Work in Progress - Stephen Spielberg Vs. The Academy V1

For the interested, and on some days readers are more interested in my blog than others - this is an ongoing article on how I write a blog. This is after I have an idea but before I hit 'publish' on the sidebar. 

Writing is an interesting craft. I can't think of any other form where you spend hours/weeks/years building something (your story) then when you are done you think 'Fuck, this is awesome' and rush out to try to convince everyone to read it immediately. 

Then when you look at it six months later you wonder what the hell you were thinking. It's crap. You spelled something wrong, your main character would never walk with a limp or wear a Metallica T-shirt.

So that's why I draft. Then I wait. Then I go through it again. Other artists probably just start over. I've never heard of a painting reclaimed by an artist because it was missing a tree or something, or a music album recalled because one song really sucked and the songwriter wanted to change a word or verse.

I am probably oversimplifying. I don't know other artists or writers methods. I just know what I feel I am supposed to do. 

So here is the first draft of my idea for an article that looks at the Biggest Player in Hollywood (Steven Spielberg) and his fight to be recognized as a 'serious' auteur by the Motion Picture Academy which annually presents the Oscars with much pomp and publicity. 


I wrote this a year ago. Being a freelance writer (ie; blogger) I'm under no deadline. Unless one of you wants to pay me to finish this, then I will be done as soon as the paypal alert goes.   


Notes for the Newbies - 1st draft is what it is, pretty much all text. Maybe a link or two which was the genesis of the idea. 2nd draft will include pictures, perhaps more links. Tightening up the text.


Steven Spielberg. If James Cameron is King of the World, Spielberg is King of Hollywood. And bad Video Games, (so as I was reading this, it spun into this idea for the post)

But for the best-earning director in Hollywood, with dozens of film directing credits he has only won Best Picture 3x. So in this world of glamour and studio politics let's compare who beat out SS for the Golden Man in the relevant years. (awful phrasing to be fixed later)

William Wyler is the only director with a worst % ratio of Spielberg's 2 for 7 wins to nominations ratio. Wyler, a formidable bastard back in the glory years of film raked in 3 wins for his 12 nominations. (need to link to Wyler's IMDB page with relevant film titles)

Spielberg shares the win to loss ratio with David Lean and Fred Zinneman, both winners for Bridge on the River Kwai and From Here to Eternity, respectively. (more IMDB research)


Spielberg's Movie of the Year/ nomination category/ wins bolded

(find movie posters to be inserted)

2012 - Lincoln

Nominated   

Best Director/Movie Ang Lee for Life of Pi 

2011War Horse / The Adventures of Tintin

Not Nominated

Best Director Michael Hazanavicius for The Artist

2008 Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Not Nominated

Best Director/Movie Danny Boyle for Slumdog Millionaire

2005 Munich (nominated) /War of the Worlds (Not Nominated)

Best Director/Movie Ang Lee for Brokeback Mountain

2004 The Terminal

Not Nominated   

Best Director/Movie Clint Eastwood for Million Dollar Baby

2002 Catch Me If You Can / Minority Report

Not Nominated   

Best Director/Movie Roman Polanski for The Pianist

2001 A.I. Artificial Intelligence

Not Nominated   

Best Director/Movie Ron Howard for A Beautiful Mind

1998 Saving Private Ryan

Nominated   

Best Director/Movie Spielberg

1997 Amistad / The Lost World: Jurassic Park

Not Nominated

Best Director/Movie James Cameron for Titanic

1993 Schindler's List/ Jurassic Park

Nominated   

Best Director/Movie Spielberg

1991 Hook

Not Nominated   

Best Director/Movie Jonathon Demme for Silence of the Lambs 

1989 Always /Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

Not Nominated   

Best Director/Movie Oliver Stone for Born on the Fourth of July

1987 Empire of the Sun 

Not Nominated   

Best Director/Movie Bernardo Bertulucci Last Emperor 

1985 The Color Purple

Not Nominated   

Best Director/Movie Sydney Pollack for Out of Africa

1984 Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom 

Not Nominated   

Best Director/Movie Milos Forman for Amadeus

1983 Twilight Zone: The Movie (segment "2")
Not Nominated

Best Director/Movie James L. Brooks for Terms of Endearment

1982 E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

Nominated   

Best Director/Movie Richard Attenborough for Gandhi

1981 Raiders of the Lost Ark

Nominated   

Best Director/Movie Warren Beaty for Reds

1979 1941

Not Nominated   

Best Director/Movie Robert Benton for Kramer Vs. Kramer 

1977 Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Nominated   

Best Picture Woody Allen for Annie Hall  (note star wars released)

1975 Jaws 

Not Nominated   

Best Director/Movie  Milos Forman for One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

1974 The Sugarland Express

Not Nominated   

Best Director/Movie Francis Ford Coppola for Godfather Part 2

Conclusion.
(I got nothing, which is probably why I ran out of energy and focus in finishing this)