Blueprints: Emmy Nominees for Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series
Friday, July 13, 2018 at 10:55AM Full swing into Emmy season! Jorge looks at drama series first...
ICYMI: the nominations for the 70th Primetime Emmy Awards.
Let’s take a look at the six shows that made the cut for Writing in a Drama Series. As in the Directing categories, writing categories highlight individual episodes rather than overall series, which makes it not uncommon for one show to have multiple nominations. However once "Breaking Bad" and "Mad Men" were off the air, this category has not had any doubling up! This year every slot once again went to a different show, from newcomers, to established favorites, to people in their last round of eligibility.
Let's see the elevator pitches and the stats (we love a good round of statistics) after the jump...
Game of Thrones
“The Dragon and the Wolf”
Season 7, Episode 7
Written by: David Benioff and D.B. Weiss
The elevator pitch: In the season finale of season 7, everyone meets in King’s Landing to discuss the fate of the realm. Sansa confronts Arya in Winterfell. Sam and Bran discover the true lineage of Jon Snow. A dragon rises from its frozen ashes, signaling the Winter is finally here.
Emmy History: Benioff and Weiss have been nominated in this same category five times before: in 2011 for season 1’s “Baelor”, in 2013 for season 3’s “The Rains of Castemere”, in 2014 for season 4’s “The Children”, and winning in the past two years for season 5’s “Mother’s Mercy” in 2015, and for season 6’s “Battle of the Bastards” in 2016.
Killing Eve
“Nice Face”
Season 1, Episode 1
Written by: Phoebe Waller-Bridge
The elevator pitch: In the pilot of the series, MI5 security officer Eve Polastri is bored in her job and yearns for a more exciting life. When a Russian politician is murdered, Eve is tasked with protecting the only witness and soon finds herself on a collision course with a violent and extraordinary assassin, Villanelle.
Emmy History: First nomination for Phoebe Waller-Bridge.
Stranger Things
“Chapter Nine: The Gate”
Season 2, Episode 9
Written by: The Duffer Brothers
The elevator pitch: Eleven makes plans to finish what she started while the survivors turn up the heat on the monstrous force that's holding Will hostage.
Emmy History: The Duffer Brothers were nominated in this category last year for writing the pilot of the series, "Chapter One: The Vanishing of Will Byers."
The Americans
“START”
Season 6, Episode 10
Written by: Joel Fields and Joe Weisberg
The elevator pitch: In the series finale, the Jennings family face a choice that will change their lives forever.
Emmy History: Joel Fields and Joel Weisberg have been nominated in this category twice before, in 2016 for season 4’s “Persona Non Grata” and last year for season 5’s “The Soviet Division.” (In addition to their nominations the show has one other nomination in this category for Joshua Brand's 2015's Season 3 episode "Do Mail Robots Dream of Electric Sheep.")
The Crown
“Mystery Man”
Season 2, Episode 10
Written by: Peter Morgan
The elevator pitch: In the season 2 finale, a salacious government scandal hits close to home for Elizabeth and Philip. Elizabeth retreats to Scotland for the rest of a difficult pregnancy.
Emmy History: Peter Morgan was nominated in this category last year for season 1’s “Assassins”, and back in 2010 in Writing for Miniseries, TV Movie or Dramatic Special for “The Special Relationship.”
The Handmaid’s Tale
“June”
Season 2, Episode 1
Written by: Bruce Miller
The elevator pitch: In the season 2 premiere, Offred reckons with the consequences of a dangerous decision while haunted by memories from her past and the violent beginnings of Gilead.
Emmy History: Bruce Miller won in this category last year for the pilot of the series, “Offred.”
Which script are you rooting for come Emmy night?
Reader Comments (15)
Rooting for The Americans for a much-deserved win for a wonderful series finale
Killing Eve needs to win this!
I think this is where they honor The Americans. A fantastic finale to one of the best series in history.
I'm rooting for "The Americans". I haven't seen "Killing Eve" yet.
That 'Game of Thrones' episode was so intensely fan-service-y - even moreso than the rest of the season, but I guess it paid off for them.
If the "Handmaid's Tale" episode had that dreadful music cue of "This Woman's Work" in the script (rather than the decision being made sometime after), the nomination should be revoked. Great song, eye-rolling decision for that scene.
Eugh, Game of Thrones had pretty good writing at some point but the two episodes that have won in the past are not good examples of it. Nor is this one's. The show hasn't really shined for its writing work in several years now.
Definitely rooting The Americans, which took the title of best written show on tv after Mad Men ended. The very low nomination count makes me worried it won't happen but for now it's my prediction for the night as well. Barring another Handmaid's Tale sweep, which I think could happen.
I've only seen two of these so I have no real input other than as much as I enjoyed KILLING EVE, I hated the episode titles. They annoyed me so much more than they ought have.
the garage scene alone in the Americans Finale should cement this. Wowza
I’m also standing behind The Americans, which had an incredibly tricky job to pull off in tying up all its narrative strands in a way that felt both surprising and satisfying. In time I think it will go down as one of the great series finales of all time.
I thought that Game of Thrones episode was one of the best-written episodes of that show in a long while (it may have been fan-service-y, but SO MUCH better than just that), but The Americans should absolutely win this. The fact that it somehow hasn't won yet for writing (or directing, or acting) is just insane, and START threaded the needle of a series finale pretty much perfectly. It should have also won for Best Direction, but it somehow wasn't even nominated there.
Would be happy if The Americans won, or Killing Eve pulled off an upset. Perhaps its snubbage in other categories could do it favor here? It's a solid category overall, but those two stand slightly above the rest for me.
These series are really attractive. I love Game of Thrones the most. "Stranger things" is superb too.
I just now thought about how much effort the writers put into the way to write the script for this brilliant series, it also takes a huge amount of time.
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I envy people who have great writing skills. I can't even write a banal speech for a holiday.
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