Writers Guild Award Winners

Her solidifies itself (YAY!) as the real deal for Original Screenplay (warding off that Oscar nomination giant that is American Hustle) while Captain Phillips surprises in the Adapted race, a call that surely be seen as consolation prize as 12 Years a Slave was deemed ineligible for the WGA award.

MOTION PICTURE

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Her- Spike Jonze
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Captain Phillips- Billy Ray
DOCUMENTARY: Stories We Tell- Sarah Polley

TELEVISION

DRAMA SERIES: Breaking Bad
COMEDY SERIES: Veep
VARIETY SERIES: The Colbert Report 
NEW TV SERIES: House of Cards
EPISODIC DRAMA: "Confessions"- Breaking Bad- Gennifer Hutchison
EPISODIC COMEDY: "Hogcock"- 30 Rock- Jack Burditt & Robert Carlock 
ANIMATION: "A Test Before Dying"-  The Simpsons- Joel H. Cohen

SCREEN LAURAL AWARD: Paul Mazursky
PAUL SELVIN AWARD: Alex Gibney, We Steal Secrets: The Story of Wiki-Leaks

Writers Guild Association Nominees

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
American Hustle- Eric Warren Singer & David O. Russell
Blue Jasmine- Woody Allen
Dallas Buyers Club- Craig Borten & Melisa Wallack
Her- Spike Jonze
Nebraska- Bob Nelson

Holy cow!  Dallas Buyers Club rackets yet another guild mention and thus so far is tied with American Hustle as the only film to receive top nods from the PGA, WGA and SAG.  In this shocking development, Inside Llewyn Davis, the latest sublime work from the Brothers Coen was snubbed yet again.  Gravity also failed to make the grade.

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
August: Osage County- Tracy Letts
Before Midnight- Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy & Ethan Hawke
Captain Phillips- Billy Ray
Lone Survivor- Peter Berg
The Wolf of Wall Street- Terence Winter

Whereas in the Adapted Screenplay category, a butt load of top contenders were deemed ineligible (12 Years a Slave, Philomena, Rush, Blue is the Warmest Color, Mandela) so it was spare parts.  Lone Survivor, Peter Berg's wartime flick got the consolation prize.

DOCUMENTARY SCREENPLAY
Dirty Wars- Jeremy Scahill & David Riker
Herblock-- The Black & the White- Sara Lukinson & Michael Stevens
No Place on Earth- Janet Tobias & Paul Laikin
Stories We Tell- Sarah Polley
We Steal Secrets: The Story of Wiki-Leaks- Alex Gibney

101 Best Written TV Series of All Time

The Writers Guild Associations of America, in conjunction with TV Guide, revealed the 101 best written television series of all time.  In something that's all in good fun, if a tad meaningless, the most interesting find in the list is that the WGA seems to have a particularly modern sensibility.  Sure, there's some classics scuttled about in the list, and the top ten give or take seems nearly right for universal appeasing, but there's something telling in that the list is so eagerly made up of shows in the past twenty years (including a great many that are still on the air today.)  Have a look, and argue:

1. The Sopranos (HBO)- created by David Chase- nominated for 11 WGA awards and won four.
2. Seinfeld (NBC)- created by Larry David & Jerry Seinfeld- nominated for 13 WGA awards and won four.
3. The Twilight Zone (CBS)- Season One writers: Charles Beaumont, Richard Matheson, Robert Presnell, Jr. and Rod Sterling- nominated for 2 WGA awards.
4. All in the Family (CBS)- developed by Norman Lear; Based on Till Death Does Us Part by Johnny Speight- nominated for 11 WGA awards and won once.
5. M*A*S*H (CBS)- developed by Larry Gelbart- nominated for 28 WGA awards and won seven.
6. The Mary Tyler Moore Show (CBS)- created by James L. Brooks & Allan Burns- nominated for 10 WGA awards and won once.
7. Mad Men (AMC)- created by Matthew Weiner- nominated for 11 WGA awards and won five.
8. Cheers (NBC)- created by Glen Charles, Les Charles & James Burrows- nominated for 13 WGA awards, winning four.
9. The Wire (HBO)- created by David Simon- nominated for 3 WGA awards, winning one.
10. The West Wing (NBC)- created by Aaron Sorkin- nominated for 12 WGA awards, winning two.

WGA Winners

The Writers Guild Association of America has spoken:

Argo scribe Chris Terrio confirms the inevitable with his WGA victory.

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Zero Dark Thirty- Marc Boal

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Argo- Chris Terrio

BEST DOCUMENTARY SCREENPLAY
Searching for Sugar Man- Malik Bendjelloul

WGA Nominations

Within the yearly ritual of many key films ineligible for the Writers Guild prizes, it's often important to keep these with a grain of salt.  Still a nice showing and a leg up for a few key films.

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Flight- John Gatins
Looper- Rian Johnson
The Master- Paul Thomas Anderson
Moonrise Kingdom- Wes Anderson & Roman Coppola
Zero Dark Thirty- Marc Boal

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Argo- Chris Terrio
Life of Pi- David Magee
Lincoln- Tony Kushner
The Perks of Being a Wallflower- Stephen Chbosky
Silver Linings Playbook- David O. Russell

BEST DOCUMENTARY SCREENPLAY
The Central Park Five- Sarah Burns, David McMahon, Ed Burns
The Invisible War- Kirby Dick
Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God- Alex Gibney
Searching for Sugar Man- Malik Bendejelloul
We Are Legion- Brian Knappenberger
West of Memphis- Amy Berg & Billy McMilian

WGA Rejects

It comes about every year.  Every movie awards season as one and all is bestowing year end kudos to what individually and together one marks as the best of the year.  It's a shame of sorts the politics that rears its lousy head into the machine of nominations and awards.  All should stand for the same set of values-- what's the best in the year on terms of cinematic achievements.  One of the best of 2012 had an uphill battle from the start-- Beasts of the Southern Wild-- Benh Zeitlin's extraordinarily lush Katrina indictment\new-world cinematic experience, one which employed non-professional actors, and which stands one of the years most crowning critical achievements despite the whatever you call sense of know-how expected upon by members of the filmmaking guilds.  The film wasn't eligible was SAG awards due to it's non-union cast, and will be a castoff as the awards season enters phase two of the session when the guilds take over Academy Award bellwethers.  Expectant, but still stinging, the film was deemed ineligible from the Writers Guild Association of America, along with a slew of other films, in what is largely considered all apart of seasonal offerings at this point.  The shame in it, of course, is that the scrappy Beasts, a true indie acquired by Fox Searchlight Pictures, after winning the Grand Jury Prize at last years Sundance Film Festival, politically and strategically could have used the healthy boast of exposure that nominations from SAG or WGA could have given it in terms of being a part of the celebrations of the best of year.

The same isn't so much the case for big guns in the race like Argo, Lincoln or Zero Dark Thirty, all hearty WGA and guild-eligible appointees who can coast along with a knowing that, despite ebbs and flows along the season, they are in safe places at the end of the day.  The annual list of who will be deemed ineligible from the Writers is official, courtesy of Kris Tapley of In Contention:

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

• Amour- Michael Haneke
• Beasts of the Southern Wild- Lucy Alibar & Benh Zeitlin
• Django Unchained- Quentin Tarantino, whose never been a member of WGA-- he can regroup with the DGA, for which he is a member of.
• The Impossible- Sergio Sanchez
• The Intouchables- Olivier Nakache & Eric Toledano
• Middle of Nowhere- Ava DuVernay
• Seven Psychopaths- Martin McDonagh
• Take This Waltz- Sarah Polley
• Your Sister's Sister- Lynn Shelton

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

• Anna Karenina- Tom Stoppard
• The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel- Ol Parker
• The Deep Blue Sea- Terence Davies
• Les Miserables- William Nicholson
• Quartet- Ronald Harwood
• Rust & Bone- Jacques Audiard, Thomas Bidegain & Craig Davidson

Also due to union, animated films are not eligible for WGA award.

Writers Guild Awards

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Midnight in Paris- Woody Allen

America's favorite screenwriter celebrates his fifth win from the WGA on his 20th nomination.  He previously won for Annie Hall, Broadway Danny Rose, Hannah & Her Sisters and Crimes & Misdemeanors.  This is his first WGA award (not that he cares) since 1989.  Allen received a WGA (but no Oscar nomination) for 2008's Vicky Christina Barcelona.

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
The Descendants- Alexander Payne, Jim Rash & Nat Faxon

This is Payne's third triumph at the WGA's, previously triumphing (with writing partner Jim Taylor) for both Sideways and Election.  He was also nominated for About Schmidt.  Rash and Faxon are both first-timers

Barring some unforeseen, Precious-like craziness, the Oscar will likely and predictably follow suit.

DOCUMENTARY SCREENPLAY: Better This World- Katie Galloway & Kelly Duane de la Vega
PAUL SELVIN AWARD: The Help- Tate Taylor- given to the script that best embodies the spirit of the constitutional and civil rights and liberties which are indispensable to the survival of free writers everywhere.

Writers Guild Nominations

I'm terribly behind, but let's pretend I'm not, for that would make me sad...The Writers Guild is a strange bird, not necessarily for bad choices (many every year, including this year are quite stellar) but for their rules and guidelines.  So many scripts get tossed aside because the writers are not WGA members, or certain paper work isn't processed in time, or it's an animated feature.  There's so many (perhaps too many) obstacles.

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

• 50/50- Will Reiser
• Bridesmaids- Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig
• Midnight in Paris- Woody Allen
• Win Win- Tom McCarthy
• Young Adult- Diablo Cody

A good line-up, albeit a strangely comically-bent one.  Bridesmaids continues guild domination, which is an eye-brow raiser, but a nicely raised one at that.
Not Eligible: Arthur Christmas, The Artist, Beginners, The Iron Lady, Like Crazy, Margin Call, Martha Marcy May Marlene, Melancholia, Rango, Shame and Take Shelter 

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

• The Descendants- Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon & Jim Rash
• The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo- Steven Zaillian
• The Help- Tate Taylor
• Hugo- John Logan
• Moneyball- Steven Zaillian & Aaron Sorkin

Also notable is the striking success for The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, a decidedly non-awards type of film, in the guilds.
Not Eligible: Albert Nobbs, Carnage, Drive, Jane Eyre, My Week With Marilyn, The Skin I Live In and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Writers Guild Winners

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Inception- Christopher Nolan
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: The Social Network- Aaron Sorkin
DOCUMENTARY: Inside Job- Chad Beck & Adam Bolt

I was wrong about The Kids Are All Right getting the WGA consolation prize; it went to Inception in a semi-shocker.  The problem is the real winner, The King's Speech, wasn't eligible here.  Nice to see Nolan win something though, right?

Writer's Guild Award Nominations

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

• Black Swan- Mark Heyman, Andres Heinz, John MacLauglin
• The Fighter- Scott Silver, Paul Tamasy, Eric Johnson, Keith Dorrington
• Inception- Christopher Nolan
• The Kids Are All Right- Lisa Cholodenko, Stuart Blumberg
• Please Give- Nicole Holofcener

 ineligible: The King's Speech, Another Year, Blue Valentine, Biutiful

The delightful and totally awardable Please Give was the beneficiary of all the ineligible products, I'd expect that and possibly Black Swan to be snubbed by Oscar in favor of The King's Speech and Another Year.

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

• 127 Hours- Danny Boyle, Simon Beaufoy
• I Love You, Phillip Morris- John Requa, Glenn Ficarra
• The Social Network- Aaron Sorkin
• The Town- Peter Craig, Ben Affleck, Aaron Stockard
• True Grit- Ethan Coen, Joel Coen

ineligible: Winter's Bone, Toy Story 3, The Ghost Writer, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
snubbed: Rabbit Hole, which is getting an unfair break these days; the film is good folks!

I Love You, Phillip Morris is the only Oh-My-God! surprise from the WGA, but it's wacky inclusion will not be taken seriously by the Academy what with the dense crop of films ineligible this year.


DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

• Enemies of the People- Rob Lemkin, Thet Sambath
• Freedom Riders- Stanley Nelson
• GasLand- Josh Fox
• Inside Job- Charles Ferguson, Chad Beck
• The Two Escobars- Michael Zimbalist, Jeff Zimbalist
• Who is Harry Nilsson (and Why is Everyone Talking About Him?)- John Scheinfeld

snubbed: Waiting for 'Superman,' Exit Through the Gift Shop, The Tillman Story, Restrepo

Writers Guild Winners

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
The Hurt Locker- Mark Boal

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Up in the Air- Jason Reitman & Sheldon Turner

Writers Guild Nominations

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

• (500) Days of Summer- Scott Neustradter & Michael H. Weber
• Avatar- James Cameron
• The Hangover- John Lucas & Scott Moore
• The Hurt Locker- Mark Boal
• A Serious Man- Ethan Coen & Joel Coen

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

• Crazy Heart- Scott Cooper
• Julie & Julia- Nora Ephron
• Precious- Geoffrey Fletcher
• Star Trek- Roberto Orci & Alex Kurtzman
• Up in the Air- Jason Reitman & Sheldon Turner

I'm always excited by the writing nominations here and at the Oscars because more time than not the films I'm super passionate about have to settle for screenwriting laurels, usually missing the best picture berth. The writers group tend to honor a lot of the more daring pieces of filmmaking that the Academy as a whole seems to either not fully understand or out and out reject. Which is odd this year, since the WGA eligibility requirements eliminated a lot of the best movies of 2009 in it's voting this year, something in which I hope the Academy remedies.

In the original screenplay category, it's a solid group....the writers have always been more favorable to comedy than AMPAS (hence The Hangover mention), and really the only one I feel doesn't belong is Avatar, whose visual bravura notwithstanding, could have used a tighter screenplay--- it's not raking in billions of dollars worldwide for it's dialogue. I expect the Academy will go with (500) Days of Summer, A Serious Man, The Hurt Locker, and two films not eligible for WGA: Inglourious Basterds (Tarantino is not a member of WGA) and Up (animation is disqualified here), but Pixar has overcome that obstacle many times before (Toy Story, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Ratatouille, WALL-E.)

In the adapted screenplay category- again nothing is really complaint worthy, but like original is more a second-tier writing group, because so many films were overlooked for eligibility requirements also including An Education, A Single Man, Fantastic Mr. Fox, District 9, and The Road. I imagine that WGA nominees Up in the Air and Precious may be the only films that make it to the Oscars. I also imagine that Star Trek will be replaced with District 9.

Writers Guild Winners

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Milk- written by Dustin Lance Black

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Slumdog Millionaire- written by Simon Beaufoy

DOCUMENTARY SCREENPLAY
Waltz With Bashir- written by Ari Foreman

Expected choices, but yay Milk- win the Oscar NOW!

Writers Guild of American Nominations

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Burn After Reading- Ethan Coen & Joel Coen
Milk- Dustin Lance Black
Vicky Cristina Barcelona- Woody Allen
The Visitor- Thomas McCarthy
The Wrestler- Robert Siegel

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button- Eric Roth & Robin Swicord
The Dark Knight- Christopher Nolan & Jonathon Nolan
Doubt- John Patrick Shanley
Frost/Nixon- Peter Morgan
Slumdog Millionaire- Simon Beaufoy

Mostly solid mix, however the jarring omission of Rachel Getting Married doesn't settle well-- especially for Burn After Reading? Nice work, The Dark Knight-- I believe you've found Oscar credibility.

Dream Big!

The Writers Guild of America announced their winners:

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:
Juno- Diablo Cody

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:
No Country For Old Men- Ethan Coen & Joel Coen

In other murmurs, I've heard the rumors abuzzing--- is the strike over? Is everything is movieland coming to a peaceful resolve? Is it true? Can I go about in my fanatical award season movie hysteria as usual....can I? Call it Friendo, that would be the cheese to my macaroni!

WGA

The Writers Guild of America has announced their nominations and strike be damned, they still made some rather smart choices.

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Juno- Diablo Cody
Knocked Up- Judd Apatow
Lars & the Real Girl- Nancy Oliver
Michael Clayton- Tony Gilroy
The Savages- Tamara Jenkins

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
The Diving Bell & the Butterfly- Ronald Harwood
Into the Wild- Sean Penn
No Country For Old Men- Ethan Coen & Joel Coen
There Will Be Blood- Paul Thomas Anderson
Zodiac- James Vanderbilt

Some inspired choices-- the writers guild noms usually go 4\5 with the Academy Awards, still leaving room open possibly for Ratatouille or Before the Devil Knows You're Dead in the original catagory, and possibly Atonement or Charlie Wilson's War in the adapted category. However I find it odd that none of the guilds have rewarded Atonement (save for the ASC), is it DOA? Was it too heavily hyped with diminishing returns? Or will it resurge at the Golden Globes (and by then will anyone care?)

Writers Guild of American strike is in Day 2

The talk shows have already been halted into reruns-- Leno, Letterman, The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, etc.-- regularly scheduled televisions will be fine until about January, and already the first half of 2008 films are either ready or will be ready, but if this strike lasts as longs as some predict (months even), the landscape of film and television may be utterly altered for the entire year of 2008. I just read online however that WGA awards will still take place.

Oscar winning writer James L. Brooks (Terms of Endearment, As Good as it Gets) is striking it up in Los Angeles, while Emmy winner Tina Fey (30 Rock) is in New York.