Writer's Guild of America (WGA) Announce Film Nominees-Better put Dallas Buyer's Club as Best Picture Nominee!

Every year the Writers Guild of America (WGA) rule numerous films ineligible for their awards, which make predicting the screenplay nominees a little more difficult.  Last year Les Miserables, Django Unchained, Amour, and Beasts of the Souther Wild were not eligible. Only Les Mis missed out on screenplay nomination.

This year's list of films ineligible includes Fruitvale Station, The World's End (Original Screenplay), Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, 12 Years a Slave, Philomena, Rush, Blue is the Warmest Color, and Short Term 12 (Adapted Screenplay).

So who edges out one of these nominees?  Look for 12 Years a Slave, and Philomena in Adapted Screenplay.  Lone Survivor will easily be replaced, but what other film?  My guess would be August: Osage County.

Original Screenplay is more crowded than ever before, Dallas Buyers Club is on a roll with the Guilds, landing nominations at SAG, PGA, and WGA, can it make it to Oscar in this category?  The screenplay nominees always throw some more unique films in the mix.  Inside Llewyn Davis was snubbed here again, can in sneak past one of these films.  What about Enough Said? Hustle, Jasmine, Her, and Nebraska seem safe.  I think Enough Said will sneak in as the fifth nominee at the Oscars.

WGA Nominees:

Original Screenplay

American Hustle, Written by Eric Warren Singer and David O. Russell; Columbia Pictures

Blue Jasmine, Written by Woody Allen; Sony Pictures Classics

Dallas Buyers Club, Written by Craig Borten & Melisa Wallack; Focus Features

Her, Written by Spike Jonze; Warner Bros.

Nebraska, Written by Bob Nelson; Paramount Pictures

Adapted Screenplay

August: Osage County, Screenplay by Tracy Letts; Based on his play; The Weinstein Company

Before Midnight, Written by Richard Linklater & Julie Delpy & Ethan Hawke; Based on characters created by Richard Linklater & Kim Krizan; Sony Classics

Captain Phillips, Screenplay by Billy Ray; Based on the book A Captain’s Duty: Somali Pirates, Navy SEALS, and Dangerous Days at Sea by Richard Phillips with Stephan Talty; Columbia Pictures

Lone Survivor, Written by Peter Berg; Based on the book by Marcus Lutrell with Patrick Robinson; Universal Pictures

The Wolf of Wall Street, Screenplay by Terence Winter; Based on the book by Jordan Belfort; Paramount Pictures

The Writer's Guild gets Predictable with Ineligibility

This year's nominees for the Writer's Guild of America (WGA) were a bit predictable, especially after they ruled many films ineligible. I also say this because for the first time in a long time I predicted all of the nominees. 

The two best nominees of the bunch for me are nominations for Looper, and The Perks of Being a Wallflower, two of the best screenplays this year.  Listed below are the nominees, but who could and will unseat the winners?  Statistically speaking 2 films are always replaced.

Original Screenplay:

"Flight," Written by John Gatins; Paramount Pictures

"Looper," Written by Rian Johnson; TriStar Pictures

"The Master," Written by Paul Thomas Anderson; The Weinstein Company

"Moonrise Kingdom," Written by Wes Anderson & Roman Coppola; Focus Features

"Zero Dark Thirty," Written by Mark Boal; Columbia Pictures

Look for Looper and Flight to be the most vulnerable at the Oscars, Django Unchained and Amour are major contenders in this category.  These two latter films also have better shots at Best Picture nominations.

Adapted Screenplay:

"Argo," Screenplay by Chris Terrio; Based on a selection from "The Master of Disguise" by Antonio J. Mendez and the Wired Magazine article "The Great Escape" by Joshuah Bearman; Warner Bros. Pictures

"Life of Pi," Screenplay by David Magee; Based on the novel by Yann Martel; 20th Century Fox

"Lincoln," Screenplay by Tony Kushner; Based in part on the book "Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln" by Doris Kearns Goodwin; DreamWorks Pictures

"The Perks of Being a Wallflower," Screenplay by Stephen Chbosky; Based on his book; Summit Entertainment

"Silver Linings Playbook," Screenplay by David O. Russell; Based on the novel by Matthew Quick; The Weinstein Company

While the same statistic holds true with Adapted Screenplay, this could actually be the five.  Although have some suspicion Beasts of the Southern Wild will replace Perks.  

Documentary Screenplay:

"The Central Park Five," Written by Sarah Burns and David McMahon and Ken Burns; Sundance Selects

"The Invisible War," Written by Kirby Dick; Cinedigm Entertainment Group

"Mea Maxima Culpa:" Silence in the House of God, Written by Alex Gibney; HBO Documentary Films

"Searching for Sugar Man," Written by Malik Bendejelloul; Sony Pictures Classics

"We Are Legion: The Story of the Hacktivists," Written by Brian Knappenberger; Cinetic Media

"West of Memphis," Written by Amy Berg & Billy McMillin; Sony Pictures Classics

Academy Awards Week: Best Adapted Screenplay

Welcome to Academy Award week!  I will be taking an in depth look at some of the categories that make the Academy Awards tick.  The first category is Best Adapted Screenplay. The Adapted Screenplay prize is one of the most coveted awards of the night.  This award honors films who have adapted source material from books, plays, television shows, short plays, and even other films. If an original film has a sequel good enough to make it in the screenplay category (I do not think it has ever happened) they would have to be nominated in the Best Adapted Screenplay category because the film would be based on the first film.

Throughout the years this award has become incredibly competitive as more and more films seem to be based on other material.  While the quality in the Best Original Screenplay category seems to peak and valley every year, the Adapted Screenplay category has seemed to stay strong picking screenplays with strong writing, which are based on some solid material.  The interesting thing about this year has been that it feels as though Hollywood did a much better job with the original work than it did with adapting screenplays.  While the five nominees as pretty strong this year, picking five original screenplays seems to have been a tough task.

Past winners in this category have been It Happened One Night (1934), Gone With the Wind (1939), Casablanca (1942), To Kill a Mockingbird  (1962), The Godfather (1972), and The Silence of Lambs (1991).  Although 5 out of the 6 of these films are Best Picture winners only about 35 films out of the 83 years went on to win Best Picture.  The Adapted Screenplay trophy tends to go to well written films like Sideways (2004), which the Academy like but to enough to win the Best Picture category.  Many times the the screenplay awards become a consolation prize, and I think history will repeat itself again this year, ironically with another Alexander Payne film.

The nominees for this years Best Adapted Screenplay category are:

The Descendants-Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, and Jim Rash
Hugo-John Logan
The Ides of March-George Clooney, Grant Heslov, and Beau Willimon
Moneyball-Aaron Sorkin and Steven Zaillian, Stan Chervin
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy-Bridget O'Connor and Peter Straughan

This past weekend The Descendants gained a lot of ground in this category winning both the Scripter and the WGA for Best Adapted Screenplay.  Winning the Scripter does not always mean you will win Oscar, mainly because its decided by USC, but winning at the Writer's Guild and Scripter is a pretty good sign.  The Descendants is nominated for 5 Oscars, and while Clooney was a favorite to win Best Actor in the beginning it looks like Jean Dujardin will be swept up in The Artist sweep.  This Best Adapted Screenplay will be a consolation prize for this film.

What about the other nominees?  Moneyball would be my personal pick, it's one of the sharpest screenplays this year.  Moneyball is also written by two of the best screenwriters today, which makes sense.  If a film is going to spoil it's going to be this one.  Tinker Tailor is an impressive screenplay because it has taken an incredibly long book that was made into mini-series at one point and makes one great film.  Ides has a decent screenplay, but it has no shot.  I am not a huge fan of Hugo's screenplay, in fact I think it is one of the weaker elements of this film.  Hugo's wins will come in some of the technical categories.

Will Win: The Descendants
Should Win: Moneyball

The Writer's Guild and Scripter Awards pick The Descendants

This weekend was a big weekend for the writing contingency of both film and television.  The Scripter Awards were held this past Saturday night.  The Scripter Awards were established by USC in 1988in order  to honor the preservation of the written word on film.  The Scripter's honor screenplays that have been adapted from pre-existing works.  The nominees this year were:


A Dangerous Method
The Descendants
Jane Eyre
Moneyball
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy


The winner of this award was Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, and Jim Rash for writing The Descendants.


The Writer's Guild of America picked their winners in both the film and television categories.  Several films were not eligible because their authors were not a members of the union, like The Artist, which has a chance of spoiling in the Best Original Screenplay category at the Oscars.  The nominees in the films categories were as follows:


Best Adapted Screenplay

The Descendants, Screenplay by Alexander Payne andNat Faxon & Jim Rash; Based on the novel by Kaui Hart Hemmings; Fox Searchlight

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Screenplay by Steven Zaillian; Based on the novel by Stieg Larsson, originally published by Norstedts; Columbia Pictures

The Help, Screenplay by Tate Taylor; Based on the novel by Kathryn Stockett; DreamWorks Pictures

Hugo, Screenplay by John Logan; Based on the book The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick; Paramount Pictures

Moneyball, Screenplay by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin; Story by Stan Chervin; Based on the book by Michael Lewis; Columbia Pictures

Best Original Screenplay

50/50, Written by Will Reiser; Summit Entertainment

Bridesmaids, Written by Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig; Universal Pictures

Midnight in Paris, Written by Woody Allen; Sony Pictures Classics

Win Win, Screenplay by Tom McCarthy; Story by Tom McCarthy & Joe Tiboni; Fox Searchlight

Young Adult, Written by Diablo Cody; Paramount Pictures

The winners were The Descendants in Adapted and Midnight in Paris in Original.  This will be the way the Oscar wins will look, most likely, but with different nominations, there are always variables that could change the Oscar game.

In the the television category Breaking Bad, Homeland, and Modern Family each took home two trophies.  Here were the nominees: 

DRAMA SERIES 
Boardwalk Empire, Written by Bathsheba Doran, Dave Flebotte, Gina Gionfriddo, Howard Korder, Steve Kornacki, Itamar Moses, Margaret Nagle,Terence Winter; HBO
Breaking Bad, Written by Sam Catlin, Vince Gilligan, Peter Gould, Gennifer Hutchison, George Mastras, Thomas Schnauz, Moira Walley-Beckett; AMC
Game of Thrones, Written by David Benioff, Bryan Cogman, Jane Espenson, George R.R. Martin, D.B. Weiss; HBO
The Good Wife, Written by Courtney Kemp Agboh, Meredith Averill, Corinne Brinkerhoff, Leonard Dick, Keith Eisner, Karen Hall, Ted Humphrey, Michelle King, Robert King, Steve Lichtman, Matthew Montoya, Julia Wolfe; CBS
Homeland, Written by Henry Bromell, Alexander Cary, Alex Gansa, Howard Gordon, Chip Johannessen, Gideon Raff, Meredith Stiehm; Showtime


COMEDY SERIES  
30 Rock, Written by Jack Burditt, Hannibal Buress, Kay Cannon, Robert Carlock, Tom Ceraulo, Vali Chandrasekaran, Tina Fey, Jon Haller, Matt Hubbard, Dylan Morgan, John Riggi, Josh Siegal, Ron Weiner, Tracey Wigfield; NBC
Curb Your Enthusiasm, Written by Alec Berg, Larry David, David Mandel, Jeff Schaffer; HBO
Louie, Written by Pamela Adlon, Louis C.K.; FX
Modern Family, Written by Cindy Chupack, Paul Corrigan, Abraham Higginbotham, Ben Karlin, Elaine Ko, Carol Leifer, Steven Levitan, Christopher Lloyd, Dan O’Shannon, Jeffrey Richman, Brad Walsh, Ilana Wernick, Bill Wrubel, Danny Zuker; ABC
Parks & Recreation, Written by Greg Daniels, Katie Dippold, Daniel J. Goor, Norm Hiscock, Emily Kapnek, Dave King, Greg Levine, Aisha Muharrar, Chelsea Peretti, Amy Poehler, Brian Rowe, Michael Schur, Mike Scully, Emily Spivey, Alan Yang, Harris Wittels; NBC


NEW SERIES  
Episodes, Written by David Crane, Jeffrey Klarik; Showtime
Game of Thrones, Written by David Benioff, Bryan Cogman, Jane Espenson, George R.R. Martin, D.B. Weiss; HBO
Homeland, Written by Henry Bromell, Alexander Cary, Alex Gansa, Howard Gordon, Chip Johannessen, Gideon Raff, Meredith Stiehm; Showtime
The Killing, Written by Linda Burstyn, Jeremy Doner, Soo Hugh, Dan Nowak, Nic Pizzolatto, Dawn Prestwich, Veena Sud, Nicole Yorkin, Aaron Zelman; AMC
New Girl, Written by Nick Adams, Rachel Axler, Brett Baer, Donick Cary, Dave Finkel, Berkley Johnson, Josh Malmuth, Elizabeth Meriwether, J.J. Philbin, Joe Port, Luvh Rakhe, Joe Wiseman; Fox


EPISODIC DRAMA  
“A Dangerous Maid” (Boardwalk Empire), Written byItamar Moses; HBO
“The Age of Reason” (Boardwalk Empire), Written byBathsheba Doran; HBO
“Box Cutter” (Breaking Bad), Written by Vince Gilligan; AMC
“End Times” (Breaking Bad), Written by Thomas Schnauz & Moira Walley-Beckett; AMC
“The Good Soldier” (Homeland), Written by Henry Bromell; Showtime
“Just Let Go” (Dexter), Written by Jace Richdale; Showtime


EPISODIC COMEDY  
“Caught in the Act” (Modern Family), Written by Steven Levitan & Jeffrey Richman; ABC
“Goodbye Michael, Part 2” (The Office), Written by Greg Daniels; NBC
“Mother’s Day” (Modern Family), Written by Dan O’Shannon & Ilana Wernick; ABC
“Object Impermanence” (Weeds), Written by Stephen Falk; Showtime
“PDA” (The Office), Written by Robert Padnick; NBC
“Queen of Jordan” (30 Rock), Written by Tracey Wigfield; NBC

Modern Family took home Best Comedy Series and Best Episodic Comedy for "Caught in the Act."  While Homeland took home Best New Series and tied in the episodic drama category with the episode "The Good Soldier."  Breaking Bad won Best Drama and was the other TV drama to win in the episodic drama category for "Box Cutter."

Writer Guild Nominations Announced: Ineligible Films Help to Provide some Surprises

The Writers Guild Award (WGA) nominations were announced today.  One of the important thing to acknowledge is that there was a large list of films that were intelligible: The Artist, Shame, Martha Macy, Albert Nobbs, Drive, Margin Call, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, The Iron Lady and My Week with Marilyn.  WGA does not always state the specific reason, but sometimes it's because the writer is not a part of the guild or according to thewrap.com "scripts written for productions that are signatories to the guild's Minimum Basic Agreement" which means the films did not follow the guidelines of the WGA.  This does not make predicting the Academy Awards any easier, but it does tell us who is continually out front, and who is trailing.

Bridesmaids surges ahead once again.  This film has a PGA and WGA nomination, that's pretty major.  Bridesmaids director Greg Daniels will not score a DGA nomination, but I think (like I have stated for a while) that this film has a great chance at a Best Picture nomination.    

The other films that are locks for Best Picture at this point are: The Descendants, The Help, Hugo, and Moneyball.   I think all of these films will earn screenplay nominations like today, The Help and Hugo are more up in the air, but I think they will be nominated.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo has been building a lot of support.  This film could be replace by any of the adapted screenplays listed above. Steven Zaillian is also a well respected screenwriter and this could be a rubber stamp in this category come Oscar time.

The original screenplay category is always interesting here because the original films tend to not follow the WGA rules most. The Artist will replace one of these films, and I have a strong suspicion The Tree of Life will end up here as well.  I think Young Adult and Win Win are the most vulnerable (unfortunately).

Today goldderby.com had an article about the potential for Midnight in Paris winning Best Picture. Not only does Midnight in Paris look like a lock to win the WGA, but I think it will easily win the Original Screenplay award at the Oscars.  The Best Picture race is cloudy, and there is no foreseeable front runner, this movie is easily one of the best written, and most like able films of the year.  This tale of nostalgia is brilliant and will be one film I am rooting for!

Here are the WGA nominees:

Original Screenplay

50/50, Written by Will Reiser; Summit Entertainment
Bridesmaids, Written by Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig; Universal Studios
Midnight in Paris, Written by Woody Allen; Sony Pictures Classics
Win Win, Screenplay by Tom McCarthy; Story by Tom McCarthy & Joe Tiboni; Fox Searchlight
Young Adult, Written by Diablo Cody; Paramount Pictures

Adapted Screenplay

The Descendants, Screenplay by Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash; Based on the novel by Kaui Hart Hemming; Fox Searchlight
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Screenplay by Steven Zaillian; Based on the novel by Stieg Larsson, originally published by Norstedts; Columbia Pictures
The Help, Screenplay by Tate Taylor; Based on the novel by Kathryn Stockett; DreamWorks Pictures
Hugo, Screenplay by John Logan; Based on the book The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick; Paramount Pictures
Moneyball, Screenplay by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin; Story by Stan Chervin; Based on the book by Michael Lewis; Columbia Pictures