Michael Arndt's Words...

I really liked LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE. I thought it was a well-written script, and an enjoyable movie. And yet, when Michael Arndt accepted his Oscar and said that the director was the true author of the film, I almost heaved my Ghanaian royal stool through my television. What was he saying? Hadn't he received the memo? Screenwriters are fighting, here and in Europe, to be thought of as more than the whore who writes stuff so that the real talent can make it into a film. But Arndt just thumbed his nose at that. Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not saying screenwriters are the author of the film. It's a collaborative effort. But we are AN author of the work. We write the basic blueprint for what happens on the screen. Boy, the more I read about working screenwriters, the more I understand how screenwriters gave up the copyright to their works.