“The Big Short” and “Spotlight” have been named the best screenplays of 2015 by the Writers Guild of America.
“The Big Short” won in the adapted screenplay category, while “Spotlight” won as the best original screenplay.
The Writers Guild of America West and East handed out the awards at simultaneous ceremonies in Los Angeles and New York, though quirks of timing meant that the awards were rarely handed out at the same time.
“Spotlight” came into the awards as a strong favorite in the original screenplay category, as did “The Big Short” in the adapted screenplay race. Both are among the favorites for the screenwriting Oscars, and for Best Picture.
In the television categories, the WGA gave out prizes for drama and comedy series, but also for individual episodes of series. The series awards winners were “Mad Men” in the drama category, “Veep” in comedy series and, in the new-series category, “Mr. Robot,” which beat “Better Call Saul” and “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt,” among others.
Episodic winners included episodes of “Better Call Saul” in the drama category and “Silicon Valley” in comedy.
Long-form television awards went to “Fargo” for adapted screenplay and “Saints & Strangers” for original screenplay.
In the comedy/variety categories, the winners were “Inside Amy Schumer,” “Real Time With Bill Maher” and Jimmy Kimmel’s post-Oscars special.
In the film categories, Writers Guild Awards rules restrict eligibility to screenplays written by guild members or produced under the guild’s Minimum Basic Agreement, or the agreement of several affiliated international guilds. As a result, far fewer scripts are eligible for the WGA Award than for the screenwriting Oscars: The WGA field consisted of 61 original screenplays, compared to the Academy’s 169, and 51 adapted screenplays, compared to the Academy’s 121.
Still, most of the Academy favorites, including “Spotlight” and “The Big Short,” were eligible for Writers Guild Awards and were nominated. As at the Oscars, Best Picture contenders “The Revenant” and “Mad Max: Fury Road” were eligible for WGA Awards but were not nominated.
With the Producers Guild, Screen Actors Guild and Directors Guild splitting their top film prizes among “The Big Short,” “Spotlight” and “The Revenant,” the WGA wins for the former two films meant that they’ll be the only movies to go into the Oscars with more than one major guild award.
Despite the difference in eligibility requirements, 15 of the last 20 films to win WGA screenwriting awards went on to win the screenplay Oscar, and six times in 10 years a WGA winner has also been named Best Picture.
Honorary awards were given to screenwriter-director-actress Elaine May (Laurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement); “Friends” co-creators Marta Kauffman and David Crane (Paddy Chayefsky Laurel Award for Television Writing Achievement); screenwriter John August (Valentine Davies Award); TV/screenwriter Arthur Sellers (Morgan Cox Award); and “Trumbo” screenwriter John McNamara (Paul Selvin Award).
In New York, honorary awards went to screenwriter Richard LaGravenese (Ian McClellan Hunter Award) and Senator Al Franken (Evelyn F. Burkey Award).
The Los Angeles show was hosted by Patton Oswalt, who began by promising not to make jokes about “the worst Supreme Court justice in history,” and then added a few more comments about the recently deceased Antonin Scalia — who, he said, “was born in 1936 and stayed there forever.”
The New York show was hosted by Michael Ian Black.
In a nod to the diversity controversy, Keegan-Michael Key introduced a video salute to all the African-American winners of the WGA’s film screenplay awards. The video consisted of a shot of Richard Pryor, who won for “Blazing Saddles,” followed by a card saying “The End.”
“Suddenly, the Oscars don’t look so bad,” said Key.
Here’s the list of nominees, with winners indicated by *WINNER.
FILM NOMINEES:
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
“Bridge of Spies,” Matt Charman and Ethan Coen & Joel Coen
“Sicario,” Taylor Sheridan
“Spotlight,” Josh Singer & Tom McCarthy *WINNER
“Straight Outta Compton,” Jonathan Herman and Andrea Berloff; Story by S. Leigh Savidge & Alan Wenkus and Andrea Berloff
“Trainwreck,” Amy Schumer
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
“The Big Short,” Charles Randolph and Adam McKay; Based on the Book by Michael Lewis *WINNER
“Carol,” Phyllis Nagy; Based on the Novel “The Price of Salt” by Patricia Highsmith
“The Martian,” Drew Goddard; Based on the Novel by Andy Weir
“Steve Jobs,” Aaron Sorkin; Based on the Book by Walter Isaacson
“Trumbo,” John McNamara; Based on the Biography by Bruce Cook
DOCUMENTARY SCREENPLAY
“Being Canadian,” Robert Cohen
“Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief,” Alex Gibney *WINNER
“Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck,” Brett Morgen
“Prophet’s Prey,” Amy J. Berg
TELEVISION AND NEW MEDIA NOMINEES:
DRAMA SERIES
“The Americans,” Peter Ackerman, Joshua Brand, Joel Fields, Stephen Schiff, Lara Shapiro, Joe Weisberg, Tracy Scott Wilson, Stuart Zicherman
“Better Call Saul,” Vince Gilligan, Peter Gould, Gennifer Hutchison, Bradley Paul, Thomas Schnauz, Gordon Smith
“Game of Thrones,” David Benioff, Bryan Cogman, Dave Hill, D.B. Weiss
“Mad Men,” Lisa Albert, Semi Chellas, Jonathan Igla, Janet Leahy, Erin Levy, Tom Smuts, Robert Towne, Matthew Weiner, Carly Wray *WINNER
“Mr. Robot,” Kyle Bradstreet, Kate Erickson, Sam Esmail, David Iserson, Randolph Leon, Adam Penn, Matt Pyken
COMEDY SERIES
“Broad City,” Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs, Naomi Ekperigin, Ilana Glazer, Abbi Jacobson, Chris Kelly, Anthony King, Jen Statsky
“Silicon Valley,” Amy Aniobi, Alec Berg, Carrie Kemper, Sonny Lee, Dan Lyons, Carson Mell, Dan O’Keefe, Clay Tarver, Ron Weiner
“Transparent,” Arabella Anderson, Bridget Bedard, Micah Fitzerman-Blue, Noah Harpster, Ethan Kuperberg, Ali Liebegott, Our Lady J, Faith Soloway, Jill Soloway
“Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt,” Emily Altman, Jack Burditt, Robert Carlock, Azie Mira Dungey, Tina Fey, Lauren Gurganous, Charla Lauriston, Sam Means, Dan Rubin, Meredith Scardino, Allison Silverman, Lon Zimmet
“Veep,” Simon Blackwell, Jon Brown, Kevin Cecil, Roger Drew, Peter Fellows, Neil Gibbons, Rob Gibbons, Sean Gray, Callie Hersheway, Armando Iannucci, Sean Love, Ian Martin, Georgia Pritchett, David Quantick, Andy Riley, Tony Roche, Will Smith *WINNER
NEW SERIES
“Better Call Saul,” Vince Gilligan, Peter Gould, Gennifer Hutchison, Bradley Paul, Thomas Schnauz, Gordon Smith
“Bloodline,” Jonathan Glatzer, Carter Harris, Glenn Kessler, Todd A. Kessler, Addison McQuigg, Arthur Phillips, Jeff Shakoor, Daniel Zelman
“The Last Man On Earth,” Andy Bobrow, Liz Cackowski, Erik Durbin, Will Forte, Kira Kalush, Matt Marshall, Tim McAuliffe, David Noel, Erica Rivinoja, John Solomon, Emily Spivey
“Mr. Robot,” Kyle Bradstreet, Kate Erickson, Sam Esmail, David Iserson, Randolph Leon, Adam Penn, Matt Pyken *WINNER
“Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt,” Emily Altman, Jack Burditt, Robert Carlock, Azie Mira Dungey, Tina Fey, Lauren Gurganous, Charla Lauriston, Sam Means, Dan Rubin, Meredith Scardino, Allison Silverman, Lon Zimmet
LONG FORM ORIGINAL
“American Horror Story: Hotel,” Brad Falchuk, John J. Gray, Todd Kubrak, Crystal Liu, Ned Martel, Tim Minear, Ryan Murphy, Jennifer Salt, James Wong
“Flesh and Bone,” Bronwyn Garrity, Jami O’Brien, Adam Rapp, Moira Walley-Beckett, David Wiener
“Saints & Strangers,” Seth Fisher, Walon Green, Chip Johannessen, Eric Overmyer *WINNER
“Sons of Liberty,” Stephen David, Kirk Ellis, David C. White
LONG FORM ADAPTED
“Fargo,” Steve Blackman, Bob DeLaurentis, Noah Hawley, Ben Nedivi, Matt Wolpert, Based on the film “Fargo” *WINNER
“The Red Tent,” Elizabeth Chandler, Anne Meredith, Based on the book “The Red Tent” by Anita Diamant
“Show Me A Hero,” David Simon, William F. Zorzi, Based on the book by Lisa Belkin
SHORT FORM NEW MEDIA – ORIGINAL
“Back to Reality” (“Weight”), Daryn Strauss *WINNER
“Born This Way” (“Anyone But Me”), Susan Miller
SHORT FORM NEW MEDIA – ADAPTED
“Chapter Two: Phoebe” (“Heroes Reborn: Dark Matters”), Zach Craley *WINNER
“Part 8” (“Fear The Walking Dead: Flight 462”), L. Signorino & Mike Zunic
“The Summer of Love, Part 1: Meet Charlie” (“Aquarius”), Mike Moore & David Reed
ANIMATION
“Gayle Makin’ Bob Sled” (“Bob’s Burgers”), Lizzie Molyneux & Wendy Molyneux
“Halloween of Horror” (“The Simpsons”), Carolyn Omine
“Hank After Dark” (“BoJack Horseman”), Kelly Galuska
“Housetrap” (“Bob’s Burgers”), Dan Fybel *WINNER
“Sky Police” (“The Simpsons”), Matt Selman
“Walking Big & Tall” (“The Simpsons”), Michael Price
EPISODIC DRAMA
“Explosivos” (“Narcos”), Andy Black
“International Assassin” (“The Leftovers”), Damon Lindelof & Nick Cuse
“Mind’s Eye” (“The Good Wife”), Robert King & Michelle King
“Mother’s Mercy” (“Game of Thrones”), David Benioff & D.B. Weiss
“Person to Person” (“Mad Men”), Matthew Weiner
“Uno” (“Better Call Saul”), Vince Gilligan & Peter Gould *WINNER
EPISODIC COMEDY
“Alive in Tucson” (“The Last Man On Earth”), Will Forte
“Connection Lost” (“Modern Family”), Megan Ganz & Steven Levitan
“Joint Session” (“Veep”), Teleplay by Simon Blackwell & Georgia Pritchett, Story by Armando Iannucci & Simon Blackwell & Georgia Pritchett
“Racegate” (“Maron”), Dave Anthony
“Rock, Paper, Scissors, Gun” (“black-ish”), Peter Saji
“Sand Hill Shuffle” (“Silicon Valley”), Clay Tarver *WINNER
COMEDY / VARIETY (INCLUDING TALK) – SERIES
“Conan,” Jose Arroyo, Josh Comers, Andres du Bouchet, Jessie Gaskell, Michael Gordon, Brian Kiley, Laurie Kilmartin, Rob Kutner, Todd Levin, Levi MacDougall, Conan O’Brien, Matt O’Brien, Andy Richter, Frank Smiley, Brian Stack, Mike Sweeney
“The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,” Dan Amira, Steve Bodow, Travon Free, Hallie Haglund, Elliott Kalan, Matt Koff, Adam Lowitt, Dan McCoy, Jo Miller, Zhubin Parang, Owen Parsons, Daniel Radosh, Lauren Sarver, Jon Stewart, Delaney Yeager
“The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” Michael Brumm, Nate Charny, Aaron Cohen, Stephen Colbert, Cullen Crawford, Paul Dinello, Eric Drysdale, Rob Dubbin, Ariel Dumas, Glenn Eichler, Gabriel Gronli, Barry Julien, Jay Katsir, Daniel Kibblesmith, Matt Lappin, Opus Moreschi, Tom Purcell, Jen Spyra, Brian Stack
“Real Time with Bill Maher,” Scott Carter, Adam Felber, Matt Gunn, Brian Jacobsmeyer, Jay Jaroch, Chris Kelly, Bill Maher, Billy Martin, Danny Vermont
“The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” Jonathan Adler, Patrick Borelli, Gerard Bradford, Luke Cunningham, Mike DiCenzo, Mike Drucker, Jess Dweck, Dicky Eagan, Caroline Eppright, John Haskell, JR Havlan, Arthur Meyer, A.D. Miles, Chase Mitchell, Dan Opsal, Gavin Purcell, Jon Rineman, Albertina Rizzo, David Young
COMEDY / VARIETY – SKETCH SERIES
“Inside Amy Schumer,” Jessi Klein, Hallie Cantor, Kim Caramele, Kyle Dunnigan, Jon Glaser, Kurt Metzger, Christine Nangle, Dan Powell, Tami Sagher, Amy Schumer *WINNER
“Key & Peele,” Colton Dunn, Rebecca Drysdale, Keegan-Michael Key, Phil Augusta Jackson, Jay Martel, Jordan Peele, Ian Roberts, Alex Rubens, Charlie Sanders, Rich Talarico
“Saturday Night Live,” Colin Jost, Rob Klein, Bryan Tucker Writers: James Anderson, Jeremy Beiler, Megan Callahan, Michael Che, Mikey Day, Steve Higgins, Zach Kanin, Chris Kelly, Erik Kenward, Dave McCary, Dennis McNicholas, Lorne Michaels, Claire Mulaney, Mike O’Brien, Josh Patten, Alison Rich, Katie Rich, Tim Robinson, Natasha Rothwell, Nick Rutherford, Meredith Scardino, Sarah Schneider, Pete Schultz, Streeter Seidell, John Solomon, Kent Sublette
COMEDY / VARIETY – MUSIC, AWARDS, TRIBUTES – SPECIALS
“The 69th Annual Tony Awards,” Dave Boone; Special Material by Adam Goldman, Carol Leifer
“2014 Kennedy Center Honors,” Lewis Friedman, Sara Lukinson, Nell Scovell, George Stevens, Jr., Michael Stevens
“2015 Film Independent Spirit Awards,” Benji Aflalo, Wayne Federman, Marika Sawyer, Frank Sebastiano, Erik Weiner
“Amy Schumer: Live at The Apollo,” Amy Schumer
“Jimmy Kimmel Live: 10th Annual After The Oscars Special,” Jack Allison, Tony Barbieri, Jonathan Bines, Joelle Boucai, Greg Dorris, Gary Greenberg, Josh Halloway, Sal Iacono, Eric Immerman, Jimmy Kimmel, Bess Kalb, Jeff Loveness, Molly McNearney, Danny Ricker, Joe Strazzullo, Bridger Winegar *WINNER
“Saturday Night Live 40th Anniversary Special,” James Anderson, Fred Armisen, Tina Fey, Steve Higgins, Chris Kelly, Erik Kenward, Rob Klein, Seth Meyers, Lorne Michaels, John Mulaney, Paula Pell, Jeff Richmond, Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer, Tom Schiller, Sarah Schneider, Marc Shaiman, Michael Shoemaker, Robert Smigel, Emily Spivey, Kent Sublette, Jorma Taccone, Bryan Tucker
QUIZ AND AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION
“Hollywood Game Night,” Grant Taylor, Michael Agbabian, Alex Chauvin, Ann Slichter, Dwight D. Smith *WINNER
“Jeopardy!,” John Duarte, Harry Friedman, Mark Gaberman, Deborah Griffin, Michele Loud, Robert McClenaghan, Jim Rhine, Steve D. Tamerius, Billy Wisse
DAYTIME DRAMA
“The Bold and the Beautiful,” Bradley P. Bell, Michael Minnis, Rex M. Best, Shannon Bradley, Adam Dusevoir, Tracey Ann Kelly, Patrick Mulcahey, Mark Pinciotti, Michele Val Jean
“General Hospital,” Ron Carlivati, Anna Theresa Cascio, Andrea Archer Compton, Suzanne Flynn, Kate Hall, Elizabeth Korte, Daniel James O’Connor, Elizabeth Page, Jean Passanante, Katherine Schock, Scott Sickles, Chris Van Etten *WINNER
CHILDREN’S SCRIPT – EPISODIC AND SPECIALS
“Endless Night” (“Gortimer Gibbon’s Life on Normal Street”), Gretchen Enders & Aminta Goyel *WINNER
“Girl Meets I am Farkle” (“Girl Meets World”), Mark Blutman
“Gortimer and the Surprise Signature” (“Gortimer Gibbon’s Life on Normal Street”), Garrett Frawley & Brian Turner
“Gortimer vs The Relentless Rainbow of Joy” (“Gortimer Gibbon’s Life on Normal Street”), David Anaxagoras and Luke Matheny
“Ranger vs. The Fabled Flower of Normal Street” (“Gortimer Gibbon’s Life on Normal Street”), Laurie Parres
CHILDREN’S SCRIPT – LONG FORM OR SPECIAL
“Descendants,” Josann McGibbon & Sara Parriott *WINNER
DOCUMENTARY SCRIPT – CURRENT EVENTS
“American Terrorist” (“Frontline”), Thomas Jennings *WINNER
“Gunned Down: The Power of the NRA” (“Frontline”), Michael Kirk & Mike Wiser
DOCUMENTARY SCRIPT – OTHER THAN CURRENT EVENTS
“Firestone and the Warlord” (“Frontline”), Marcela Gaviria
“The Forgotten Plague” (“American Experience”), Chana Gazit
“The Great Math Mystery” (“Nova”), Daniel McCabe *WINNER
“Secrets, Politics and Torture” (“Frontline”), Michael Kirk & Mike Wiser
TV NEWS SCRIPT – REGULARLY SCHEDULED, BULLETIN, OR BREAKING REPORT
“Cuba” (“60 Minutes”), Scott Pelley, Nicole Young, Oriana Zill de Granados, Andy Court and Robert Anderson *WINNER
“Yogi Berra Tribute,” Gerald Mazza; CBS Newspath
TV NEWS SCRIPT – ANALYSIS, FEATURE, OR COMMENTARY
“The Storm After the Storm” (“60 Minutes”), Sharyn Alfonsi, Michael Rey and Oriana Zill de Granados; CBS News *WINNER
RADIO NOMINEES:
RADIO DOCUMENTARY
“Marking the End of Vietnam: 40 Years Later,” Andrew Evans; ABC News Radio *WINNER
RADIO NEWS SCRIPT-REGULARLY SCHEDULED, BULLETIN, OR BREAKING REPORT
“Remembering New York Icons,” Thomas A. Sabella; CBS Radio News *WINNER
“Showtop,” Chris Barry; ABC News Radio
“World News This Week, January 9, 2015,” Andrew Evans; ABC News Radio
RADIO NEWS SCRIPT – ANALYSIS, FEATURE, OR COMMENTARY
“Death of a Baseball Icon,” Andrew Evans; ABC News Radio
“Passages,” Written by Gail Lee; CBS Radio News *WINNER
PROMOTIONAL WRITING NOMINEES:
ON-AIR PROMOTION (TELEVISION, NEW MEDIA OR RADIO)
“Elementary Promos,” Molly J. Neylan; CBS
“CBS On-Air Promos,” Jessica Katzenstein; CBS
“The McCarthys and Under the Dome Promos,” Erial Tompkins *WINNERS
VIDEOGAME WRITING:
“Assassins Creed Syndicate”
“Pillars of Eternity”
“Rise of the Tomb Raider” John Stafford, Cameron Suey, Rhianna Pratchett, Philip Gelatt *WINNER
“The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt”
Thom Geier contributed to this report.