I’ve been wanting to get this up since Thursday night, when the Writers Guild held its annual star-studded Beyond Words panel, but too many events piled up. The WGA’s awards-season closer turned out to be a bizarre laugh-riot that managed to skirt almost completely any discussion of the craft of writing.

In attendance were James Cameron (”Avatar”), Jon Lucas & Scott Moore (”The Hangover”), Scott Neustadter (”(500) Days of Summer”), Mark Boal (”The Hurt Locker”), Alex Kurtzman (”Star Trek”), Geoffrey Fletcher (”Precious”), Scott Cooper (”Crazy Heart”) and Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner (”Up in the Air”). Missing were Nora Ephron (”Julie & Julia”), Roberto Orci (”Star Trek”), Michael H. Weber (”(500) Days of Summer”) and Joel and Ethan Coen (”A Serious Man”).

Memories of Sundance may be fading away, but deals for many of its titles are only beginning to gear up. As overnight film-fest bidding wars become an endangered species, the indie film market is allowing buyers to take their sweet time choosing a higher quality level of film, with more coastal execs screening pics to be sure they’re the right fit.

It’s worth noting that last year’s biggest deal (and biggest hit) “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire,” wrapped its Lionsgate distribution pact a week after Sundance ended. The 2010 iteration’s Sunday close had no effect on continuing dealmaking.

It’s almost shocking that in the 62 year history of the Directors Guild Awards, no black director was ever nominated for best director before today. John Singleton earned a best director Oscar nomination for 1991’s “Boyz in the Hood,” but wasn’t similarly recognized by the DGA. And, amazingly, Spike Lee, despite such work as “Do the Right Thing” and “Malcolm X,” never made the DGA cut.

But that all changed Thursday morning, when the DGA welcomed “Precious” director Lee Daniels into the club. He’ll be competing for the trophy, to be handed out Jan. 30, with Kathryn Bigelow (“The Hurt Locker”), James Cameron (“Avatar”), Jason Reitman (“Up in the Air”) and Quentin Tarantino (“Inglourious Basterds”).

The Hollywood Reporter reached Daniels by phone shortly after he got the word, and he sounded genuinely amazed by the latest honor bestowed on “Precious.”

THR: There’d been lots of speculation that “Precious” could earn you a nomination, so this mustn’t have come as a surprise.

Daniels: It did, it really did. I was with my publicist the night before. She said, “I’m so nervous.” I said, “What are you talking about? It’s not going to happen. I’m OK with it. I’m not part of the club. There’s never been any African-American that’s been nominated.” So I went to bed, and I was OK with it. I just released it. But then I work up and got a call from (DGA president) Taylor Hackford. I’m floating on air right now and very humble.

THR: It’s actually kind of shocking that no black director — not even John Singleton or Spike Lee — has been nominated before. What are you making of the fact that it’s fallen to you to make the break-through?

Daniels: I can only compare it to “Precious’s” existence at the boxoffice. Aside from a very specific demographic, I never thought people would respond to “Precious.” That people of all colors have responded to “Precious” was shocking to me, and this was just as shocking. I hope I’m not blabbering, but I’m really, really humbled. I’m also really proud for all African-American filmmakers, because this gives people hope. It’s really a testament to “Precious.” When I was making it, I really thought it could go straight-to-video. I never saw all this happening.

THR: When did you first realize what you had on your hands with the movie? Was it when it debuted at Sundance?

Daniels: It was the minute that Oprah Winfrey called me after she saw the film. I thought uh, oh, this isn’t going straight-to-DVD now. Maybe, we’ll get it into ten theaters. That was the turning point for me. Even then, though, I didn’t expect it would do what it’s done. My studio, Lionsgate, has played an incredible part, marketing the hell out of it very smartly. It’s been an incredible, incredible journey.

THR: So are you going to be working the awards circuit for the next two months?

Daniels: I got to work. I’m prepping a film, “Selma,” and we start shooting in about a month. We’re just starting casting. But I enjoy working. I’m blessed to have a job right now. Jason Reitman, who’s been so wonderful to me, he said, “Lee, really stop and savor this right now because these things don’t come along that often.” So I’m kind of torn between Jason’s advice and just surviving.

So Mariah Carey was in Palm Springs accepting an award for Breakthrough Actress for her role in “Precious” at the desert burg’s film festival. And while this is far from the most nutty stage patter we’ve seen — calling Soy Bomb and Kanye West!! — it’s amusing watching Ms. Carey struggle first to move in her dress, and then to break through whatever inebriated fog she’s swimming in.

Behold:

Tuesday morning the Producers Guild of America announced its Darryl F. Zanuck Picture Producer of the Year Award nominees, the equivalent of its Best Picture award. Here they are:

“Avatar”
“District 9”
“An Education”
“The Hurt Locker”
“Inglourious Basterds”
“Invictus”
“Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”
“Star Trek”
“Up”
“Up in the Air”

The PGA often matches the Academy in its noms — and this year both groups expanded to ten from five — but the PGA just as often steps away from Oscar with its winner.

Like the Academy, the PGA picked “Slumdog Millionaire” and “No Country for Old Men” in 2008 and 2007. But in 2006 it chose “Little Miss Sunshine” over “The Departed,” in 2005 it chose “Brokeback Mountain” over “Crash,” and in 2004 it chose “The Aviator” over “Million Dollar Baby.”

If we compare the PGA ten to those of the Broadcast Film Critics Association, which announced its picks for the Critics Choice Awards December 14, we notice that the producers swapped in “District 9″ and “Star Trek” for the critics’ “Nine” and “A Serious Man”:

“Avatar”
“An Education”
“The Hurt Locker”
“Inglourious Basterds”
“Invictus”
“Nine”
“Precious: From the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”
“A Serious Man”
“Up”
“Up in the Air”

Does that mean anything? Mm, maybe. “Nine” has been kind of doomed (though only a fool would ever count a Harvey film out of best picture contention), and “A Serious Man” has seemed a little too fringe.

But three science fiction films up for a best picture Oscar? I’m all for breaking with tradition, but somehow I don’t see that holding up when the final Oscar ballots are sent around.

Regardless, give or take a film, that PGA list is what the Big Night is going to look like.

An avalanche of critics awards fell over the weekend — from Los Angeles, New York, Boston and Washington, DC — and in some areas sharpened the Oscar-race picture.

A few of the likely acting nods have begun to coalesce, namely around supporting actress Mo’Nique for “Precious” and supporting actor Christoph Waltz for “Inglourious Basterds.” George Clooney is also looking rosy as a best actor winner for “Up in the Air.” (Best actress remains a wash at moment.)

Kathryn Bigelow and her latest, “The Hurt Locker,” took several of the picture and directing awards.

I tend to eyeball screenplay awards more than the others, as the talent on display in those categories generates all the other players’ contributions. Those potential winners are starting to gel, as well.

Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner’s screenplay for “Up in the Air,” adapted from the Walter Kirn novel, took more honors, this time from the L.A. Film Critics Assn. and the Washington DC Area Film Critics Assn. — the latter also awarded Reitman’s film picture of the year honors.

Meanwhile, the Boston Society of Film Critics gave its screenplay award to Joel and Ethan Coen for “A Serious Man.”

The New York Film Critics Assn. awarded the political farce “In the Loop,” written by Jesse Armstrong and Simon Blackwell, its prize. (A dark horse, “Loop” also got runner-up from the L.A. contingent.)

OK, so you gather six actresses — Patricia Clarkson, Mo’Nique, Robin Wright, Emily Blunt, Vera Farmiga and Carey Mulligan — around a table and start peppering them with questions about the craft. How soon before one of them starts faking an orgasm?

Not long, if you ask the right question.

In this case, it was: “What’s the toughest scene for an actress?”

A pause.

Wright: “Umm… orgasming.”

Clarkson to Mo’Nique: “She would find it a playground.”

Enter Mo’Nique…

You have to love an actress who demands that the crew stay in the room for the big moment: “I was a kid! I was like, ‘I can do this in front of everybody?!”

The “Precious” actress has been stirring up awards chatter for her portrayal of a cruel and abusive mother in the Lee Daniels film. But her moment at THR’s awards round table showed her on-screen commitment to pleasure, as well.

“What we do, we go to fantasy,” she says of acting, by way of explanation.

You’re probably not the only one, Moan’ique.

"Precious"

The nominations for the 25th Film Independent Spirit Awards, announced Tuesday morning, brought good news and bad news for Lionsgate’s “Precious.” The good news is that Lee Daniels’ gritty adaptation of Sapphire’s novel “Push” is virtually assured a win as best feature at the Spirit Awards, to be held March 5. The bad news: That also means that “Precious” won’t be named best picture at the Oscars on March 7.

True, both “Precious” and the Tolstoy-marital-drama “The Last Station” each earned five Spirit noms, seemingly putting them on an even footing. Both are competing for best feature and best director (where Daniels will face off against “Station’s” Michael Hoffman) and earned screenplay noms. Additionally, each got two acting noms: Gabourey Sidibe and Mo’Nique for “Precious” and Helen Mirren and Christopher Plummer for “Station.” But you still have to give “Precious” the edge. The Spirit best feature trophy is usually something of a popularity contest — the voting is open to all members of Film Independent — and, at the moment, “Precious” has grossed nearly $33 million, a relative fortune in the indie world, while “Station” doesn’t open until Dec. 23.

It seems almost strange to recall now, but when “Precious” first bowed at Sundance (where it wasn’t of course called “Precious”), it not only wasn’t the biggest movie of the festival, it wasn’t even the biggest movie of the night. That honor belonged to “Brooklyn’s Finest,” the cop drama that debuted to high buyer expectations early in the fest thanks to the starring presence of Richard Gere and Ethan Hawke and the pedigree of director Antoine Fuqua.

Since then, the fates of the two movies couldn’t have diverged further. “Finest” got a mixed reception because of its comically bloody final act, landed one buyer, then switched to another buyer, had a director re-cut the pic drastically, all the while getting caught in a legal game of monkey-in-the-middle that only recently headed toward resolution (though it’s still anyone’s guess how and when new acquirer Overture will bring it out).

“Precious,” on the other hand, has led a charmed life — an inversion of the hard-luck tale told by the movie itself. Lee Daniels’ tale of inner-city woe and pluck excited buyers, generated awards talk, drew the interest of both Oprah and Tyler Perry (who, in another good turn, liked the pic and held unique leverage with a minimajor that was capable of releasing it) and went on to become the toast of Cannes and Toronto. Even when it did get caught in a legal battle (it’s hard to imagine how Harvey must be feeling after this weekend, having thought he bought the movie that’s poised to become, well, an old Miramax-type breakout), it quickly dispensed with it, as Lionsgate won several rulings that made the Weinstein suit a non-factor.

And then this weekend’s happy chapter — an eye-popping $100,000 per screen on no fewer than eighteen screens. It’s hard to conceive of how big that is, except to say that nearly every showing every day in every one of those eighteen movie theaters was either completely sold out or damn near close (and they still had to be pretty big theaters). It’s not just big — it’s “Paranormal” big.

Gothams who? Two days after being snubbed by the New York awards show, “Precious” gets feted by the New York Times…and then some.

Lee Daniels’ hard-core urban tale is the subject of a several-thousand-word profile in the newspaper’s upcoming magazine — a kind of arthouse bookend to the New Yorker story on Jim Cameron’s “Avatar” this week — in which Lynn Hirschberg all but anoints the Gabourey Sidibe-Mo’nique starrer as the drama of the season. “Like most independent films, it is character-driven, and at its heart is a spirit of understanding,” she purrs.

In one sense, the Times magazine piece on “Precious,” which Lionsgate releases next month, highlights the awards-season benefits of getting word out early. The film had a buzz arrival at Sundance and a full-bore rollout at Cannes (a premiere we happened to be at, where it was impossible not to be struck by the intensity of the reception considering it was nearly 1 am on a Saturday morning and fans had waited an extra hour in the rain to get in). With that sort of lead time, magazine editors have had plenty of opportunity to line up their plans, resulting in, well, things like a glowing New York Times piece. (Hirschberg actually situates the piece at Cannes.)

We’re loathe to read too much into the Gothams, the self-proclaimed start to the awards season that doesn’t really do much to forecast the rest of that season  (though as Michelle Byrd, who runs the awards via the IFP banner, pointed out, the breakthrough actor prize tends to presage a best actor Oscar nom).

But it’s hard to avoid the big headline from today’s nominations: the conscious choice of small indies over the  year’s anointed indie, “Precious.” Three of the five nominees for best feature — “Big Fan,” “Amreeka” and “The Maid” — have collectively earned less than $1 million, which has to be the smallest total for any three best pic nominees int he history of awardsdom. It’s almost like the committee decided to return a studio volley: ‘You’re closing down the specialty divisions? Fine, we won’t nominate those films anyway.’

(As for the merits of the noms, we’ll put out there that “Big Fan” deserves attention – it was an unheralded gem out of Sundance, both a wicked satire and heartfelt portrayal of a blue-collar man who takes his sports fandom too seriously. “Amreeka” is probably a bit less deserving, and “The Maid” we haven’t seen; if you know any of the six people who have, please have them write.)

But what’s on the list is less interesting, as it often is, than what’s not — a movie that could well outearn those three dark horses and the other two frontrunners (”Hurt Locker” and “A Serious Man”) by a New York mile. That (alleged) oversight would be “Precious,” the Liongsate awards hopeful from Lee Daniels about a sad inner-city teenager brutalized by many around her.