Writers Guild Nominations

The Writers Guild of America put forth their nominees this year and, like every year, some of the possible Oscar frontrunners are missing due to eligibility rules such as Django Unchained and Les Misérables. With that said, the nominees are...

Original Screenplay

• Flight
• Looper
• The Master
• Moonrise Kingdom
• Zero Dark Thirty

Adapted Screenplay

• Argo
• Life of Pi
• Lincoln
• Perks of Being a Wallflower
• Silver Linings Playbook

Documentary Screenplay

• The Central Park Five
• The Invisible War
• Mea Maxima Culpa
• Searching for Sugar Man
• We Are Legion
• West of Memphis

As I said above, Tarantino's film Django Unchained was ineligible for original screenplay (though it was nominated at the Golden Globes) and I think it might replace one of these nominees for the Oscars. My gut tells me it'll be either Flight or The Master, but perhaps that's wishful thinking since I really, really want National Board of Review winner Looper to make it in and it's really the only film here that's not traditionally "Oscar-y." In any case, Zero Dark Thirty should be seen as the favorite here and at the Oscars. A few of the other films in the conversation that weren't eligible include Take This Waltz, The Impossible, Your Sister's Sister, Middle of Nowhere, Amour, Seven Psychopaths, and Brave.

For Adapted Screenplay, I think Lincoln might be the favorite even though Argo has so far won more critic awards while Silver Linings Playbook won the National Board of Review. All three were nominated for a Golden Globe (alongside Zero Dark Thirty and Django Unchained). But I'm most happy about the inclusion of Stephen Chbosky's Perks of Being a Wallflower which was adapted from his own novel. Like Looper, I'm afraid it'll get left out come Oscar time to make way for, ineligible, but flashier and more Oscar-buzzy fare like Les Misérables, Beasts of the Southern Wild, or even Anna Karenina. The Deep Blue Sea and a couple of Maggie Smith films, Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and Quartet, were also ineligible for WGA. I think Cloud Atlas, The Hobbit, and Skyfall were eligible, but alas no love for them here.