2016 Writers Guild Awards Winners

Early yesterday night Eastern time the guild announced the original screenplay winner and my reaction was "alright here we go". Seems it took them a very long time to announce the adapted screenplay as after checking and checking finally fall asleep and wasn't until this morning that learned the winner and my reaction was a big sigh. I was hoping for this progressive guild to honor a female writer but no it didn't happen and once again Carol was shutout.

So two films with stories that should be told in movies that needed to spice up the tension for viewers to recall the important message once they left the movie theater won and indeed foresee them as the two strong top contender for the Oscars in quite a few categories including the top award.


Then is a fact that this year guilds are honoring more interesting TV series than feature films as winners from last night include one TV series that if you binge watching season 1, one episode after the other, feels/looks like a very good movie, fantastic Mr. Robot. Congrats.

To learn winners in TV and other categories go official site here. Winners are in *BLUE.

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1/6/16
Today the Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) and the Writers Guild of America, West (WGAW) announced the nominations for outstanding achievement in writing for the screen during 2015. Before going further into the nominations let be clear that if Carol script was not among the nominees then I will go up the rage scale, but YES! Carol has a nomination in the adapted script category.

Some could be surprised by the omissions but before you go up the roof suggest to read the following paragraphs.

According to Variety, there are 61 titles up for consideration in the original category and 51 in the adapted side but as happens every year the omissions are what calls everyone's attention. Omissions due to guild regulations that require writer to be a WGA member or the production to be signatory with guild. There are more original screenplay omissions than adapted and the most notable is Quentin Tarantino's latest as he's not a WGA member; also animated production companies and foreign productions often eschew the guild paperwork.

So not eligible are high profile films like Ex Machina, Mad Max: Fury Road, Room, The Danish Girl, Anomalisa, Brooklyn, 45 Years, and more. Still we know writer doesn't have to be WGA member to have screenplay consider for an Oscar nomination, so still is an open race but some films will not get a much needed boost from this guild.

Original Screenplay
Matt Charman, Ethan Coen and Joel Coen for Bridge of Spies
Taylor Sheridan for Sicario
*Josh Singer and Tom McCarthy for Spotlight
Screenplay by Jonathan Herman and Andrea Berloff; Story by S. Leigh Savidge & Alan Wenkus and Andrea Berloff for Straight Outta Compton
Amy Schumer for Trainwreck

Adapted Screenplay
*The Big Short, Screenplay by Charles Randolph and Adam McKay; Based on the Book by Michael Lewis.
Carol, Screenplay by Phyllis Nagy; Based on the Novel "The Price of Salt" by Patricia Highsmith
The Martian, Screenplay by Drew Goddard; Based on the Novel by Andy Weir
Steve Jobs, Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin; Based on the Book by Walter Isaacson
Trumbo, Written by John McNamara; Based on the Biography by Bruce Cook

Documentary Screenplay
Robert Cohen for Being Canadian
*Alex Gibney for Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief
Brett Morgen for Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck
Amy J. Berg for Prophet's Prey

To check nominees in TV, New Media, Radio and more categories go official site here.

Feature films eligible for a Writers Guild Award were exhibited theatrically for at least one week in Los Angeles during 2015 and were written under the WGA’s Minimum Basic Agreement (MBA) or under a bona fide collective bargaining agreement of the Writers Guild of Canada, Writers Guild of Great Britain, Irish Playwrights & Screenwriters Guild, or the New Zealand Writers Guild. Theatrical screenplays produced under the jurisdiction of the WGA or an affiliate Guild must have been submitted for Writers Guild Awards consideration.

Documentaries eligible for a Writers Guild Award featured an onscreen writing credit and were exhibited theatrically in Los Angeles or New York for one week during 2015. Theatrical documentaries must have been produced under the jurisdiction of the WGA or an affiliate Guild to be eligible for awards consideration.

The Writers Guild Awards honor outstanding writing in film, television, new media, videogames, news, radio, promotional, and graphic animation categories. Competitive awards will be presented at both the New York ceremony at the Edison Ballroom and the Los Angeles ceremony at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza. The New York and Los Angeles ceremonies take place concurrently on February 13, 2016.