2016 WGA Nominations: 'The Martian,' 'Straight Outta Compton,' 'Trainwreck' Among Those With Write Stuff
‘The Martian’ (20th Century Fox) and ‘Straight Outta Compton’ (Universal Pictures)
By Dave McNary
The Writers Guild of America has nominated Bridge of Spies, Sicario, Spotlight, Straight Outta Compton and Trainwreck for its original screenplay award and The Big Short, Carol, The Martian, Steve Jobs and Trumbo for its adapted screenplay award.
Documentary nominations went to Being Canadian, Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief, Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck and Prophet’s Prey.
Winners will be announced at the 68th annual WGA Awards on Feb. 13 at simultaneous ceremonies at the Century Plaza in Los Angeles and the Edison Ballroom in New York City.
The awards are based on voting by the 12,000 WGA members. There were 61 films eligible on the original category and 51 on the adapted side.
The guild excludes scripts not under its jurisdiction, along with scripts by writers who are not guild members. Ineligible scripts in the original category included The Hateful Eight, Inside Out, Son of Saul, Suffragette, Ex Machina, Mad Max: Fury Road and 99 Homes. The adapted scripts for Room, The Danish Girl, Anomalisa, Brooklyn, 45 Years and Me and Earl and the Dying Girl were also not on the ballot.
Among the eligible films, Joy was passed over by WGA voters in the original category, while The Revenant did not make the cut in the adapted category.
Wes Anderson’s script for The Grand Budapest Hotel won the WGA award last year for original screenplay, while Graham Moore’s script for The Imitation Game won for adapted screenplay and then went on to nab the Oscar. Grand Budapest was nominated for an Oscar, but lost to Birdman, which was ineligible for the WGA award since the four writers were not guild members.
Even with exclusions, WGA Awards have a reliable track record of predicting the Oscar winners — which have matched in 15 of the last 21 years in adapted and 13 of the last 21 years in original. The writers branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences comprises about 7% of the total number of voting members.
Here’s the full list of nominations:
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Bridge of Spies, Written by Matt Charman and Ethan Coen & Joel Coen; DreamWorks Pictures
Sicario, Written by Taylor Sheridan; Lionsgate
Spotlight, Written by Josh Singer & Tom McCarthy; Open Road Films
Straight Outta Compton, Screenplay by Jonathan Herman and Andrea Berloff; Story by S. Leigh Savidge & Alan Wenkus and Andrea Berloff; Universal Pictures
Trainwreck, Written by Amy Schumer; Universal Pictures
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
The Big Short, Screenplay by Charles Randolph and Adam McKay; Based on the Book by Michael Lewis; Paramount Pictures
Carol, Screenplay by Phyllis Nagy; Based on the Novel The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith; The Weinstein Company
The Martian, Screenplay by Drew Goddard; Based on the Novel by Andy Weir; Twentieth Century Fox
Steve Jobs, Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin; Based on the Book by Walter Isaacson; Universal Pictures
Trumbo, Written by John McNamara; Based on the Biography by Bruce Cook; Bleecker Street Media
DOCUMENTARY SCREENPLAY
Being Canadian, Written by Robert Cohen; Candy Factory Films
Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief, Written by Alex Gibney; HBO Documentary Films
Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck, Written by Brett Morgen; HBO Documentary Films
Prophet’s Prey, Written by Amy J. Berg; Showtime Documentary Films
