Because of specific guild guidelines, Oscar front-runner “The Favourite” was ineligible for Best Original Screenplay at the Writers Guild Awards, so what will win in its place when the WGA hands out its prizes on February 17? According to the combined predictions of more than 1,000 Gold Derby users, the industry’s writers will be seeing “Green.”
“Green Book” leads our predictions with odds of 10/3. That includes support from four of the Expert journalists we’ve polled from top media outlets: Edward Douglas (Weekend Warrior), Tariq Khan (Fox TV), Peter Travers (Rolling Stone) and Susan Wloszczyna (Gold Derby). That makes sense given the industry’s admiration for the period film. It won the Producers Guild Award in January, and its screenplay also prevailed at the Golden Globes — though those prizes aren’t handed out by industry peers.
However, the film has come under fire specifically for alleged inaccuracies in the screenplay regarding the life experiences of one of its main characters, Don Shirley (played by Mahershala Ali). That doesn’t seem to have slowed the film down on the awards campaign trail, but the PGA Awards were a month ago, so maybe the backlash caught up to the film by the time Writers Guild voters marked their ballots.
There are two other Oscar nominees in the WGA race, and of those two, “Vice” ranks second in our predictions with 39/10 odds. Two Experts are predicting it to win: Joyce Eng (Gold Derby) and Adnan Virk. But that film has proven divisive too, so maybe we’re underestimating “Roma,” which ranks third with 4/1 odds. Expert Susan King (Gold Derby) sure thinks we are; she’s betting on it to upset. And we know it has other industry groups on its side given its victories at the Directors Guild Awards and the BAFTAs.
So which film do you think will be the “Favourite”-less favorite at the Writers Guild Awards?
Be sure to make your WGA predictions so that Hollywood studio executives and top name filmmakers can see how their movies are faring in our odds. Keep changing your predictions until winners are announced on February 17. And join in the fierce debate over the 2019 WGA Awards taking place right now with Hollywood insiders in our film forums. Read more Gold Derby entertainment news.
