Alexander Payne’s The Holdovers and Cord Jefferson’s American Fiction were the big film winners at the strike-delayed 2024 Writers Guild Awards, which were handed out Sunday in Los Angeles and New York.
Jefferson — who also was honored with the WGA West’s Paul Selvin Award — followed his Oscar win for Adapted Screenplay as the WGA‘s weird, wild and elongated Awards season wrapped with simultaneous ceremonies on both coasts. Payne scored a modicum of revenge for losing the Original Screenplay Academy Award to Justine Triet and Arthur Harari for Anatomy of a Fall.
The latter script, however, wasn’t eligible for a Writers Guild Award. That’s because, unlike other guilds, the WGA deems ineligible any scripts for movies not produced under its Minimum Basic Agreement or a bona fide collective bargaining agreement with various affiliated countries.
Later, the Documentary prize went to Errol Morris for his Apple film The Pigeon Tunnel.
The Oscars came and went last month, leaving the WGA as the last entity to present 2023-24 awards.
RELATED: 2024-25 Awards Season Calendar – Dates For Oscars, Tonys & More
On the small screen, HBO’s Succession, FX’s The Bear and Netflix’s Beef completed their awards-season sweeps with respective wins for Drama Series, Comedy Series and Limited Series. All grabbed trophies from the Emmys, SAG Awards, Golden Globes and Critics Choice in recent months.
Succession also took the prize for Episodic Drama for the “Living+” episode after Peacock’s Poker Face took the Episodic Comedy trophy.
The WGA Award for New Series went to HBO’s The Last of Us, and Fox’s The Simpsons again won the Animation prize, this time for the episode “Carl Carlson Rides Again.”
The guild presented a slew of honors and tributes Sunday night.
In a previously unannounced tribute, The WGA East’s Richard B. Jablow Award was presented to the members and leadership of IATSE, the Teamsters, SAG-AFTRA and American Federation of Musicians for their support and sacrifice during the WGA’s 148-day strike last year.
The WGA East also honored Philadelphia scribe Ron Nyswaner will receive its Walter Bernstein Award, presented Wanda Sykes with its Herb Sargent Award for Comedy Excellence and handed the Ian McLellan Hunter Award for Career Achievement will go to Tony Gilroy.
The WGA West gave its highest honor — the Paddy Chayefsky Laurel Award for Television Writing Achievement — to Designing Women and Evening Shade creator Linda Bloodworth Thomason. Chris Keyser and David A. Goodman picked up the the WGAW Morgan Cox Award, and its Laurel Award for lifetime achievement went to Walter Hill, who wrote and/or directed and produced such films as 48 Hrs., The Warriors, The Getaway and many more.
Niecy Nash-Betts hosted the Los Angeles ceremony from the Hollywood Palladium, and Josh Gondelman emceed the New York show at Edison Ballroom in Manhattan. Here are the winners at the 2024 Writers Guild Awards:
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
The Holdovers, Written by David Hemingson; Focus Features
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
American Fiction, Screenplay by Cord Jefferson, Based upon the novel Erasure by Percival Everett; Amazon MGM Studios
DOCUMENTARY SCREENPLAY
The Pigeon Tunnel, Written by Errol Morris; Apple Original Films
DRAMA SERIES
Succession, Written by Will Arbery, Jesse Armstrong, Miriam Battye, Jon Brown, Jamie Carragher, Ted Cohen, Nate Elston, Francesca Gardiner, Callie Hersheway, Lucy Prebble, Georgia Pritchett, Tony Roche, Susan Soon He Stanton, Will Tracy; HBO | Max
COMEDY SERIES
The Bear, Written by Karen Joseph Adcock, Joanna Calo, Kelly Galuska, Rene Gube, Sofya Levitsky-Weitz, Stacy Osei-Kuffour, Alex Russell, Catherine Schetina, Christopher Storer; FX Networks
LIMITED SERIES
Beef, Written by Joanna Calo, Bathsheba Doran, Jean Kyoung Frazier, Niko Gutierrez-Kovner, Lee Sung Jin, Alice Ju, Carrie Kemper, Mike Makowsky, Marie Hanhnhon Nguyen, Kevin Rosen, Alex Russell; Netflix
NEW SERIES
The Last of Us, Written by Neil Druckmann, Halley Gross, Craig Mazin, Bo Shim; HBO | Max
ANIMATION
“Carl Carlson Rides Again” (The Simpsons), Written by Loni Steele Sosthand; Fox
EPISODIC DRAMA
“Living+” (Succession), Written by Georgia Pritchett & Will Arbery; HBO | Max
EPISODIC COMEDY
“Escape From Shit Mountain” (Poker Face), Written by Nora Zuckerman & Lilla Zuckerman; Peacock
COMEDY/VARIETY TALK SERIES
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, Senior Writers Daniel O’Brien, Owen Parsons, Charlie Redd, Joanna Rothkopf, Seena Vali Writers Johnathan Appel, Ali Barthwell, Tim Carvell, Liz Hynes, Ryan Ken, Mark Kramer, Sofia Manfredi, John Oliver, Taylor Kay Phillips, Chrissy Shackelford; HBO | Max
COMEDY/VARIETY SPECIALS
Sarah Silverman: Someone You Love, Written by Sarah Silverman; HBO | Max
COMEDY/VARIETY SKETCH SERIES
I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson, Writers Tim Robinson, Zach Kanin, John Solomon, Gary Richardson, Reggie Henke, Brendan Jennings, Patti Harrison; Netflix
QUIZ AND AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION
The Chase, Head Writer David Levinson Wilk Writers Erik Agard, Kyle Beakley, Micki Boden, Megan Broussard, Jonathan Daly, Brian Greene, Robert King, Jason Lundell, Sierra Mannie, Amy Ozols, Bobby Patton, Ellen Teitel, Ari Yolkut; NBC
CHILDREN’S EPISODIC, LONG FORM AND SPECIALS
“Romance Dawn” (One Piece), Written by Matt Owens & Steven Maeda; Netflix
DAYTIME DRAMA
Days of Our Lives, Head Writer Ron Carlivati Creative Consultant Ryan Quan Writers Sonja Alar, Jazmen Darnell Brown, Joanna Cohen, Carolyn Culliton, Richard Culliton, Cheryl Davis, Kirk Doering, Christopher Dunn, Jamey Giddens, David Kreizman, Henry Newman, Dave Ryan, Katherine D. Schock; Peacock
TV & NEW MEDIA MOTION PICTURES
Quiz Lady, Written by Jen D’Angelo; Hulu
SHORT FORM NEW MEDIA
Carpool Karaoke, Written by Casey Stewart, David Young; Apple TV+
NEWS SCRIPT – ANALYSIS, FEATURE, OR COMMENTARY
“Healing and Hope” (60 Minutes), Written by Scott Pelley, Nicole Young, Kristin Steve; CBS News
NEWS SCRIPT – REGULARLY SCHEDULED, BULLETIN, OR BREAKING REPORT
“Surprise Attack!” (CBS Weekend News), Written by J. Craig Wilson, Ambrose Raferty; CBS News
DIGITAL NEWS
“The Persuaders: A 5-Part Investigation into the Union-Busting Industry,” Written by Dave Jamieson; HuffPost
RADIO/AUDIO DOCUMENTARY
“The Call” (This American Life), Written by Mary Harris; Slate
RADIO/AUDIO NEWS SCRIPT – REGULARLY SCHEDULED, BULLETIN, OR BREAKING REPORT
“World News This Week – Week of March 17, 2023,” Written by Joy Piazza; ABC News Radio
RADIO/AUDIO NEWS SCRIPT – ANALYSIS, FEATURE, OR COMMENTARY
“The Diagnosis Was Fatal. She Couldn’t Get an Abortion” (What Next), Written by Madeline Ducharme and Mary Harris; Slate
ON AIR PROMOTION
“WCBS AM Promos,” Written by Bill Tynan; WCBS Newsradio 880
Katie Campione and Anthony D’Alessandro in Los Angeles and Jill Goldstein in New York contributed to this report.