Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert’s original screenplay for award-season juggernaut Everything Everywhere All at Once and Sarah Polley’s adapted screenplay for Women Talking scored the marquee awards Sunday at the WGA Awards.
The WGA, which handed out its trophies for the year’s best writing in dual ceremonies in Los Angeles and New York City, also gave Apple TV+’s Severance wins for Drama Series and New Series, and FX’s The Bear for Comedy Series. HBO’s The White Lotus won for Limited Series, and Last Week Tonight with John Oliver won for Comedy Variety Talk Series.
Everything Everywhere completed its sweep of the major guild awards with the win, which comes after triumphs at PGAs, DGAs and the SAG Awards, as well as Saturday in the category at the Spirit Awards. It has 11 Oscar nominations including Original Screenplay.
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Note that the scripts for The Banshees of Inisherin and Triangle of Sadness — both of which are up for the Original Screenplay and Best Picture at the Oscars this month — were ineligible for consideration tonight because of WGA rules, as are the Academy’s Adapted nominees All Quiet on the Western Front and Living. Such exclusions happen every year because WGA-eligible pics must have been written under the guild’s Minimum Basic Agreement or under a bona fide collective-bargaining agreement of various international WGA-affiliated organizations.
Still, the win for Polley’s Women Talking, which won the USC Scripter Awards on Saturday night, helped solidify its front-runner status at the Oscars, where it is nominated in the adapted category with All Quiet Living, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery and Top Gun: Maverick.
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Other small-screen WGA winners tonight included Better Call Saul (Episodic Drama), Hacks (Episode Comedy), Inside Amy Schumer (Comedy/Variety Series), Jerrod Carmichael: Rothaniel (Comedy/Variety Special), Rectify (Animation) and Three Busy Debras (Shortform).
The WGA West presented honorary awards to Charlie Kaufman (Laurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement), screenwriter Rebecca Lenkiewicz (Paul Selvin Award) and Yvette Lee Bowser (Paddy Chayefsky Laurel Award). The WGA East feted Spike Lee with the Ian McLellan Hunter Award for Career Achievement.
Watch Lee’s speech here.
This year’s WGA Awards came as the union and the industry brace for a potential writers strike against the Alliance of Motion Pictures and Television Producers. The sides will begin negotiations March 20, and their current three-year deal expires May 1.
Janelle James and Michelle Buteau hosted the respective Los Angeles and New York events, which honored outstanding writing in film, television, new media, broadcast and digital news, radio/audio and promotional categories.
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Here are winners at the 2023 Writers Guild Awards:
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Everything Everywhere All At Once
Written by Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert; A24
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; HBO/HBO Max
LIMITED SERIES
The White Lotus
Written by Mike White; HBO/HBO Max
DRAMA SERIES
Severance
Written by Chris Black, Andrew Colville, Kari Drake, Dan Erickson, Mark Friedman, Helen Leigh, Anna Moench, Amanda Overton; Apple TV+
NEWS SCRIPT – ANALYSIS, FEATURE, OR COMMENTARY
“Targeting Americans” (60 Minutes)
Written by Scott Pelley, Oriana Zill de Granados; CBS News
RADIO/AUDIO NEWS SCRIPT – REGULARLY SCHEDULED, BULLETIN, OR BREAKING REPORT
“Hail And Farewell: Saluting 5 Who Made A Difference”
Written by Gail Lee; CBS Radio
QUIZ AND AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION
Baking It
Writers Neil Casey, Chad Carter, Jessica McKenna, Zach Reino; Peacock
DOCUMENTARY SCRIPT – OTHER THAN CURRENT EVENTS
“Episode Two: An American (1775 – 1790)” (Benjamin Franklin)
Written by Dayton Duncan; PBS
ON AIR PROMOTION
“CBS Celebrates Juneteenth”
Written by Justin DiLauro; CBS News
DOCUMENTARY SCREENPLAY
Moonage Daydream
Written by Brett Morgen; Neon
EPISODIC COMEDY
“The One, The Only” (Hacks)
Written by Lucia Aniello & Paul W. Downs & Jen Statsky; HBO/HBO Max
EPISODIC DRAMA
“Plan and Execution” (Better Call Saul)
Written by Thomas Schnauz; AMC
RADIO/AUDIO NEWS SCRIPT – ANALYSIS, FEATURE, OR COMMENTARY
“What I Wish I Knew Before I Started IVF” (The Waves)
Written by Cheyna Roth; Slate
COMEDY SERIES
The Bear
Written by Karen Joseph Adcock, Joanna Calo, Rene Gube, Sofya Levitsky-Weitz, Alex O’Keefe, Catherine Schetina, Christopher Storer; FX Networks
CHILDREN’S EPISODIC, LONG FORM AND SPECIALS
“Prison or Palace” (Life by Ella)
Written by Hernan Barangan; Apple TV+
DAYTIME DRAMA
Days of Our Lives
Head Writer Ron Carlivati Writers Lorraine Broderick, Jazmen Darnell Brown, Joanna Cohen, Carolyn Culliton, Richard Culliton, Cheryl Davis, Kirk Doering, Christopher Dunn, Jamey Giddens, David Kreizman, Ryan Quan, Dave Ryan, Katherine D. Schock; NBC
NEWS SCRIPT – REGULARLY SCHEDULED, BULLETIN, OR BREAKING REPORT
“The Water Crisis in Jackson, Mississippi” (CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell)
Written by James Hutton, Rob Rivielle; CBS News
DIGITAL NEWS
“How Oregon’s Prison System Retaliated Against Its Most Effective Jailhouse Lawyer”
Written by Jessica Schulberg; HuffPost.com
COMEDY/VARIETY SKETCH SERIES
Inside Amy Schumer
Writers Georgie Aldaco, Rosebud Baker, Jeremy Beiler, Cazzie David, Tova Diker, Derek Gaines, Jon Glaser, Jaye McBride, Tim Meadows, Christine Nangle, Daniel Powell, Tami Sagher, Amy Schumer, Joe Strazzullo, Sydnee Washington, Ron Weiner; Paramount+
TV & NEW MEDIA MOTION PICTURES
Honor Society
Written by David A. Goodman; Paramount +
NEW SERIES
Severance
Written by Chris Black, Andrew Colville, Kari Drake, Dan Erickson, Mark Friedman, Helen Leigh, Anna Moench, Amanda Overton; Apple TV+
SHORT FORM NEW MEDIA
Three Busy Debras
Written by Sandy Honig, Mitra Jouhari, Sarah Sherman, Alyssa Stonoha, Diana Tay, Evan Waite; Adult Swim
DOCUMENTARY SCRIPT – CURRENT EVENTS
“Lies, Politics and Democracy” (Frontline)
Written by Michael Kirk & Mike Wiser; PBS
ANIMATION
“Rectify” (Undone)
Written by Elijah Aron & Patrick Metcalf; Prime Video
COMEDY/VARIETY SPECIALS
Jerrod Carmichael: Rothaniel
Written by Jerrod Carmichael; HBO/HBO Max
RADIO/AUDIO DOCUMENTARY
“Like a Lion With No Teeth” (Crime Show)
Written by Emma Courtland & Cat Schuknecht; Gimlet Media
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Women Talking, Screenplay by Sarah Polley, Based upon the Book by Miriam Toews; Orion Pictures/MGM