USC Scripter Awards

Sort of a precursor for the Best Adapted Screenplay category, but not completely, the USC Scripter Award honor screenplays based on previously existing material.  But with a text.  They honor both the author of the screenplay as well as the author of the original source.  This years nominees were selected from a panel that consisted of Michael Chabon, Geoffrey Fletcher, Callie Khouri, Michael Ondaatje, Leonard Maltin, Kenneth Turan and Steven Zailian.

THE WINNER:
12 Years a Slave- screenplay by John Ridley, based on the book by Solomon Northup

Solomon Northup, who died in 1863, shares the USC Scripter Prize with John Ridley who wrote the screenplay for 12 Years a Slave.

The other nominees were:
Captain Phillips
Philomena
The Spectacular Now
What Maisie Knew

LITERARY ACHIEVEMENT AWARD: Robert Towne

ACE Eddie Award Winners

The American Cinema Editors announced their choices for the best in film editing for the 2013 movie year.  The tricky splicing of a feature film, the what that separates the movies from real life, the sometimes (but certainly not always) invisible art form that sculpts a movie.  The Best Film Editing Oscar is usually synonymous with Best Picture and the ACE Eddies can be accurate gauges of how the race may eventually turn out.  And other times, they're not; that's the way it goes.

BEST FILM EDITING (Drama)
Captain Phillips- Christopher Rouse

"I am the captain now."

Rouse previously earned the ACE Eddie Award and the Academy Award for Paul Greengrass' The Bourne Ultimatum, one of a handful of cases where the Editors went their own way rather than placing a bet on a probable Best Picture winner.  Can it happen again?  It appears to be a fierce race for the Best Picture Oscar for Gravity, 12 Years a Slave and American Hustle, but is Captain Phillips (which has no shot at the big prize) rallying to spoil in a few areas-- it's surprise WGA win and ACE Eddie prize point to plausible surprises on Oscar night.

BEST FILM EDITING (Musical or Comedy)
American Hustle- Jay Cassidy, Crispin Struthers & Alan Baumgarten

"You're nothing to me until you're everything."

Cassidy and Struthers won the same award last year and were up for the Oscar for Silver Linings Playbook (they lost to Argo, which won the ACE Eddie for Drama.)  All three are up for the Oscar again for American Hustle.

BEST FILM EDITING (Documentary)
20 Feet From Stardom- Douglas Blush, Kevin Klauber & Jason Zeldes

Searching For Sugar Man won the ACE Eddie last year for Documentary Feature before winning the Documentary Oscar prize-- could this back-up singer story have the same fate?

BEST FILM EDITING (Animated Feature)
Frozen- Jeff Draheim

TELEVISION
MINI-SERIES OR MOVIE: Behind the Candelabra- Mary Ann Bernard (Steven Soderbergh)
ONE HOUR SERIES (Commercial TV): Breaking Bad- "Felina"- Skip MacDonald
ONE HOUR SERIES (Non-Commercial TV): Homeland- "Big Man in Tehran"- Terry Kelley
HALF-HOUR SERIES: The Office- "Finale"- David Rogers & Claire Scanlan
TV DOCUMENTARY: The Assassination of President Kennedy- Chris A. Peterson

GOLDEN EDDIE AWARD: Paul Greengrass
CAREER ACHIEVEMENT AWARD: Richard Halsey

London Film Critics Circle

FILM OF THE YEAR: 12 Years a Slave
DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR: Alfonso Cuarón, Gravity
ACTOR OF THE YEAR: Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years a Slave
ACTRESS OF THE YEAR: Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine
SUPPORTING ACTOR OF THE YEAR: Barkhad Abdi, Captain Phillips
SUPPORTING ACTRESS OF THE YEAR: Lupita Nyong'o, 12 Years a Slave
SCREENWRITER OF THE YEAR: Joel Coen & Ethan Coen, Inside Llewyn Davis
BRITISH FILM OF THE YEAR: The Selfish Giant
BRITISH ACTOR OF THE YEAR: James McAvoy, Filth
BRITISH ACTRESS OF THE YEAR: Judi Dench, Philomena  
BREAKTHROUGH BRITISH FILMMAKER OF THE YEAR: Jon S. Baird, Filth
YOUNG BRITISH ACTOR OF THE YEAR: Connor Chapman, The Selfish Giant
DOCUMENTARY: The Act of Killing
FOREIGN FILM: Blue is the Warmest Color
TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT OF THE YEAR: Tim Webber, Gravity (visual effects)
DILYS POWELL AWARD FOR CONTRIBUTION TO BRITISH CINEMA: Gary Oldman

American Society of Cinematographers

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: Gravity- Emmanuel Lubezki

ONE HOUR TELEVISION SERIES: Game of Thrones- Jonathan Freeman ("Valar Doharis")
HALF HOUR TELEVISION SERIES: Drunk History- Blake McClure ("Detroit")
TELEVISION MOTION PICTURE: Killing Lincoln- Jeremy Benning

ASC INTERNATIONAL AWARD: Eduardo Serra
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT: Dean Cundey

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