Alexander Payne's Christmas comedy and Cord Jefferson's directorial debut snatch the coveted movie prizes, while 'Succession' and 'The Bear' win big in TV field.
- Apr 15, 2024
AceShowbiz - The 76th Writers Guild of America Awards has finally been held after a month delay. Usually taking place before the Oscars, this year's WGA Awards was held on Sunday, April 14, one month after the 96th Academy Awards, following the 2023 WGA strike.
Regardless the delay, the WGA presented the awards to the best writing in film, television and radio of 2023. In movie field, "The Holdovers" and "American Fiction" took home the coveted prizes in Original Screenplay and Adapted Screenplay category respectively, beating "Barbie" and "Oppenheimer".
Despite "Barbenheimer" popularity and success throughout the award season, the WGA results did not come as a surprise. Both movies lost in the same categories at the 2024 Oscars, with "Anatomy of a Fall" and "American Fiction" declared the winners by The Academy.
In TV field, "Succession" came out as the biggest winner with two prizes. It nabbed the trophies in Drama Series and Episodic Drama categories. Meanwhile, "The Bear" won one for the best writing in Comedy Series.
"The Last of Us" won for New Series, Limited Series gong went to "Beef", while Episodic Comedy award was snatched by "Poker Face". "The Simpsons" also nabbed one prize for Animation.
"Last Week Tonight with John Oliver" was the winner in Comedy/Variety Talk Series category, with "I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson" winning Comedy/Variety Sketch Series, and "Sarah Silverman: Someone You Love" nabbing the prize for Comedy/Variety Special.
At the ceremony which took place at the Hollywood Palladium, Chris Keyser and David Goodman, who led the five-month strike last year, warned guild members to stay vigilant in a fast-changing business landscape despite the gains of the historic labor action.
"Though this strike is over, the fight goes on. If we take our eye off the ball, everything we gained can literally go away tomorrow," Goodman told the crowd. Keyser then added, "Nothing is given to labor that it does not demand."
Full Winner List at 76th Writers Guild of America Awards
- Original Screenplay: "The Holdovers", by David Hemingson
- Adapted Screenplay: "American Fiction", by Cord Jefferson, based upon the novel "Erasure" by Percival Everett
- Documentary Screenplay: "The Pigeon Tunnel", by Errol Morris
- Drama Series: "Succession", by Will Arbery, Jesse Armstrong, Miriam Battye, Jon Brown, Jamie Carragher, Ted Cohen, Nate Elston, Francesca Gardiner, Callie Hersheway, Lucy Prebble, Georgia Pritchett, Tony Roche, Susan Soon He Stanton, Will Tracy
- Comedy Series: "The Bear", by Karen Joseph Adcock, Joanna Calo, Kelly Galuska, Rene Gube, Sofya Levitsky-Weitz, Stacy Osei-Kuffour, Alex Russell, Catherine Schetina, Christopher Storer
- New Series: "The Last of Us", by Neil Druckmann, Halley Gross, Craig Mazin, Bo Shim
- Limited Series: "Beef", by Joanna Calo, Bathsheba Doran, Jean Kyoung Frazier, Niko Gutierrez-Kovner, Lee Sung Jin, Alice Ju, Carrie Kemper, Mike Makowsky, Marie Hanhnhon Nguyen, Kevin Rosen, Alex Russell
- TV & New-Media Motion Pictures: "Quiz Lady", by Jen D'Angelo
- Animation: "Carl Carlson Rides Again" ("The Simpsons"), by Loni Steele Sosthand
- Episodic Drama: "Living+" ("Succession"), by Georgia Pritchett & Will Arbery
- Episodic Comedy: "Escape From S**t Mountain” ("Poker Face"), by Nora & Lilla Zuckerman
- Comedy/Variety Talk Series: "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver"; Senior Writers Daniel O'Brien, Owen Parsons, Charlie Redd, Joanna Rothkopf, Seena Vali Writers Johnathan Appel, Ali Barthwell, Tim Carvell, Liz Hynes, Ryan Ken, Mark Kramer, Sofia Manfredi, John Oliver, Taylor Kay Phillips, Chrissy Shackelford
- Comedy/Variety Sketch Series: "I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson", by Tim Robinson, Zach Kanin, John Solomon, Gary Richardson, Reggie Henke, Brendan Jennings, Patti Harrison
- Comedy/Variety Specials: "Sarah Silverman: Someone You Love", by Sarah Silverman
- Quiz and Audience Participation: "The Chase"; Head Writer David Levinson Wilk; Writers Erik Agard, Kyle Beakley, Micki Boden, Megan Broussard, Jonathan Daly, Brian Greene, Robert King, Jason Lundell, Sierra Mannie, Amy Ozols, Bobby Patton, Ellen Teitel, Ari Yolkut
- Daytime Drama: "Days of Our Lives"; Head Writer Ron Carlivati; Creative Consultant Ryan Quan; Writers Sonja Alar, Jazmen Darnell Brown, Joanna Cohen, Carolyn Culliton, Richard Culliton, Cheryl Davis, Kirk Doering, Christopher Dunn, Jamey Giddens, David Kreizman, Henry Newman, Dave Ryan, Katherine D. Schock
- Children's Episodic, Long Form and Specials: "Romance Dawn" ("One Piece"), by Matt Owens & Steven Maeda
- Short-Form New Media: "Carpool Karaoke: The Series", by Casey Stewart, David Young
- Documentary Script: "Episode One: Blood Memory" ("The American Buffalo"), by Dayton Duncan
- News Script - Regularly Scheduled, Bulletin, or Breaking Report: "Surprise Attack!" ("CBS Weekend News"), by J. Craig Wilson, Ambrose Raferty
- News Script - Analysis, Feature, or Commentary: "Healing and Hope" ("60 Minutes"), by Scott Pelley, Nicole Young, Kristin Steve
- Digital News: "The Persuaders: A 5-Part Investigation into the Union-Busting Industry", by Dave Jamieson; HuffPost
- Radio/Audio Documentary: "The Call" ("This American Life"), by Mary Harris
- Radio/Audio News Script - Regularly Scheduled, Bulletin, or Breaking Report: "World News This Week - Week of March 17, 2023", by Joy Piazza; ABC News Radio
- Radio/Audio News Script - Analysis, Feature or Commentary: "The Diagnosis Was Fatal. She Couldn't Get an Abortion" ("What Next"), by Madeline Ducharme and Mary Harris
- On-Air Promotion: "WCBS AM Promos" by Bill Tynan; WCBS Newsradio 880
