Several Oscar-nominated screenplays are among the nominees this year for the Writers Guild of America Awards. However, this did not prevent under-recognized screenplay adaptations and new upstarts from coming in.
According to Variety, upstarts to be nominated for original screenplay included dark thriller comedy The Menu, Written by Seth Reiss & Will Tracy, and Jordan Peele’s science fiction thriller Nope. Meanwhile, recognized adaptations for screen included the Marvel film Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and the Harvey Weinstein scandal film She Said–movies adapted from the comic book by Ryan Coogler & Joe Robert Cole and from the investigative journalism by Rebecca Lenkiewicz, respectively. This is not Marvel Studios’ first chance to win; it received a previous WGA award nomination for the original Black Panther movie that launched the franchise.
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Continuing in the action genre, Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert received a WGA nomination for the Oscar-nominated Everything Everywhere All at Once. Other Oscar-nominated films to be nominated included Glass Onion, written by Rian Johnson; The Fabelmans by Steven Spielberg & Tony Kushner; Tár by Todd Field; Women Talking, adapted by Sarah Polley; and Top Gun: Maverick, adapted by Ehren Kruger and Eric Warren Singer and Christopher McQuarrie.
Other screenplays which were nominated but not eligible by the guild to be considered for an award included All Quiet on the Western Front, Living, The Banshees of Inisherin, and Triangle of Sadness.
Recent Awards Exceptions Have Been Made
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According to the Writers Guild of America on theatrical screenplays, eligible entries “must have been exhibited theatrically in LA for at least one week during the eligibility period.” They also “must have been written under the WGA MBA or under a bona fide collective bargaining agreement of the” affiliate Writers Guilds of particular countries. These include Canada, Great Britain, Ireland, South Africa, New Zealand, India (the Film Writers’ Association), France (La Guilde Francaise des Scénaristes), Israel (Scriptwriters Guild), Quebec (the Société des Auteurs de Radio, Télévision et Cinéma), or Germany (VDD/Germany).
Unlike the AFI, which made an exception earlier this month to honor The Banshees of Inisherin at the AFI awards as a non-eligible film, letters are required to verify WGA films submitted under any of the affiliate guilds.
The 2023 Writers Guild Awards ceremony will take place on Sunday, March 5. The complete list of nominations for film and television is available at the official WGA website, found here.
