Zach Galifianakis, Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms in The Hangover (Frank Masi / Warner Bros.) (top); Meryl Streep in Julie & Julia (Columbia Pictures) (bottom)
The Writers Guild of America has announced the nominees for the 2010 WGA Awards. Both Avatar (James Cameron) and The Hangover (Jon Lucas and Scott Moore) have been nominated in the best original screenplay category. Wow. They'll be competing with the scribes of (500) Days of Summer (Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber), The Hurt Locker (Mark Boal), and A Serious Man (Joel Coen and Ethan Coen).
It gets better: Nora Ephron is up for a best adapted screenplay WGA Award for Julie & Julia, and so are Roberto Orci & Alex Kurtzman for Star Trek. They're up against Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner (Up in the Air), Geoffrey Fletcher (Precious), and Scott Cooper (Crazy Heart). No one can accuse the WGA of being an elitist group. I'm just not sure that's such a good thing.
Among the eligible films not nominated for best original screenplay are Bright Star, It's Complicated, The Messenger, Sin Nombre, Sugar, and Two Lovers.
The Blind Side, Brothers, The Informant!, Invictus, The Last Station, The Stoning of Soraya M., and The Twilight Saga: New Moon are some of the eligible adapted screenplays that were overlooked.
But wait! Where's Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds or Nick Hornby for An Education or Michael Haneke for The White Ribbon or …? None of these three were eligible. The nominees listed above are the WGA members' choices among films "written under the WGA’s Minimum Basic Agreement." A little more detail is provided a couple of paragraphs down.
Also, six films are in the running for the best writing for a documentary award, including Capitalism: A Love Story (Michael Moore) and critics' fave The Cove (Mark Monroe).
The WGA winners will be honored at the 2010 Writers Guild Awards held on Saturday, February 20, 2010, at simultaneous ceremonies in Los Angeles and New York.
As per the WGA's press release, "feature films eligible for a Writers Guild Award were exhibited theatrically for at least one week in Los Angeles in 2009 and were written under the WGA’s Minimum Basic Agreement (MBA) or under a bona fide collective bargaining agreement of the Australian Writers Guild, Writers Guild of Canada, Writers Guild of Great Britain, Irish Playwrights & Screenwriters Guild or the New Zealand Writers Guild.
"Documentaries eligible for a Writers Guild Award featured an on-screen writing credit and were exhibited theatrically in Los Angeles or New York for one week in 2009. While credited documentary writers were required to join the WGAW’s Nonfiction Writers Caucus or WGAE Nonfiction Writers Caucus to be considered, scripts need not have been written under WGA jurisdiction to be considered."
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
(500) Days of Summer, Written by Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber; Fox Searchlight
Avatar, Written by James Cameron; 20th Century Fox
The Hangover, Written by Jon Lucas & Scott Moore; Warner Bros.
The Hurt Locker, Written by Mark Boal; Summit Entertainment
A Serious Man, Written by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen; Focus Features
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Crazy Heart, Screenplay by Scott Cooper; Based on the novel by Thomas Cobb; Fox Searchlight
Julie & Julia, Screenplay by Nora Ephron; Based on the books Julie & Julia by Julie Powell and My Life in France by Julia Child with Alex Prud’homme; Sony Pictures
Precious: Based on the novel Push by Sapphire, Screenplay by Geoffrey Fletcher; Based on the novel Push by Sapphire; Lionsgate
Star Trek, Written by Roberto Orci & Alex Kurtzman; Based upon Star Trek, Created by Gene Roddenberry; Paramount Pictures
Up in the Air, Screenplay by Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner; Based upon the novel by Walter Kirn; Paramount Pictures
DOCUMENTARY SCREENPLAY
Against the Tide, Screenplay by Richard Trank; Moriah Films
Capitalism: A Love Story, Written by Michael Moore; Overture Films
The Cove, Written by Mark Monroe; Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions
Earth Days, Written by Robert Stone; Zeitgeist Films
Good Hair, Written by Chris Rock & Jeff Stilson and Lance Crouther and Chuck Sklar; Roadside Attractions
Soundtrack for a Revolution, Written by Bill Guttentag & Dan Sturman; Freedom Song Productions and Louverture Films