WGA Prefers 'Buyers Club' To Llewyn Davis Inside Greenwich Clubs
Friday, January 3, 2014 at 2:41PM
NATHANIEL R in Dallas Buyers Club, Inside Llewyn Davis, Lone Survivor, Masters of Sex, Orange is the New Black, Oscars (13), Philomena, Screenplays, TV, precursor awards

The Writers Guild of America has spoken, choosing their favorite scripts of the year in film and television. They repeat an interesting move from yesterday's Producers Guild Awards in that they've (somewhat) unexpectedly acknowledged Dallas Buyers Club, which few people thought was a strong contender outside of the male acting categories, while skipping the Coen Bros Inside Llewyn Davis for honors.

The nominations with commentary are after the jump...

It's another reminder that I should stick to my gut instincts in my own punditry. For a long time I was one of the only pundits thinking Dallas Buyers Club was a bigger Best Picture threat than Inside Llewyn Davis, and then I caved once the critics went berserk for it since I seemed to be the only one doubting its wider appeal. (So -- off topic now -- this is strengthening my resolve that I'm right about Emma Thompson being more locked up for Saving Mr Banks than half of of her Best Actress competitors despite everyone else thinking she's the must vulnerable in Best Actress) 

If you're new to the Oscar game, take note. It's unwise to connect the Writers Guild Awards too closely to Oscar's comparative screenplay categories since the WGA has far stricter requirements for eligibility. They seem, year after year, to be the guild with the most "ineligible" situations - potentially strong Oscar contenders are shoved aside before voting even begins. Ineligible this year and thus we know nothing about how well Oscar's writers branch might like their screenplays: Philomena (which has won screenplay awards already) and Fruitvale Station (which has won a lot of first film prizes). 

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY 

That looks like a solid future Oscar lineup but for the probability that Fruitvale Station and Inside Llewyn Davis still have a lot of fans.

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Lone Survivor's nomination is the biggest surprise as it doesn't appear to be, in any typical sense, a writer's film. It's an action driven narrative with a bare bones plot. I'd have to assume that Philomena will knock something in this category out on January 16th when Oscar nominations arrive... and I refuse to give up hope that a really cool off the beaten path indie surprise might happen like Short Term 12 or Blue is the Warmest Color. Oscar's writing branch is occasionally adventurous with foreign films whereas the WGA is not.

DOCUMENTARY SCREENPLAY

I understand with talking head pictures that there still has to be writing... or at least some form of editing as writing... but I never think "screenplay!" when I see a documentary. That said, I really love the nomination for Stories We Tell here. In addition to its interesting talking head structure, it also has all that brilliant performing of narration that is clearly written, and then discussed and sometimes renarrated.

TV NOMINEES

DRAMA SERIES 

COMEDY SERIES 

Really good lineup!

 

NEW SERIES

I'd be thrilled with a win for either Masters of Sex or Orange is the New Black.

Orange is the New Black "Lesbian Request Denied"

But my interesting in the awards starts to break down right about here where suddenly there are different numbers of nominees in each category from 1 nominee (ummmmm...) to 6 and numbers inbetween that. The BFCA does this too and I can never make heads or tails as to why. Right or wrong, to me, it looks unprofessional/embarrassing as if members of the organization (whichever organization it happens to be) lost interest or didn't vote or were holding grudges against certain programs, or had only seen two things that were eligible or some such. It always throws me. Is it just me?

EPISODIC DRAMA 

I understand that pilots of acclaimed series usually take the individual episode nods but I think Masters of Sex is an example of a show that only got stronger as it went so it seems strange to single out the beginning. 

EPISODIC COMEDY

I also don't understand why they have television series nods and then individual episode nods... isn't this like giving a movie two Oscar nominations: One for the screenplay, one for "best scene" within the screenplay. That said "Lesbian Request Denied" was just an awesome hour of television. I probably saw all these nominees since I watch all four shows (albeit not religiously) but it's the only one I recall vividly... at least by it's title. 

LONG FORM – ADAPTED

SHORT FORM NEW MEDIA – ORIGINAL

ANIMATION 

COMEDY / VARIETY (INCLUDING TALK) – SERIES

 

COMEDY / VARIETY – MUSIC, AWARDS, TRIBUTES – SPECIALS

 

QUIZ AND AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION 

DAYTIME DRAMA

Confession: I have literally never seen a full episode of a daytime soap. And yet I have been aware of these series for as long as I can recall being aware that something called "daytime soaps" existed. They will outlive us all!

For documentary television, childrens, and radio and all of that, check out the WGA site 

Article originally appeared on The Film Experience (http://thefilmexperience.net/).
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