Oscar Writing Category Still Open for 'I Play Rocky'

Nobody has yet decided whether Amazon MGM Studios' 'I Play Rocky' will compete at the Oscars as an original or an adapted screenplay. Variety reported the open question on 10 November 2026. The talks involve the studio, the Writers Guild of America (WGA, the union for screenwriters), the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and the film's creative team.

The label matters because the Oscars split writing awards into two groups. Original screenplays are written directly for the screen. Adapted ones are built on existing material. Peter Gamble wrote 'I Play Rocky' as an original script, not based on a book, article, memoir or any other single published work. The film, though, restages some of the best-known scenes from the 1976 'Rocky' and uses existing characters: Rocky Balboa, Adrian and Apollo Creed.

Under Academy guidelines, a script is generally treated as adapted if it draws on a sequel, a remake, an existing film or pre-existing characters. A true story can still count as original if the writer did the research and used several sources.

Gamble drafted the script on spec, meaning he wrote it without a studio commission. A spot on the Black List, an annual survey of well-liked unproduced screenplays, then carried it to producers Christian Baha and Toby Emmerich and to director Peter Farrelly, who made the best picture winner 'Green Book' (2018). It is Gamble's second produced feature, after 'Office Uprising' (2018).

The WGA cannot settle the matter this time. The film was not made under a WGA signatory agreement, the contract that binds a production to guild rules. The guild therefore cannot classify the screenplay or consider it for its own awards, even though Gamble is a member. That leaves the decision with the Academy's Writers Branch executive committee. The committee normally defers to the WGA's classification, but it steps in when a film has not been classified or when a classification is questioned. It has broken with the guild before.

While it reviews a case, the committee may ask the credited writers for a statement. Once it rules, the decision is final. No appeals are allowed, and no additional materials are accepted. Amazon MGM and the Academy both declined to comment on the classification.

Other award groups handle the question differently. The Golden Globes place all screenplays in one category. BAFTA and the Critics Choice Awards split original and adapted, and generally follow whichever category the studio submits. The Oscars do not ask films to pick a writing category in advance.

There is a recent precedent. Warner Bros. campaigned Greta Gerwig's 'Barbie' as an original. The film was moved to adapted, and it went on to earn an adapted screenplay Oscar nomination.

The calendar is tight. Thursday, Nov. 12, is the final day for studios to submit Official Screen Credits forms to the Academy for the 99th Academy Awards, covering best picture, animated feature and the general entry categories. On Nov. 20, 'I Play Rocky' expands to cinemas nationwide, the same day WGA submissions close.