What advice does Oscar winner Ridley have for this year's nominees?

A year after winning his own Oscar, writer and director John Ridley has some advice for this year's nominees as they head toward Sunday's Academy Awards ceremony.

Relax. Enjoy. Meet new people.

"Just relax. Enjoy it. It is a singular, phenomenal experience and it was, just in terms of that night itself and going out and being around people I never thought I would meet, very special. I think you’ve got to enjoy it as a special experience."

If you win, have someone like Robert De Niro present you the award.

Ridley who won the best adapted screenplay award for his work on best-picture winner 12 Years a Slave, remembers his own experience from Oscar Night 2014:
"Robert De Niro handing me the award, walking right backstage and Cate Blanchett and Daniel Day-Lewis saying, 'Congratulations! Congratulations!' I’d met Brad Pitt once before, but we never really had an opportunity to speak. Going to the Governors Ball and having conversations with him. It is the place to be on that night. Basically, it comes down to everybody you thought that you would never meet, that’s who you are going to meet that night and I pretty much did."

Appreciate your fellow nominees.

It wasn't just winning the award, says Ridley, who is the creator and executive producer of American Crime, an ABC drama series that premieres March 5. The entire nominee experience was great, especially having the chance to bond with his fellow writers.
"It was awesome in the people I got to meet. It was awesome in being able to spend a lot of time with a lot of writers. We were going through a set of circumstances that only us, that group, will ever go through and it was phenomenal."

Come back and savor the ceremony without having other things on your mind.

As a nominee last year, "One way or the other, something was going to happen and I was going to have to deal with it," Ridley says. On Sunday, he can just take in the 2015 ceremony.
"As special as (last year) was, I am very much looking forward to going to the show and being a spectator with my wife," he says. "My feeling is just relief that I can really fully enjoy the show this year. I’ll be in the audience and I can sit, I can enjoy, I can appreciate all the artistry."