that the cover has “Special Edition” printed across the top. This is a huge turn-off when buying movies because it becomes inevitable that next month there is a Directors cut, then next summer there is a 2 disc collectors series, then the box set with the soul of the advertising representative & a free talking bobble head. I know you can’t guarantee anything, but do you plan to re-release this movie with other ’special’ marks or does this DVD contain all that you can put into it?
December 22nd, 2007 at 8:12 pm
Just because I’m curious, how do you determine which comments or questions you reply to?
And for the record, I’m reading as fast as I can. If I’m lucky I’ll be all done by voting time.
December 23rd, 2007 at 12:20 pm
Out of curiosity, which movies getting FYC ads are you calling worthless?
December 23rd, 2007 at 1:53 pm
“The more honest award would be given to the director for Not Fucking Up What Was Probably a Good Script.”
You could probably do a whole column on The Most Honest Name for the Best Screenplay Award: –The Best (Director Who Has Been Nominated For The First Time But Doesn’t Have Enough of a History to be Taken Seriously and Who Also Wrote the) Screenplay –The Best (Director Who Has Only Done Films Which Couldn’t Possibly Be Important Enough to Ever Be Taken Seriously and Who Also Wrote the) Screenplay –The Best (Picture in a Genre That Will Get That Award As Soon as the Entire Voting Population Defenestrate Themselves but Is Too Good To Not At Least Get Some Notice for ) Screenplay –The Best (Picture That’s Character Driven and Not A Period Piece And So Nobody Thinks the Direction Could Have Been Difficult But What the Heck Give ‘em ) Screenplay –The Best (Picture that Everyone Knows will be Completely Forgotten in Eighteen Months but Includes an IMPORTANT MESSAGE in the ) Screenplay
Although it sometimes actually is just plain The Best Screenplay, too.
RV
December 24th, 2007 at 2:09 am
“The Nines” was a WAY better screenplay than “Juno,” yet I’m betting that Diablo Cody (TM) will win an Oscar, or at least get nominated. Why are “they” pushing Juno so hard? I thought the movie was decent, but a little pro-lifey, kinda like a “family values” sheep in MySpace/hipster clothing. And I’m so sick of hearing about how great a writer Diablo Cody is–honestly, her stuff seems pretty sitcom-y. I can’t wait until her fifteen minutes are up. The hype seems so manufactured. Who cares if she was a stripper?? I worked in a fast food joint before writing a couple bestselling novels, but I don’t need to dress up as a hamburger to sell my books (on second thought…) Okay, so this turned into a rant, but I’m bummed that “The Nines” gets overlooked when structurally and conceptually it was innovative and compelling.
December 24th, 2007 at 9:24 am
OJ (not that one)- Where’s the typo? I’m not seeing it. John, I’ve always found the Best Screenplay award to be a lot like a Coach of the Year award in most sports. In both cases, a reward is given for not butchering the product. Rarely does the “best film” (subjective as it is) win Best Screenplay - the academy usually reserves this award for the quirky, different, slightly less commercial, non-blockbuster movie. In sports, rarely does the team with the best record receive a Coach of the Year award. “They are supposed to be good” is often the thought process. Instead, a team that played above the MEDIA’S expectations usually earns a trophy for its coach, even though that coach didn’t necessarily do anything better than the coach who led a team to the World Series, Super Bowl, etc. Similarly, an off-beat film that was destined for the rental shelves but somehow found an audience (ex. The Fisher King) often is in the running for Best Screenplay - not because it IS the best screenplay (there are plenty of others destroyed by producers, directors, actors, etc.) but rather because it received notoriety beyond expectations.
December 24th, 2007 at 9:47 am
Richard (#8):
I’ll be doing a post about The Nines DVD after the new year, but let me reassure you — the “Special Edition” is the ONLY edition.
While we could conceivably do a blu-Ray at some point, there’s no plan for it. (It’s Sony, so it would definitely be blu-Ray rather than HD-DVD.) And pretty much every special feature we could do is crammed onto the current disc.
One very cool bonus feature is that for the opening sequence (about five minutes), the script scrolls in the upper half of the frame. One of the lower quadrants shows the movie in real time, while the other one shows each of the storyboards, matching up to the final shot.
The DVD was put together by Blue Collar, who do a lot of the better DVDs. They worked their asses off for this one.
Since I had final cut, there’s no director’s cut lingering out there. What you see is what I wanted.
I still hope to be able to release all the source footage so that others can do their own cuts (like with the trailer competition), but that’s a big corpo-political discussion which will have to wait until after the strike.
December 24th, 2007 at 6:05 pm
Hey, John — Thanks for the site and the service you provide. Have no idea why it took me so long to figure out you might be online. As to this post, why not just pay for a few FYC ads for Ryan/Melissa yourself? I know they’re expensive but I hear screenwriters keep wads of cash in shoe boxes under their futons.
January 4th, 2008 at 12:17 pm
Hi John,
Young writer, new reader. Just wanted to say that I loved Go and Big Fish, and I may be dropping in from time to time.
Cheers!
April 9th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
Hi John, I published my first novel, ‘Familiar Stranger,” last July. It is a novel set on the Canadian Prairies and would make the basis for a great family movie. Publish America published my novel. You can find it at Barnes and Noble as well as Amazon on the net and read a brief summary of it. I could send you a copy, if you’d like to see it for yourself. I would like to have my novel made into a movie. How do I go about this? How do I sell the movie rights, or is that necessary? I look forward to hearing from you.
Also, I am currently getting ready to publish my second novel. Any advice?
Thanks for your help.
Sincerely,
Alvin Funk (Phone 204-422-6699, Ste. Anne Manitoba, CA)