On Wednesday the writers’ branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) announced that the screenplay for “Barbie” will be considered an adapted work for this year’s awards show. Days later, film director and producer Judd Apatow took issue with the ruling, tweeting, “It’s insulting to the writers to say they were working off of existing material. There was no existing material or story. There was a clear box.”
While some on Twitter seemed ready to side with Apatow’s critique, several screenwriters took the director to task to explain why his hot take wasn’t so hot after all.
Nic Curio offered a series of tweets. He wrote, “Hi, screenwriter who pitches on lots of IP chiming in here … It doesn’t matter if there’s no existing story embedded into the property. Whether it’s a video game, Creepypasta, candy bar, or board game — you’re being hired to ‘adapt.’ Even if all you’re given is literally a title.”
Curio went on to share that he has pitched several branded projects to studios. “Branded projects I have pitched on similar to ‘Barbie’: Mad Libs, Monopoly, Peeps candy, etc.,” he wrote. “These are ‘adaptation’ jobs and the WGA rates would be for ‘adapted screenplay,’ which is the same verbiage [and] job Noah and Greta were paid to do. It’s an adapted screenplay!”
He continued, “I’m not saying this is fair, but it’s the way the industry has worked since movies based on toys became a thing. As it stands, the Oscars have made the right call.”
“Also, for the record, these gigs are just as hard to pull off, even if you’re dealing with great source material — and there’s nothing ‘insulting’ about being a writer who adapts IP,” Curcio added.
The screenwriter concluded, “Someone has pointed out to me that Greta/Noah got a ‘written by’ credit, which means the WGA deemed it an original script. I don’t know how they swung that, but I still think the Academy made the right call. They did not create Barbie and Ken. They adapted existing characters.”
John Murphy, a screenwriter on several Netflix projects including “Gnome Alone” and “Dog Gone Trouble,” was also critical of Apatow’s take, suggesting that perhaps the “Knocked Up” filmmaker’s words were the real problem.
“Does Judd think Adapted Screenplay is the kids’ table of screenwriting awards categories?” Murphy tweeted. “That seems like the real insult here.”
Culture writer Ben Rosenstock echoed this. He shared, “This is only insulting if you view winning the Adapted Screenplay award as an inherently less significant accomplishment than winning an Original Screenplay award, which it really isn’t.”
Oscar-nominated screenwriter Josh Olson seemed surprised by Apatow’s disdain for adapted screenplays. He tweeted, “As a rule, people not in the business have a tendency to believe that adapted screenplays are just transcriptions of something already written, but coming from someone in the business, it’s a bizarre complaint. Also, the whole movie plays beautifully on existing Barbie mythology.”
Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach, the cowriters for “Barbie” (Gerwig also directed the film) have not commented on the AMPAS decision.
