Of all the industry guilds, the Writers is the biggest wild card. Their arcane rules often exclude major Oscar contenders. This year, that includes Original Screenplay Academy Award nominees The Favourite and First Reformed.
With that in mind: Bo Burnham‘s screenplay for Eighth Grade won the WGA’s award for Best Original Screenplay of 2018. That certainly makes it a contender for an Oscar win, particularly since Burnham has won a number of other screenplay awards this year, but The Favourite and First Reformed remain heavyweight competition, as does the popular Green Book.
In a bit of a surprise (though certainly worthy, Nicole Holofcener & Jeff Whitty‘s screenplay for Can You Ever Forgive Me? won Best Adapted honors. The fact that it’s a story about a struggling, underappreciated writer no doubt helped with a voting body of strictly writers, but since all Academy members get to vote for Oscar winners, Spike Lee and his BlacKkKlansman co-writers remain formidable contenders.
Here is the full list of WGA winners and nominees. Trophies were handed out on Sunday February 17, 2019.
2018 WRITERS GUILD OF AMERICA WINNERS
Original Screenplay
WINNER: Eighth Grade, by Bo Burnham
- Green Book, by Nick Vallelonga & Brian Currie & Peter Farrelly
- A Quiet Place, by Bryan Woods & Scott Beck and John Krasinski, Story by Bryan Woods & Scott Beck
- Roma, by Alfonso Cuarón
- Vice, by Adam McKay
Adapted Screenplay
WINNER: Can You Ever Forgive Me?, by Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty, Based on the book by Lee Israel
- BlacKkKlansman, by Charlie Wachtel & David Rabinowitz and Kevin Willmott & Spike Lee, Based on the book by Ron Stallworth
- Black Panther, by Ryan Coogler & Joe Robert Cole, Based on the Marvel Comics by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
- If Beale Street Could Talk, by Barry Jenkins, Based on the novel by James Baldwin
- A Star Is Born, by Eric Roth and Bradley Cooper & Will Fetters, Based on the 1954 screenplay by Moss Hart and the 1976 screenplay by John Gregory Dunne & Joan Didion and Frank Pierson, Based on a story by William Wellman and Robert Carson
Documentary Screenplay
WINNER: Bathtubs Over Broadway, by Ozzy Inguanzo & Dava Whisenant
- Fahrenheit 11/9, by Michael Moore
- Generation Wealth, by Lauren Greenfield
- In Search of Greatness, by Gabe Polsky
Click on links below for other Critics Group Awards and Guild Nominees that have been announced so far for the 2018 / 19 season:
BAFTA Award Winners
Directors Guild of America Winners
Screen Actors Guild Winners
Academy Award Nominations
Producers Guild of America Winners
Critics Choice Awards Winners
Golden Globe Winners
National Society of Film Critics
Boston Society of Film Critics
Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association
Screen Actors Guild Nominees
San Francisco Film Critics Circle
Los Angeles Film Critics Association
Toronto Film Critics Association
Philadelphia Film Critics Circle
Chicago Film Critics Association
AFI Film Awards
Detroit Film Critics Society
Atlanta Film Critics Circle
New York Film Critics Circle
The National Board of Review