Writers Guild of America Awards 2018

Last updated
71st WGA Awards
DateFebruary 17, 2019
Organized by Writers Guild of America, East and the Writers Guild of America, West

The 71st Writers Guild of America Awards honored the best in film, television, radio and video-game writing of 2018. Winners were announced on February 17, 2019 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, Beverly Hills, California and the Edison Ballroom, New York City, New York. [1] [2] The nominations for Television, New Media, Radio, News and Promotional Writing were announced on December 6, 2018. [3] The Theatrical, Documentary Screenplay and Videogame Writing nominees were announced on January 7, 2019. [4]

Contents

Winners and nominees

Film

Best Original Screenplay

Eighth Grade (A24) – Bo Burnham

Best Adapted Screenplay

Can You Ever Forgive Me? (Fox Searchlight) – Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty; based on the book by Lee Israel

Best Documentary Screenplay

Bathtubs Over Broadway (Focus Features) – Ozzy Inguanzo & Dava Whisenant

Television

Drama Series

The Americans (FX) – Peter Ackerman, Hilary Bettis, Joshua Brand, Joel Fields, Sarah Nolen, Stephen Schiff, Justin Weinberger, Joe Weisberg, Tracey Scott Wilson

Comedy Series

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Prime Video) Kate Fodor, Noah Gardenswartz, Jen Kirkman, Sheila Lawrence, Daniel Palladino, Amy Sherman-Palladino

New Series

Barry (HBO) Alec Berg, Duffy Boudreau, Bill Hader, Emily Heller, Liz Sarnoff, Ben Smith, Sarah Solemani

Long Form – Original

Castle Rock (Hulu) Marc Bernardin, Scott Brown, Lila Byock, Mark Lafferty, Sam Shaw, Dustin Thomason, Gina Welch, Vinnie Wilhelm

Long Form – Adapted

The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story (FX) – Maggie Cohn and Tom Rob Smith; Based on the book Vulgar Favors by Maureen Orth

Short Form New Media – Original

Class of Lies (Snapchat) – Tessa Leigh Williams

  • After Forever (Vimeo) – Michael Slade and Kevin Spirtas
  • Love Daily (go90) – Lauren Ciaravalli, Andrew Eisen, Aaron Eisenberg, Will Eisenberg, Alexis Jacknow, Nathaniel Katzman, Yulin Kuang, Nathan Larkin-Connolly, Alexis Roblan, Bennet D. Silverman, Ryan Wood
  • West 40s (West40s.com) – Mark Sam Rosenthal and Brian Sloan
Short Form New Media – Adapted

The Walking Dead: Red Machete (AMC.com) Nick Bernardone

Animation

"Bart's Not Dead"  The Simpsons (Fox) Stephanie Gillis

Episodic Drama

"Paean to the People"  Homeland (Showtime) Alex Gansa

Episodic Comedy

"Chapter One: Make Your Mark"  Barry (HBO) Alec Berg and Bill Hader

Comedy/Variety – Talk Series

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO) Tim Carvell, Raquel D'Apice, Josh Gondelman, Dan Gurewitch, Jeff Maurer, Daniel O'Brien, John Oliver, Brian Parise, Ben Silva, Will Tracy, Jill Twiss, Seena Vali, Juli Weiner

Comedy/Variety – Sketch Series

Nathan For You (Comedy Central) Leo Allen, Nathan Fielder, Carrie Kemper, Adam Locke-Norton, Eric Notarnicola

Comedy/Variety (Music, Awards, Tributes) – Specials

The Fake News with Ted Nelms (Comedy Central) John Aboud, Andrew Blitz, Michael Colton, Ed Helms, Elliott Kalan, Joseph Randazzo, Sara Schaefer

Quiz and Audience Participation

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (Disney/ABC Syndication) – Head Writer: Stephen A. Melcher Jr.; Writers: Kyle Beakley, Tom Cohen, Patricia A. Cotter, Ryan Hopak, Gary Lucy, James Rowley, Ann Slichter, Dylan Snowden

  • Hollywood Game Night (NBC) – Head Writers: Ann Slichter, Grant Taylor; Writers: Michael Agbabian, Alexandra Kokesh, Dwight D. Smith
  • Jeopardy! (ABC) – Matthew Caruso, John Duarte, Harry Friedman, Mark Gaberman, Deborah Griffin, Michele Loud, Robert McClenaghan, Jim Rhine, Steve D. Tamerius, Billy Wisse
  • Paid Off with Michael Torpey (truTV) – Head Writer: Ethan Berlin; Writers: John Chaneski, Rosemarie DiSalvo, Leigh Hampton, Katie Hartman, Amanda Melson, Larry Owens, Jennie Sutton, Michael Torpey, Jeremy Weiner; truTV
Daytime Drama

General Hospital (ABC) – Head Writers: Shelly Altman, Christopher Van Etten; Writers: Barbara Bloom, Anna Theresa Cascio, Suzanne Flynn, Charlotte Gibson, Lucky Gold, Kate Hall, Elizabeth Korte, Daniel James O'Connor, Donny Sheldon, Scott Sickles

  • Days of Our Lives (NBC) – Head Writer: Ron Carlivati; Writers: Sheri Anderson, Lorraine Broderick, David Cherrill, Joanna Cohen, Lisa Connor, Carolyn Culliton, Richard Culliton, Rick Draughon, Cydney Kelley, David Kreizman, David A. Levinson, Rebecca McCarty, Ryan Quan, Dave Ryan, Katherine Schock, Elizabeth Snyder, Tyler Topits
Children's Script – Episodic and Specials

"The Ersatz Elevator: Part One"  A Series of Unfortunate Events (Netflix) Daniel Handler

Documentary

Documentary Script – Current Events

"Trump's Takeover"  Frontline (PBS) Michael Kirk and Mike Wiser

  • "Black Hole Apocalypse"  Nova (PBS) – Rushmore DeNooyer
  • "Blackout in Puerto Rico"  Frontline (PBS) – Rick Young
  • "The Gang Crackdown"  Frontline (PBS) – Marcela Gaviria
Documentary Script – Other than Current Events

"The Eugenics Crusade"  American Experience (PBS) – Michelle Ferrari

News

TV News Script – Regularly Scheduled, Bulletin, or Breaking Report

"Catastrophe"  60 Minutes (CBS) Scott Pelley, Katie Kerbstat, Nicole Young

TV News Script – Analysis, Feature, or Commentary

"Wounds of War"  60 Minutes (CBS) Scott Pelley, Katie Kerbstat, and Nicole Young

Digital News

"Inside the Culture of Sexism at Riot Games" (Kotaku.com) – Cecilia D'Anastasio

  • "D.C.'s Biggest Homeless Shelter is About to Close. Will Amazon Take Its Place?" (Splinter) – Emma Roller
  • "How to Not Die in America" (Splinter) – Molly Osberg

Radio

Radio Documentary

"RFK: 50 Years After Shots Rang Out at the Ambassador Hotel" (ABC News Radio) – Andrew Evans

Radio News Script – Regularly Scheduled, Bulletin, or Breaking Report

"Remembering The Good, The Bad and the Brilliant" (CBS Radio News) – Gail Lee

  • "5pm CBS News Radio Glor Newscast" (CBS Radio News) – James Hutton
  • "ABC News 6p Hourly 9-27-2018" (ABC News Radio) – Stephanie Pawlowski
  • "World News This Week: 9-21-2018" (ABC News Radio) – Joan B. Harris
Radio News Script – Analysis, Feature or Commentary

"John McCain: A Life of Service" (CBS Radio News) – Gail Lee

  • "A Tribute to Le Grand Orange" (CBS Radio News) – Thomas A. Sabella

Promotional Writing

On-Air Promotion – Television or Radio

"Tribute to Star Trek for the 2018 Creative Arts Emmys" (CBS) – Sean Brogan

  • "FBI 2018 Promo Reel" (CBS) – Ralph Buado
  • "Westworld: Season 2 Promo (Super Bowl spot)" (HBO) Jonathan Nolan

Videogame Writing

Outstanding Achievement in Videogame Writing

God of War (Sony Interactive Entertainment) – Matt Sophos, Richard Zangrande Gaubert, Cory Barlog; Story and Narrative Design Lead: Matt Sophos; Story and Narrative Design: Richard Zangrande Gaubert; Narrative Design: Orion Walker, Adam Dolin

  • Assassin's Creed Odyssey (Ubisoft Quebec) – Associate Narrative Directors: Matthew Zagurak, Joel Janisse, James Richard Mittag; Narrative Director: Melissa MacCoubrey; Story by Jonathan Dumont, Melissa MacCoubrey, Hugo Giard; Scriptwriters: Madeleine Hart, Betty Robertson, Jesse Scoble, Diana Sherman, Kelly Bender, Jojo Chia, Ian Fun, Zachary M. Parris, Ken Williamson, Daniel Bingham, Jordan Lemos, Simon Mackenzie, Katelyn MacMullin, Susan Patrick, Alissa Ralph, Stephen Rhodes; Team Lead Writer: Sam Gill; AI Writers: Jonathan Flieger, Kimberly Ann Sparks
  • Batman: The Enemy Within , Episode 5 - Same Stitch (Telltale Games) – Lead Writer: James Windeler; Written by Meghan Thornton, Ross Beeley, Lauren Mee; Story by: Meghan Thornton, Michael Kirkbride
  • Marvel's Spider-Man (Insomniac Games and Sony Interactive Entertainment) – Story Lead: Jon Paquette; Writers: Benjamin Arfmann, Kelsey Beachum; Co-Written by Christos Gage; Additional Story Contributions by Dan Slott
  • Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire (Obsidian Entertainment) – Narrative Designers: Alex Scokel, Eric Fenstermaker, Kate Dollarhyde, Megan Starks, Olivia Veras, Paul Kirsch; Additional Writing: Tony Evans, John Schmautz, Casey Hollingshead, Nitai Poddar; Narrative Design Leads: Carrie Patel, Josh Sawyer

Special awards

Paul Selvin Award

Vice Adam McKay

Laurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement

Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel

Laurel Award for TV Writing Achievement

Jenji Kohan

Related Research Articles

The 65th Golden Globe Awards, honoring the best in film and television of 2007, were presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association on January 13, 2008.

The 54th Writers Guild of America Awards honored the best writing in film, television and radio of 2001. Nominees for television and radio were announced on January 16, 2002, while nominees for film were announced on February 7, 2002. Winners were announced on March 2, 2002 in joint ceremonies at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California and at The Pierre Hotel in New York City, New York. The ceremonies were hosted by Jeffrey Ross and Mort Sahl.

The 53rd Writers Guild of America Awards honored the best writing in film, television and radio of 2000. Nominees for television and radio were announced on January 10, 2001, while nominees for film were announced on February 7, 2001. Winners were announced on March 4, 2001 in joint ceremonies at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California and at the Plaza Hotel in New York City, New York. The ceremonies were hosted by Geoffrey Rush, Greg Kinnear, Kelsey Grammer, and Stockard Channing.

Stephanie Gillis Television writer

Stephanie Gillis is an American television writer. She writes for The Simpsons and has written 11 episodes.

Ryan Koh is an American television writer and producer. He is currently a writer and co-executive producer for The Simpsons. He also served as a staff writer and co-producer on the ABC comedy series Cougar Town.

The Producers Guild of America Awards 2013, honoring the best film and television producers of 2013, were held at The Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California on January 19, 2014. The nominees for documentary motion picture were announced on November 26, 2013. The nominees for television and digital series were announced on December 3, 2013. The nominees for motion picture, animated feature, and long-form television were announced on January 2, 2014.

The 68th Writers Guild of America Awards honored the best in film, television, radio and video-game writing of 2015. Winners were announced on February 13, 2016 at Hyatt Regency Century Plaza, Los Angeles, California. The nominations for Television, New Media, Radio, News and Promotional Writing were announced on December 3, 2015, while, Theatrical and Documentary Screenplay were announced on January 6, 2016, and Video-game Writing was announced the following week. There were no nominees in the Television Graphic Art and Animation.

The 69th Writers Guild of America Awards honor the best in film, television, radio and video-game writing of 2016. Winners were announced on February 19, 2017 at Beverly Hilton Hotel, Beverly Hills, California. The nominations for Television, New Media, Radio, News and Promotional Writing were announced on December 5, 2016, while, the Theatrical and Documentary Screenplay nominees were announced on January 4, 2017, and the Videogame Writing nominees was announced on January 12, 2017.

The 70th Writers Guild of America Awards honored the best in film, television, radio and video-game writing of 2017. Winners were announced on February 11, 2018 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, Beverly Hills, California and the Edison Ballroom, New York City, New York. The nominations for Television, New Media, Radio, News and Promotional Writing were announced on December 7, 2017, the Theatrical and Documentary Screenplay nominees were announced on January 4, 2018, and the Videogame Writing nominees were announced on January 11, 2018.

The 70th Directors Guild of America Awards, honoring the outstanding directorial achievement in feature films, documentary, television and commercials of 2017, were presented on February 3, 2018 at Beverly Hilton, Beverly Hills, California. The nominations for the television and documentary categories were announced on January 10, 2018, while the nominations for the film categories were announced on January 11, 2018.

The 45th Directors Guild of America Awards, honoring the outstanding directorial achievements in films, documentary and television in 1992, were presented on March 6, 1993 at the Beverly Hilton and in New York. The ceremony in Beverly Hills was hosted by Carl Reiner and the ceremony in New York was hosted by Jerry Orbach. The feature film nominees were announced on January 25, 1993 and the other nominations were announced starting on February 22, 1993. Prior to the nominations announcement, finalists were announced for the television categories.

The Producers Guild of America Awards 2018, honoring the best film and television producers of 2018, were held at The Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, California on January 19, 2019. The nominations in the documentary category were announced on November 20, 2018 and the other nominations for film and television were announced on January 4, 2019.

The 71st Directors Guild of America Awards, honoring the outstanding directorial achievement in feature films, documentary, television and commercials of 2018, were presented on February 2, 2019 at the Hollywood and Highland Center, Los Angeles, California. The ceremony was hosted by Aisha Tyler. The nominations for the television and documentary categories were announced on January 7, 2019, while the nominations for the feature film categories were announced on January 8, 2019.

The Writers Guild of America Award for Television: Comedy/Variety Talk Series is an award presented by the Writers Guild of America to the best writing in a comedy or variety talk program. With the exception of 1998 in which no award was given, it has been presented annually since the 49th Writers Guild of America Awards in 1997 where Late Night with Conan O'Brien won the first award. From the award's creation, the category was dominated by Late Night with Conan O'Brien, winning six of the first nine awards. Recently, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver has won the award the last three years in a row, and four times in the last five years.

References

  1. "2019 Awards Timeline". Writers Guild of America . Retrieved December 8, 2018.
  2. "The 71st Writers Guild Awards". Writers Guild of America East. Retrieved 2018-12-08.
  3. McNary, Dave (December 6, 2018). "Writers Guild Awards Announces 2019 TV Nominees". Variety. Retrieved December 8, 2018.
  4. Pedersen, Erik (December 6, 2018). "Writers Guild Film Nominations: 'Roma', 'Black Panther', 'Eighth Grade' & More". Variety. Retrieved January 7, 2019.