Get Out and The Handmaid’s Tale Take Home WGA’s
The award season this year continues to spread the wealth. A variety of projects is getting recognition rather than a strong front runner sprinting out ahead of the pack. The Shape of Water has racked up the most nominations, but Get Out, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and other great films have held their own as contenders.
Last night was the Writers Guild of America Awards, which honors scribes across a variety of categories including documentary, TV series, comedy, animation, and even news script and videogame writing. Jordan Peele’s Get Out earned top honors. The horror film is nominated in four categories at the Oscars, including Best Original Screenplay, which bodes well for Peele. Kumail Nanjiani, who wrote the original screenplay The Big Sick last year, tweeted his reverence for Peele’s brilliant writing.
I would honestly be thrilled to lose to Jordan Peele over & over for my entire career.
— Kumail Nanjiani (@kumailn) February 12, 2018
Oscar contender Call Me By Your Name was honored for best adapted screenplay. Three Billboards wasn’t eligible for the WGAs, so it could come back strong at the Academy Awards. National Geographic’s Jane won best documentary screenplay. On the TV side, Emmy winners The Handmaid’s Tale and Veep took home awards. Unsurprisingly, Saturday Night Live’s blockbuster year was honored for best Comedy/Variety Sketch series.
Here’s the full list of winners at last night’s awards:
FILM
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Get Out
Written by Jordan Peele; Universal Pictures
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Call Me by Your Name
Screenplay by James Ivory; Based on the Novel by André Aciman; Sony Pictures Classics
DOCUMENTARY SCREENPLAY
Jane
Written by Brett Morgen; National Geographic
TELEVISION
DRAMA SERIES
The Handmaid’s Tale
Written by Ilene Chaiken, Nina Fiore, Dorothy Fortenberry, Leila Gerstein, John Herrera, Lynn Renee Maxcy, Bruce Miller, Kira Snyder, Wendy Straker Hauser, Eric Tuchman; Hulu
COMEDY SERIES
Veep
Written by Gabrielle Allan, Rachel Axler, Ted Cohen, Jennifer Crittenden, Alex Gregory, Steve Hely, Peter Huyck, Erik Kenward, Billy Kimball, David Mandel, Ian Maxtone-Graham, Dan Mintz, Lew Morton, Georgia Pritchett, Will Smith; HBO
NEW SERIES
The Handmaid’s Tale
Written by Ilene Chaiken, Nina Fiore, Dorothy Fortenberry, Leila Gerstein, John Herrera, Lynn Renee Maxcy, Bruce Miller, Kira Snyder, Wendy Straker Hauser, Eric Tuchman; Hulu
LONG FORM ORIGINAL
Flint
Written by Barbara Stepansky; Lifetime
LONG FORM ADAPTED
Big Little Lies
Teleplay by David E. Kelley, Based on the Novel by Liane Moriarty; HBO
COMEDY/VARIETY TALK SERIES
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
Writers: Tim Carvell, Josh Gondelman, Dan Gurewitch, Geoff Haggerty, Jeff Maurer, John Oliver, Scott Sherman, Will Tracy, Jill Twiss, Juli Weiner, Ben Silva, Seena Vali; HBO
COMEDY/VARIETY SKETCH SERIES
Saturday Night Live
Head Writers: Chris Kelly, Sarah Schneider, Bryan Tucker; Writers: James Anderson, Kristen Bartlett, Jeremy Beiler, Neal Brennan, Zack Bornstein, Joanna Bradley, Megan Callahan, Michael Che, Anna Drezen, Fran Gillespie, Sudi Green, Steve Higgins, Colin Jost, Erik Kenward, Rob Klein, Nick Kocher, Michael Koman, Dave McCary, Brian McElhaney, Dennis McNicholas, Drew Michael, Lorne Michaels, Josh Patten, Katie Rich, Pete Schultz, Streeter Seidell, Will Stephen, Kent Sublette, Julio Torres; NBCUniversal
EPISODIC DRAMA
“Chicanery” (Better Call Saul)
Written by Gordon Smith; AMC
EPISODIC COMEDY
“Rosario’s Quinceanera” (Will & Grace)
Written by Tracy Poust & Jon Kinnally; NBC
DOCUMENTARY SCRIPT – CURRENT EVENTS
“Confronting ISIS” (Frontline)
Written by Martin Smith; PBS
DOCUMENTARY SCRIPT – OTHER THAN CURRENT EVENTS
“The Great War” Part II (American Experience)
Written by Stephen Ives; PBS
SHORT FORM NEW MEDIA ADAPTED
“Starboy” (Zac & Mia)
Teleplay by Allen Clary and Andrew Rothschild, based on the novel Zac & Mia by A.J. Betts; go90.com
ANIMATION
“Time’s Arrow” (BoJack Horseman)
Written by Kate Purdy; Netflix
DAYTIME DRAMA
General Hospital
Head Writers: Shelly Altman, Jean Passanante
Writers: Anna Theresa Cascio, Suzanne Flynn, Charlotte Gibson, Lucky Gold, Kate Hall, Elizabeth Korte, Daniel James O’Connor, Dave Rupel, Katherine Schock, Scott Sickles, Christopher Van Etten, Christopher Whitesell; ABC
CHILDREN’S EPISODIC AND SPECIALS
“An American Girl Story – Ivy & Julie 1976: A Happy Balance” (American Girl)
Written by May Chan; Amazon
QUIZ AND AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION
Hollywood Game Night
Head Writer: Grant Taylor; Writers: Michael Agbabian, Alex Chauvin, Ann Slichter, Dwight D. Smith; NBC
PROMOTIONAL WRITING
ON-AIR PROMOTION (RADIO OR TELEVISION)
“CBS Comedy”
Written by Dan Greenberger; CBS Television
TV NEWS
NEWS SCRIPT – ANALYSIS, FEATURE, OR COMMENTARY
“Chief of Chobani” (60 Minutes)
Written by Steve Kroft, Oriana Zill de Granados; CBS News
NEWS SCRIPT – REGULARLY SCHEDULED, BULLETIN, OR BREAKING REPORT
“White Helmets” (60 Minutes)
Written by Scott Pelley, Nicole Young, Katie Kerbstat; CBS News
RADIO/AUDIO
RADIO/AUDIO DOCUMENTARY
“CBS Radio 90th Anniversary”
Written by Dianne E. James, Gail Lee; CBS News Radio
RADIO/AUDIO NEWS SCRIPT – REGULARLY SCHEDULED, BULLETIN, OR BREAKING REPORT
“World News This Week: June 9, 2017″
Written by Tara Gimbel Tanis; ABC News Radio
RADIO/AUDIO NEWS SCRIPT – ANALYSIS, FEATURE, OR COMMENTARY
“Dishin’ Digital on WCBS-AM”
Written by Robert Hawley; WCBS
DIGITAL NEWS
“The Super Predators”
Written by Melissa Jeltsen, Dana Liebelson; Huffingtonpost.com
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN VIDEOGAME WRITING
Horizon Zero Dawn
Narrative Director John Gonzalez; Lead Writer Benjamin McCaw; Writing by Ben Schroder, Anne Toole; Additional Writing by Dee Warrick, Meg Jayanth; Guerrilla Games
