Yahoo News Top Oscar Screenplay Contenders ‘Banshees Of Inisherin’, ‘Triangle Of Sadness’, ‘All Quiet On The Western Front’, ‘Living’, ‘Pinocchio’ Among Those Ruled Ineligible By WGA
EXCLUSIVE: Once again, working under the Writers Guild’s restrictive rules for inclusion among nominees for the WGA Awards for Best Original Screenplay and Best Adapted Screenplay, several leading Oscar-contending screenplays are AWOL on the official WGA ballot sent to eligible voting members Monday morning.
This is an annual occurrence as, unlike other guild competitions including DGA, SAG and PGA, the WGA remains firm in its golden rule of eligibility for its top film honors: The movie must have been written under the WGA MBA or under a bona fide collective bargaining agreement of various international WGA-affiliated organizations.
More from Deadline
Thus such hot Oscar and BAFTA prospects as Martin McDonagh’s The Banshees of Inisherin, Cannes Palme d’Or winner Ruben Östlund’s Triangle of Sadness and many more did not even make the starting gate for WGA.
In the Original Screenplay category, BAFTA just last week longlisted Banshees and Triangle of Sadness in addition to others nixed by WGA including Charlotte Wells’ critically acclaimed Aftersun and Good Luck to You, Leo Grande.
Other prominent original scripts deep-sixed by the WGA are Sundance sensations Nanny and Cha Cha Real Smooth, Sam Mendes’ personal Empire of Light, India’s Best Picture contender RRR and even Ol Parker’s hit George Clooney-Julia Roberts rom-com Ticket to Paradise. Cannes triumphs Broker, Toki & Lokita, Close, Corsage, Holy Spider and One Fine Morning also won’t have their screenplays considered by WGA members, in addition to acclaimed films like Argentina, 1985, Joanna Hogg’s The Eternal Daughter, French Oscar entry Saint Omer and praised indie films like The Inspection and B.J. Novak’s Focus Features film Vengeance. The latter is on my 10 Best list for 2022 and one I easily would have loved to vote for on my WGA ballot (I am a longtime member).
Off the WGA’s Adapted Screenplay ballot are Netflix’s All Quiet on the Western Front, The Whale, The Wonder, Nobel Prize winner Kazuo Ishiguro’s Living, Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio and Ireland’s shortlisted Oscar entry The Quiet Girl — all six of which have been longlisted in the corresponding 10-film BAFTA writing category, with good prospects for many for Oscar consideration. Other adaptations left out in the cold by WGA are Marcel the Shell With Shoes On; The Son, Florian Zeller’s follow-up to his Oscar- and BAFTA-winning The Father; Happening; Three Thousand Years of Longing; After Yang; and Downton Abbey: A New Era.
However, if you are so inclined to want to vote for the likes of Black Adam and Sonic the Hedgehog 2, those screenplays are on the ballot. The lack of many of the aforementioned ineligible movies means increased prospects at the guild for the likes of films that are WGA-eligible, such as Everything Everywhere All at Once, The Fabelmans, Tár, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, She Said, The Menu, Top Gun: Maverick, Avatar: The Way of Water, The Woman King, and Women Talking. Members have until January 23 to vote, and incidentally that is just one day before Oscar nominations are announced. It will be interesting to see the correlation between the two groups in the writing categories this year.
WGA film screenplay nominations will be announced January 25. Television nominations will be revealed Wednesday.
Best of Deadline
2022-23 Awards Season Calendar - Dates For The Oscars, Golden Globes, Guilds & More
TV Cancellations Photo Gallery: Series Ending In 2023 & Beyond
Hollywood & Media Deaths In 2023: Photo Gallery & Obituaries
Sign up for Deadline's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
