Tonight, the Writers Guild of America presented their awards for excellence in film and television for 2013. All eyes were on their top two categories, Original Screenplay and Adapted Screenplay, and while the former went to Spike Jonze’s incredible Her as expected, the latter went to Billy Ray’s Captain Phillips, which was completely out of the blue.
Her was widely expected to win due to its immense popularity throughout awards season, taking 20 screenplay wins from groups such as the HFPA and BFCA. However, Captain Phillips was a complete surprise given that it had not managed to win a single screenplay award prior to tonight, but as I’ve said before, it was going to be hard to tell which nominee was the favorite given the fact that the disqualified 12 Years a Slave has been the clear frontrunner throughout the season. However, it’s still quite shocking that Before Midnight and The Wolf of Wall Street, both of which had won a few awards, were shut out.
I think we can now say with absolute certainty that Spike Jonze will be taking home the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay on March 2nd, lest some major upset should occur. He’s taken all of the major screenplay awards up to this point, making him an even more clear favorite. And, as I’ve also said before, we can still expect John Ridley to be taking home the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay due to 12 Years a Slave‘s vast popularity throughout awards season.
Be sure to join us for a live-blogging of the next stop on the awards circuit, the BAFTA awards, on the 16th. In the meantime, please see below for a complete list of winners and be sure to let us know what you think in the comments!
Original Screenplay: Her, Written by Spike Jonze; Warner Bros.
Adapted Screenplay: 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
Documentary Screenplay: Stories We Tell, Written by Sarah Polley; Roadside Attractions
Drama Series: Breaking Bad, Written by Sam Catlin, Vince Gilligan, Peter Gould, Gennifer Hutchison, George Mastras, Thomas Schnauz, Moira Walley-Beckett; AMC
Comedy Series: Veep, Written by Simon Blackwell, Roger Drew, Sean Gray, Armando Iannucci, Ian Martin, Georgia Pritchett, David Quantick, Tony Roche, Will Smith; HBO
New Series: House of Cards, Written by Kate Barnow, Rick Cleveland, Sam Forman, Gina Gionfriddo, Keith Huff, Sarah Treem, Beau Willimon; Netflix
Episodic Drama: “Confessions” (Breaking Bad), Written by Gennifer Hutchison; AMC
Episodic Comedy: “Hogcock!” (30 Rock), Written by Jack Burditt & Robert Carlock; NBC
Long Form – Adapted: Muhammad Ali’s Greatest Fight, Written by Shawn Slovo, Based on the book by Howard Bingham and Max Wallace; HBO
Animation: “A Test Before Trying” (The Simpsons), Written by Joel H. Cohen; Fox
Comedy/Variety (Including Talk) – Series: The Colbert Report, Writers: Stephen Colbert, Tom Purcell, Michael Brumm, Nate Charny, Rich Dahm, Paul Dinello, Eric Drysdale, Rob Dubbin, Glenn Eichler, Gabe Gronli, Dan Guterman, Barry Julien, Jay Katsir, Frank Lesser, Opus Moreschi, Bobby Mort, Meredith Scardino, Max Werner; Comedy Central
Comedy/Variety – Music, Awards, Tributes – Specials: Blake Shelton’s Not So Family Christmas, Head Writers: Jay Martel, Ian Roberts Writers: Alex Rubens, Charlie Sanders; NBC
Short Form New Media – Original: “Episode 4: The Collected Sylvia” (Sylvia Plath: Girl Detective), Written by Mike Simses;
Daytime Drama: Days of Our Lives, Written by Lorraine Broderick, David Cherrill, Carolyn Culliton, Richard Culliton, Rick Draughon, Christopher Dunn, Janet Iacobuzio, David A. Levinson, Ryan Quan, Dave Ryan, Melissa Salmons, Christopher J. Whitesell; NBC
Children’s – Episodic & Specials: “influANTces” (A.N.T. Farm), Written by Vincent Brown; Disney Channel
Video Games: The Last of Us, Written by Neil Druckmann; Sony Computer Entertainment
Quiz and Audience Participation: Jeopardy!, Written by John Duarte, Harry Friedman, Mark Gaberman, Debbie Griffin, Michele Loud, Robert McClenaghan, Jim Rhine, Steve D. Tamerius, Billy Wisse; ABC
On-Air Promotion (Television, New Media, or Radio): “The Crazy Ones – Building a Better Comedy,” Written by Erial Tompkins; CBS
Television Graphic Art and Animation: CBS News Animations: “Brain Injury,” “Pills,” “Bionic Leg,” “Midland Parade,” “Concordia Salvage;” Animation by David Rosen; CBS News
Radio Documentary: “2012 Year in Review,” Written by Gail Lee; CBS Radio News
