BAFTAs 2017: Predicting Every Winner
18. Best Adapted Screenplay
Prediction: Arrival (Eric Heisserer)
Eric Heisserer distilled the headiness of Ted Chiang's short story into a riveting screenplay, and it certainly helps that this category is really pretty soft competition-wise (it's up against Lion, Nocturnal Animals, Hidden Figures and Hacksaw Ridge).
Should It Win?: Definitely. The dubious inclusion of Moonlight in the original screenplay category despite it clearly being adapted from existing material certainly helps Arrival's case, but if we accept the classifications as they are, this is totally the right call.
Arrival is going to under-perform hugely this awards season, so it'll be nice to see it pick up some scattered awards such as this.