WGA Awards Film Nominations: ‘Trial Of The Chicago 7’, ‘Sound Of Metal’, ‘One Night In Miami’, ‘Borat’, ‘Palm Springs’ & More

The WGA on Tuesday unveiled the movie nominations for its 2021 WGA Awards, honoring outstanding achievement for original and adapted screenplays and documentary films during 2020. Winners will be announced March 21 in a virtual ceremony. Check out the full list below.

The Original Screenplay category will see the scribes behind Judas and the Black Messiah, Palm Springs, Promising Young Woman, Sound of Metal and The Trial of the Chicago 7 vying for the hardware.

The Adapted Screenplay race will be among Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, News of the World, One Night in Miami and The White Tiger.

On the documentary side, All In: The Fight for Democracy, The Dissident, Herb Alpert Is…, Red Penguins and Totally Under Control will battle it out for the WGA trophy.

The eligibility period is January 1, 2020-February 28, 2021.

The WGA is the only guild that requires a movie to have been produced under its Minimum Basic Agreement in order to be eligible, and this Covid-racked year it seems there were more of those than ever. Among the awards-season favorites on the outside looking in screenplay-wise are Nomadland, Minari, Mank, The Father, Pieces of a Woman, Ammonite, Emma, The Personal History of David Copperfield, Let Them All Talk and animated films including Soul.

Also missing from contention for Original Screenplay are Herself, Supernova, The Climb, The Assistant, I Carry You with Me, Farewell Amor and Ordinary Love. Among the pics ineligible for Adapted Screenplay are Hope Gap, Penguin Bloom, Martin Eden, Radioactive and Blithe Spirit. 

See the list of WGA noms for TV, new media, news, radio/audio and promotional writing here.

Here is the full list of nominations for the 73rd annual Writers Guild Awards:

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Judas and the Black Messiah
Screenplay by Will Berson & Shaka King,
Story by Will Berson & Shaka King and Kenny Lucas & Keith Lucas
Warner Bros.

Palm Springs
Screenplay by Andy Siara
Story by Andy Siara & Max Barbakow
Hulu

Promising Young Woman
Written by Emerald Fennell
Focus Features

Sound of Metal
Screenplay by Darius Marder & Abraham Marder
Story by Darius Marder & Derek Cianfrance
Amazon Studios

The Trial of the Chicago 7
Written by Aaron Sorkin
Netflix

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
Amazon Studios

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Screenplay by Ruben Santiago-Hudson
Based on the Play Written by August Wilson
Netflix

News of the World
Screenplay by Paul Greengrass and Luke Davies
Based upon the Novel by Paulette Jiles
Universal Pictures

One Night in Miami
Screenplay by Kemp Powers
Based on the Stage Play One Night in Miami by Kemp Powers
Amazon Studios

The White Tiger
Screenplay by Ramin Bahrani
Based on the Book The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga
Netflix

DOCUMENTARY SCREENPLAY

All In: The Fight for Democracy
Written by Jack Youngelson
Amazon Studios

The Dissident
Written by Mark Monroe and Bryan Fogel
Briarcliff Entertainment 

Herb Alpert Is…
Written by John Scheinfeld
Abramorama

Red Penguins
Written by Gabe Polsky
Universal Pictures

Totally Under Control
Written by Alex Gibney
Neon

Pete Hammond contributed to this report.