PARIS, Dec 20: Screenwriters who win an Oscar have to enter an almost Faustian pact, a study suggests.

In return for their coveted 33.75-centimetre gold statuette, the people who write the script for a hit movie would, it seems, have to forgo more than three years of life.

Researchers in Canada identified all 850 screenwriters who have ever been nominated for an Oscar.

On average, winners were more successful professionally than nominees: their career was 14 per cent longer and they made 34 per cent more films.

But there was a big downside: life expectancy for winners was a whole 3.6 years shorter — they died on average at 74.1 years compared with 77.7 years for nominees.

The scientists, Donald Redelmeier and Sheldon Singh of Sunnybrook and Women’s Hospital in Toronto, publish the study in Saturday’s issue of the British Medical Journal (BMJ), the weekly of the British Medical Association (BMA).

They say the findings throw cold water on “simple biological theories” that career success should be reflected by strong health.

Previous studies, based on the principle of survival, suggest that the easy, stress-free lifestyles of people in the top socio-economic bracket contribute to good health.

The possible answer: successful screenwriters who win an Oscar are submerged with offers — and, desperate for a job in what is a notoriously precarious business — may accept too many, and work themselves into the ground.—AFP