Though the night was dominated by Fox Searchlight’s 12 YEARS A SLAVE, which proved it is the front runner for tonight's Academy Awards by winning five of the seven categories it was nominated including the big ones: Best Feature and Best Director for Steve McQueen. The screenwriting award went, perhaps surprisingly, to the oldest writer.

At fifty-seven years of age Bob Nelson won best screenplay for NEBRASKA, stating, "This is really the fulfillment of a boyhood dream to one day become the oldest recipient of the first screenplay award."

Later, according to Deadline.com, Nelson credited his father  who “has been gone for 35 years” as the inspiration for NEBRASKA. The writer described a "long road to the screen" going back to 2003 when Dern was being considered for the lead. “I couldn’t imagine anybody else doing it. He does even remind me of my father.”