Don’t look for five of our predicted 10 Oscar contenders for screenplay (the original scripts for “Mank,” “Minari” and “Soul” plus the adaptations of “The Father” and “Nomadland”) in the 2021 Writers Guild of America Awards nominations announced February 16. They didn’t qualify for consideration under the guild’s guidelines or those of its international partners.
We are predicting that “Nomadland” will win Best Adapted Screenplay at the Oscars. Three of its likely Oscar rivals — “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” “News of the World” and “One Night in Miami” — contend at the WGA Awards as do “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” and “The White Tiger.”
The Original Screenplay Oscar frontrunner “The Trial of the Chicago 7” is in the running here as is “Promising Young Woman,” which sits in second place on our chart. With “Mank,” “Minari” and “Soul” ineligible at the guild kudos, that race is rounded out by “Judas and the Black Messiah,” “Palm Springs” and “Sound of Metal.”
Over the past 11 years only 73 of the Writers Guild of America Awards nominees have numbered among the 110 screenplays that reaped Academy Awards bids. The 2021 Writers Guild of America Awards will be presented on March 21. See a full list of nominees in all three film categories below:
SEE 2021 WGA Awards TV nominations
Original Screenplay:
“Judas and the Black Messiah”
Screenplay by Will Berson & Shaka King
Story by Will Berson & Shaka King and Kenny Lucas & Josh Lucas
“Palm Springs”
Screenplay by Andy Siara
Story by Andy Siara & Max Barbakow
“Promising Young Woman”
Written by Emerald Fennell
“Sound of Metal”
Screenplay by Darius Marder & Abraham Marder
Story by Darius Marder & Derek Cianfrance
“The Trial of the Chicago 7”
Written by Aaron Sorkin
Adapted Screenplay:
“Borat Subsequent Moviefilm”
Screenplay by Sacha Baron Cohen & Anthony Hines & Dan Swimer & Peter Baynham & Erica Rivinoja & Dan Mazer & Jena Friedman & Lee Kern
Story by Sacha Baron Cohen & Anthony Hines & Dan Swimer & Nina Pedrad
Based on characters created by Sacha Baron Cohen
“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”
Screenplay by Ruben Santiago-Hudson
Based on the play by August Wilson
“News of the World”
Screenplay by Paul Greengrass and Luke Davies
Based on the book by Paulette Jiles
“One Night in Miami”
Screenplay by Kemp Powers
Based on his play
“The White Tiger”
Screenplay by Ramin Bahrani
Based on the book by Aravind Adiga
SEE Leading Oscar contenders ineligible for Writers Guild of America Awards
Documentary Screenplay:
“All In: The Fight for Democracy”
Written by Jack Youngelson
“The Dissident”
Written by Mark Monroe and Bryan Fogel
“Herb Alpert Is…”
Written by Josh Scheinfeld
“Red Penguins”
Written by Gabe Polsky
“Totally Under Control”
Written by Alex Gibney
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