For our twelfth Rundown article, we look at a category where having nothing to go on is a good thing. After the jump, you’ll find our winner and runner-up predictions for Best Original Screenplay as well as general commentary about the race. Wednesday, we’ll cover a category that’s all about lighting and composition.

Best Original Screenplay

Winner Predictions

• Bridge of Spies
• Ex Machina
• Inside Out
• Spotlight (WL O) (PP O) (TB O) (TL O)
• Straight Outta Compton

Runner-Up Predictions

• Ex Machina (PP O)
• Inside Out (TB R) [New]
• Straight Outta Compton (WL R) [New](TL R) [New]

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Wesley Lovell: For Spotlight to win Best Picture, it needs at least one other award and this is going to likely be it. Leading all comers this year, Spotlight is the most honored script of the year and should have no problem picking up this prize, even if it’s likely now to be its sole victory.
Peter J. Patrick: This is Spotlight’s to lose. There isn’t much chance of that.
Tripp Burton: Spotlight has picked up every precursor in this category, and as the chances of it taking any other prizes is dwindling quickly, this seems to be the best chance to award one of the most awarded films of the year. If it somehow doesn’t win, which I find hard to see, it is because voters want to reward the originality of Pixar or the #oscarssowhite movement has pushed voters to check out Straight Outta Compton.
Thomas La Tourrette: This has been Spotlight’s to lose for a long time, and that does not look likely to happen. It has remained a critical favorite winning most of the precursor awards including the prestigious Writers Guild award. It is a well thought out and written film which really deserves more than this one Oscar it will win, but I think this will be the only one it gets. The sprightly Inside Out had seemed its closest competitor, but with all the talk of the all white Oscars, I now think the film that would come closest to pulling the upset is Straight Outta Compton. That still feels relatively unlikely to happen and Spotlight should deservedly win.

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