I love that they framed the evening by telling the story of making a movie — and they began with the screenwriter staring at a “blinking cursor,” that place we all know before the story exists. The process of birthing a script — making something out of nothing — is an enormous challenge and often forgotten as the production barges ahead. And that point of creativity smashing up against a writer’s existential crisis was where they started the Academy Awards last night.

I love that they showed actual script pages including scene description and dialogue for each of the nominees for adapted and original screenplays. I still meet people who think the screenwriter is the person who writes the words the actors say. That’s part of it, but much less important than the character development, story structure, themes, etc.

I love that the presenters for the screenwriting awards were Tina Fey and Steve Martin, not just because they were funny, but because they are writers.

I love that both winners of the screenwriting awards — Dustin Lance Black (Milk) and Simon Beaufoy (Slumdog Millionaire) — were passionate about the stories they wrote. Clearly that was reflected in their words on page. I believe it was producer Christian Colson who said about Slumdog that the movie had so many things working against it, but it was the power of Beaufoy’s script that kept luring people to the project — I would think that beyond the characters and the plot, much of what attracted readers to that script was Beaufoy’s passion for the material.

But most of all, I love that so many winners last night repeated the same point over and over: Talent is important, but of equal importance is persistence. Slumdog Millionaire is the poster child to any writer willing to follow their passion into a great story and maintain the drive to see it through all the way to the end.

So what are we waiting for? Let’s get back to our stories – and write the hell out of ‘em!