THE STORY SPOT

Last night, Anvil! The Story of Anvil won Best Documentary at the 25th Independent Spirit Awards here in downtown Los Angeles. If you haven’t seen it, do. You will witness — and be a part of — lives profoundly changing right before your eyes.

Anvil is Robb Reiner, Steve 'Lips' Kudlow,
and Glenn 'G5" Gyorffy

Congratulations Sacha Gervasi, Jeff Renfroe, Andrew Dickler, Chris Soos, and Rebecca Yeldham. And much respect to you Lips, Robb, and G5 for just being you. I’m honoured to have witnessed and shared this journey with all of you.

This, people, is how you change the world: vision, honesty, and killer filmmaking.

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The 25th Independent Spirit Awards
Anvil! The Story of Anvil – Official Film Site (signed DVDs and posters available)
anvilmetal.com – Official Site of Anvil

As we love to do, congratulations go out to this year’s nominees in outstanding screenwriting for the 82nd annual Academy Awards — the Oscars to you and me. Never mind that the writers were last on the Academy’s list…

Original Screenplay

• “The Hurt Locker“. Written by Mark Boal.
• “Inglourious Basterds“. Written by Quentin Tarantino.
• “The Messenger“. Written by Alessandro Camon & Oren Moverman.
• “A Serious Man“. Written by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen.
• “Up“. Screenplay by Bob Peterson, Pete Docter. Story by Pete Docter, Bob Peterson, Tom McCarthy.

Adapted Screenplay

• “District 9“. Written by Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell.
• “An Education“. Screenplay by Nick Hornby.
• “In the Loop“. Screenplay by Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche.
• “Precious“. Screenplay by Geoffrey Fletcher.
• “Up in the Air“. Screenplay by Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner.

The full, printable list of Oscar nominees (useful for ballot making!)

Though there is much press already, we writers can’t be honored enough for creating the stories that touch countless hearts, speak truths, and change lives.

Congratulations to the nominees and winners of last night’s 2009 Academy Awards in the Writing categories.

WRITING (Original Screenplay)

Courtney Hunt for FROZEN RIVER
Mike Leigh for HAPPY-GO-LUCKY
Martin McDonagh for IN BRUGES
Dustin Lance Black for MILK *Oscar Winner*
Andrew Stanton and Jim Reardon for WALL-E

WRITING (Adapted Screenplay)

Eric Roth for THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
John Patrick Shanley for DOUBT
Peter Morgan for FROST / NIXON
David Hare for THE READER
Simon Beaufoy for SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE *Oscar Winner*

An extra-special bit of attention is to be paid to Ms. Hunt for not only being one of the historically few estrogen-producing members of this illustrious gang but also because FROZEN RIVER appears to be her first screenwriting credit EVER!

Photo credits: From www.oscar.com

Let the festivities begin! The list of nominees for the 81st annual Academy Awards are hot off the presses. The big day is Sunday, February 22, 2009. Where will your Oscar Party be?

And the nominees are…

The 81st annual Academy Awards list of nominees at Oscar.com

P.S. Joan & Melissa, it’s never been the same without you.

It’s funtime in the snow once again. If you’re new to THE STORY SPOT, be sure to send a quick hello using the form on the right and/or sign up for the not-so-frequent feed. Remember to mention that you found out about us at Sundance! Happy new year, all.

Good reading and writing (and end of striking) in 2008!