The 73rd Writers Guild Awards are underway in a virtual ceremony honoring the best in original and adapted screenplay and documentary films, TV, new media, news, radio / audio and promotion.
For the first time in recent history, the awards events for both WGA West and WGA East will be in tune, as both were merged into one live stream tonight. Usually, two ceremonies are held separately in LA and NYC at the same time, while both winners are read at separate times. Often, the NY Awards event will be in front of LAs and announce winners, which will completely spoil the excitement for everyone in the Beverly Hilton ballroom.
Kal Penn, tonight’s host, dressed in a satin purple tux jacket, was straight from his home. The Harold & Kumar actor mentions that he has just become a WGA member.
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“When I joined SAG, they just gave me a pin, oh, well and health insurance,” he joked.
“The program brings together an amazing variety, from liberal writers on the East Coast to liberal writers on the West Coast,” he continued.
“We’re handing out 26 awards tonight … it’s also the same number of weeks we spend without work,” Penn added.
In recent years, the WGA ceremonies have been known for their sketches or split presenter, which, however, has been replaced this year with a preview featuring many of the winners speaking directly from home. Those sketches were replaced with videos with zinger montage, i.e. different WGA members at the top answered the question they wanted to be when they were 12, i.e. The social network Oscar winner Aaron Sorkin has replied that he wanted to be in Broadway musicals.
Break form during the virtual show, the winners of the original long form for Mrs. America –Tanya Barfield, Joshua Griffith, Sharon Hoffman, Boo Killebrew, Micah Schraft, April Shih, Dahvi Waller – decided not to appear on camera and instead issued a poster statement read by a male judge:
“The creator of our program, Dahvi, is superstitious about planning awards for awards that we have not yet won, so we, the writing staff of Mrs. America took the liberty of drafting a statement, in case …
We are honored to receive this WGA award and are humbled because we had the opportunity to tell these stories. We are grateful to Dahvi, who brought us all together and raised our voices. She was a proponent of the narration of intersectionalism and marginalized figures too often turned off in the historical footnotes.
The struggle for the ERA, women’s rights, civil rights and human rights, is related. We hope the success of our show will encourage other writers to explore the underrepresented figures of history and fight to tell multidimensional stories. The whole future exists in the past. We remain inspired by the words of Shirley Chisholm: “If there is no room for you at the table, then bring a folding chair.”
The authors have been nominated for best original screenplay Judas and the Black Messiah, Palm Springs, Promising Young Woman, Sound of Metal and The Chicago 7 trial. The custom script book race is below Borat subsequent Moviefilm, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, News of the World, One Night in Miami and The white tiger.
The documentary category will see All In: The Fight for Democracy, The Dissident, Herb Alpert Is …, Red Penguins and Completely under control for the WGA trophy.
Last year, the guild teamed up with Oscar’s screenplay awards, which were presented by Bong Joon Ho and Han Jin Won’s. Parasite in original screenplay and Taika Waititi’s JoJo Rabbit in custom. Both won on Oscar night. This is an achievement that does not always occur, as the WGA only recognizes the nominees who are members of the guild. Once upon a time in Hollywood in the original category for screenplays as the filmmaker is not a WGA member. AMPAS, however, gave Tarantino’s script a nod.
On the TV side, Ted Lasso won for best new series, with best nominees Dave, the flight attendant, The Great and Lovecraft Country.
AMC’s Better name Saul led all the shows with five nominations, including for the drama series, and joined Amazon Studios The boys, Netflix’s The crown and Disney + s The Mandalorian.
Hulu has also received several nominations, including Comedy with Tony McNamara’s The big and Pen15 and FX on Hulu’s What we do in the shadows, what it’s going to do with HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm and Apple TV +’s Ted Lasso.
The now deceased Quibi won the award in the short form category for #FreeRayshawn. Bojack Horseman nods for Animation as he faces The Simpsons, which won four of the six nominations, and Bob’s Burgers.
We will update the winners directly here, so refresh yourself for updates.
SCREEN PLAY
Original screenplay
Custom script
Documentary screenplay
TELEVISION, NEW MEDIA AND NEWS
Drama Series
The crown
Written by Peter Morgan, Jonathan Wilson; Netflix
Comedy series
New series
Ted Lasso
Written by Jane Becker, Leann Bowen, Brett Goldstein, Brendan Hunt, Joe Kelly, Bill Lawrence, Jamie Lee, Jason Sudeikis, Phoebe Walsh, Bill Wrubel; Apple TV +
Original long form
Mrs. America
Written by Tanya Barfield, Joshua Griffith, Sharon Hoffman, Boo Killebrew, Micah Schraft, April Shih, Dahvi Waller; FX Networks
Custom long shape
The Queen’s Gambit
Written by Scott Frank, Allan Scott, based on the novel by Walter Tevis; Netflix
Original and custom short form new media
#FREERAYSHAWN
Written by Marc Maurino; Quibi
Animation
“Xerox of a Xerox” (BoJack Horseman)
Written by Nick Adams; Netflix
Episodic drama
“Fire Pink” (Ozark)
Written by Miki Johnson; Netflix
Episodic comedy
“The Great” (The Great)
Written by Tony McNamara; Hulu
Comedy / Variety Talk Series
Desus & Mero
Authors: Daniel “Desus Nice” Baker, Claire Friedman, Ziwe Fumudoh, Josh Gondelman, Robert Kornhauser, Joel “The Kid Mero” Martinez, Heben Nigatu, Mike Pielocik, Julia Young; Showtime
Comedy / Variety Specials
Stephen Colbert’s Election Night 2020: Democracy’s Last Stand: Building America Great Again Better 2020
Leading authors: Ariel Dumas, Jay Katsir Authors: Delmonte Bent, Michael Brumm, River Clegg, Aaron Cohen, Stephen T. Colbert, Nicole Conlan, Paul Dinello, Glenn Eichler, Django Gold, Gabe Gronli, Barry Julien, Michael Cruz Kayne, Eliana Kwartler , Matt Lappin, Felipe Torres Medina, Opus Moreschi, Asher Perlman, Tom Purcell, Kate Sidley, Brian Stack, John Thibodeaux, Steve Waltien; Showtime
Comedy / Variety Sketch Series
At home with Amy Sedaris
Authors: Jeremy Beiler, Cole Escola, Peter Grosz, Amy Sedaris; truTV
Quiz and audience participation
Weakest link
Lead Author: Ann Slichter Authors: Chip Dornell, Paul Greenberg, Joyce Ikemi, Stuart Krasnow, Jon Macks, Mona Mira, Scott Saltzburg, Aaron Solomon, Chris Sturgeon, Grant Taylor; NBC
Daytime Drama
Days of our lives
Lead author: Ron Carlivati Authors: Lorraine Broderick, Joanna Cohen, Carolyn Culliton, Richard Culliton, Rick Draughon, David Kreizman, Rebecca McCarty, Ryan Quan, Dave Ryan, Katherine D. Schock, Elizabeth Snyder; NBC
Child episode, long form and offers
“The oversleep”
Written by Sarah Rothschild; Netflix
Documentary writing – current events
“Agents of Chaos, Part II”
Written by Alex Gibney & Michael J. Palmer; HBO documentaries
Documentary writing – different from current events
Opioids, Inc. (Frontline)
Written by Tom Jennings; PBS
Newsletter – Report regularly, Bulletin or break
“Anger in America” (World News Tonight with David Muir)
Written by Dave Bloch, David Muir, Karen Mooney, David Schoetz; ABC News
Newsletter – Analysis, function or comment
Juneteenth: A Celebration of Overwing
Written by Dave Bloch; ABC News
Digital news
“The store the police called on George Floyd”
Written by Aymann Ismail; Slate.com
RADIO / AUDIO
Radio Audio News Script – Regularly Scheduled Bulletin of Breaking Report
“Changemakers: Leaders Who Made a Difference”
Written by Gail Lee; CBS News Radio
Radio Audio News Script – Analysis, Feature or Comment
“Against That Thugs: Delores Tucker and Bill Bennett” (Slow Burn)
Written by Joel Anderson, Christopher Johnson; Slate Podcasts
PROMOTIONAL WRITING
On Air Promotion
“Get the mood – look at the movements”
Written by Meghana Reddy and Angad Bhalla; Facebook, Instagram, YouTube