Screen presence

Conventional wisdom holds that "The Departed," by winning four Oscars, including best picture and director, was the big winner Sunday night at the Academy Awards.

But for my money, the evening's truly triumphant were the screenwriters.

Going beyond even the terrific choice of using classic (although uncredited) quotes from screenplays for such Oscar-winning films as "Silence of the Lambs" (Ted Tally), "Jerry Maguire" (Cameron Crowe) and "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" (William Goldman) on the show's promotional billboards, the ceremony was arguably the most screenwriter-friendly in modern history and, hopefully, a sign that their part in this great and glorious distraction is beginning to get its due recognition.

Here is my postmortem on a night with some genuinely pleasant surprises (no, not the actual winners):

Big, big kudos to second-time producer Laura Ziskin and her writing staff for building in writer-centric content that was not only justified but also informative.

Nancy Meyers' fun montage of cinematic portrayals of writers, the free-floating dialogue graphics during clips and the new presenting format -- presenters read an excerpt from the nominated screenplay while the script's title page, draft date and relevant text are displayed with the clip -- were very welcome additions. This last idea is so simple, effective and organic it begs to be made standard.

Those elements' inclusion crystallized the inescapable truth of filmmaking: that art directors get their start from the scene settings on the page, that directors get inspirations for camera movements from subtleties of focus in the action lines, and that actors -- good as they are -- don't just ad lib dialogue that happens to deepen our understanding of a character and advance the plot.

During red-carpet coverage I saw no one stopping "Little Children" co-writer Todd Field to ask him whom he was wearing or to quiz any actor on what they thought of the script that gave them something to do for a living. Shame on you, Chris Connelly. Shame.

Supporting actor winner Alan Arkin generically thanked the "entire cast and crew and production team" of "Little Miss Sunshine," but omitted any specific mention of the screenplay.

Leaving aside Arkin's actual talent, his was the type of role that is recognized at the Oscars precisely because of the distinctive characteristics and dialogue that screenwriter Michael Arndt provided.

If Arndt doesn't make Grandpa a porn-perusing, heroin-sniffing rest-home exile who delivers scene-chewing speeches about war wounds, inappropriate sexual advice and heartwarming comfort to his granddaughter and adult son, then Arkin's watching the Oscars from home. He should thank Arndt for giving him a reason to put on a tux.

Supporting actress winner Jennifer Hudson gets half-credit for thanking "our director" Bill Condon, who also wrote the screenplay. But after giving it up to God twice, she neglected to thank any of the songwriters.

'I've written a screenplay'

Nattily dressed host Ellen DeGeneres got into the spirit with a gag about slipping a screenplay to Martin Scorsese (a bit crafted by a writer, I should point out).

Oscar-winning documentarian Errol Morris should follow Scorsese around for the next few weeks as he tries to buy cups of coffee and pick up his dry cleaning to see just how often this happens in real life. Ziskin can lead next year's awards show with the footage.