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 - LincolnNominated   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 NominatedBest 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 ParkNot NominatedBest 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 NominatedBest 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)