Women Screenwriters and Oscar Nominations
Some Statistics about Women Writers and the Academy Awards
Over the 82-year history of awards by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, 133 women have received nominations in writing categories. Twenty-one women have received the Oscar statuette. In contrast, men have received over 1200 writing nominations, and nearly 230 men have taken home an Oscar.
Most Women Writers Nominated at One Time
The largest number of women nominated for writing awards in a single year is six. It’s happened twice, first in 1991 and again in 2003. In 1991 Callie Khouri won for her original screenplay, Thelma and Louise. In 2003 women won Oscars in both original and adapted screenplay categories. Sofia Coppola won for her original script, Lost in Translation, and Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens shared writing credit with Peter Jackson for their adaptation, Lord of the Rings: Return of the King.
The 2nd largest group of women nominated at one time is four. The nominations happened in five different years: 1938, 1949, 1950, 1988, and 2007. The year 2007 is most notable because it contains the largest cluster of nominations for scripts credited with women as the only writer. Of the four women only Diablo Cody (Juno), took home an Oscar. The other record-breaking nominated writers in 2007 were Tamara Jenkins (The Savages), Nancy Oliver (Lars and the Real Girl), and Sarah Polley (Away from Her).
In Oscar’s history there have been 39 nominations for women credited as sole author of a screenplay. Ten of those women also received Oscars. In contrast, men holding sole screenwriting credit have been nominated over 480 times and have received over 100 Oscars.
Writing Duos
Also of interest, while male screenwriting duos show up routinely (over 380 times) in Oscar nominations, women duos have been nominated only three times: Adela Rogers St. Johns and Jane Murfin (1931, What Price Hollywood?), Nora Ephron and Alice Arlen (1983, Silkwood), and Fannie Flagg and Carol Sobieski (1991, Fried Green Tomatoes).
Nominations and Oscars for Women by Decade
Breaking the numbers down by decade shows women screenwriters have always been Oscar contenders. The 1960’s, however, show a significant drop in nominations for women. It is the only ten-year period in which no statuette was awarded to a woman for her script work. The graphic below titled "Breakdown by Decade" delineates the nominations and Oscar wins decade by decade through 2008.
The Academy Awards provide a small piece of the history of women screenwriters. In her book, The Women Who Write the Movies, Marsha McCreadie states that in the early days of filmmaking, “women outnumbered men in the screenwriting trade ten to one.” Today, approximately 19% of screenwriters employed by the film industry are women, according to the latest industry report released by the Writers Guild of America in 2007.
Notes:
- The nomination numbers include the 1st unofficial nominations for awards. The 1st years of the Academy Awards did not offer official nominations for writing awards.
- Usually 10 films a year are nominated across writing categories. The number of writers per film is not constant, and averages out to 16 writers a year since the inception of the awards.
- Up until the 7th Academy Awards in 1934, the Award years are designated as 1927/28, 1928/29 and so on, as the 1st awards did not cover a single calendar year.
Sources:
- Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Database (www.oscars.org)
- Writers Guild of America, West (www.wga.org)
- Filmsite.org (www.filmsite.org/bestscreenplays.html)
- The Women Who Write the Movies, by Marsha McCreadie (ISBN 1559722517)
Breakdown by Decade
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