New York and Los Angeles – The Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) and the Writers Guild of America, West (WGAW) have announced nominations for outstanding achievement in writing for the screen during the 2008 season. Winners will be honored at the 2009 Writers Guild Awards held on Saturday, February 7, 2009, at simultaneous ceremonies in New York and Los Angeles.
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Burn After Reading
Written by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen, Focus Features
Milk
Written by Dustin Lance Black, Focus Features
Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Written by Woody Allen, The Weinstein Company
The Visitor
Written by Tom McCarthy,Overture Films
The Wrestler
Written by Robert Siegel,
Fox Searchlight Pictures---
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Screenplay by Eric Roth, Screen Story by Eric Roth and Robin Swicord
Based on the Short Story by F Scott Fitzgerald, Paramount Pictures
and Warner Bros Pictures
The Dark Knight
Screenplay by Jonathan Nolan and Christopher Nolan, Story by Christopher Nolan & David S. Goyer, Based on Characters Appearing in Comic Books Published by DC Comics Batman Created by Bob Kane, Warner Bros Pictures
Doubt
Screenplay by John Patrick Shanley
Based on his Stage Play, Miramax Films
Frost/Nixon
Screenplay by Peter Morgan
Based on his Stage Play,Universal Pictures
Slumdog Millionaire
Screenplay by Simon Beaufoy
Based on the Novel Q and A by Vikas Swarup,Fox Searchlight Pictures---
DOCUMENTARY SCREENPLAY
Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story
Written by Stefan Forbes and Noland Walker, InterPositive Media
Chicago 10
Written by Brett Morgen, Roadside Attractions
Fuel
Written by Johnny O'Hara,Greenlight Theatrical / Intention
Media Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
Screenplay by Alex Gibney, From the Words of Hunter S. Thompson, Magnolia Pictures
Waltz with Bashir
Written by Ari Folman
Sony Pictures Classics---
Feature films eligible for a Writers Guild Award were released in the year 2008 and produced under the jurisdiction of Writers Guilds of America, East and West or affiliate guilds in Australia, Canada, Great Britain, Ireland, and New Zealand. There were 255 films eligible for nomination in the categories of Original Screenplay (155) and Adapted Screenplay (100). 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 2008. While the credited writers of these documentaries were required to join the WGAE Nonfiction Writers Caucus or WGAW’s Nonfiction Writers Caucus or in order to be considered, scripts need not have been written under WGA jurisdiction to be considered. The 2009 Writers Guild Awards will be held on Saturday, February 7, 2009, at simultaneous ceremonies at the Hudson Theatre at the Millennium Broadway Hotel in New York City and the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles.