Toy Story 3, The King’s Speech & More Ineligible For WGA Screenplay Awards

Dec 29, 2010 by Ross Miller 

Top movie awards contenders like ‘Toy Story 3' and ‘The King’s Speech’ have been deemed ineligible for the Best Screenplay categories at The Writers Guild of America awards.

When awards season rolls around every year there always seems to be a group of films that are tapped to pick up their share of the major awards. 2010 is no exception and this year the likes of Toy Story 3, Inception, The King’s Speech, The Social Network, Black Swan and The Fighter are among those which have won awards already and look likely to pick up some Oscars as well.

However, when it comes to the Screen Actors Guild (SAG), the Directors Guild of America (DGA) and the Writers Guild of America (WGA), there are rules which often prohibit certain awards favorites from winning in some of the big categories offered by awards ceremonies.

Following the Oscars deeming the scores for Black Swan, True Grit and The Fighter ineligible for the Best Original Score category, the WGA has deemed some of the biggest awards favorites ineligible for Best Original Screenplay and Best Adapted Screenplay at its annual awards ceremony.

Variety reports that under tough restrictions – requiring that scripts be “produced under WGA jurisdiction and be formally submitted for consideration” – favorites such as Toy Story 3, The King’s Speech and Another Year are now ineligible for the two Best Screenplay categories. Head over to Variety for a breakdown of why these films have been shunned.

Toy Story 3 may do well at the Oscars but it will have to do without a WGA award for its screenplay

Despite the fact that members of the WGA make up a segment of the Academy voters this exclusion doesn’t mean that those films snubbed won’t get nominated for the Screenplay awards at the Oscars. However, an interesting thing to note is that for 11 of the last 16 years, the winners of the WGA awards in the Screenplay categories have matched up with the Oscars. I guess that means this year it will be harder to guess what will win on the big night!

Despite many of the awards favorites being labelled ineligible by the WGA, there are still plenty of big ones left, including Black Swan, The Fighter, Inception and The Social Network. Here’s a complete list of what’s eligible and ineligible:

INELIGIBLE – ORIGINAL AND ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Another YearBiutifulBlue ValentineThe Ghost WriterThe King’s SpeechMade in DagenhamScott Pilgrim vs. the WorldToy Story 3Winter’s Bone

ELIGIBLE – ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY (TOTAL: 43)

All Good ThingsBlack SwanBrooklyn’s FinestBurlesqueCasino JackCity IslandThe Company MenConvictionCountry StrongCyrusDue DateEasy AThe FighterFrankie and AliceFrozenFurry VengeanceGet LowGreenbergGrown UpsHereafterHoly RollersHow Do You KnowInceptionJust WrightThe Kids Are All RightLetters to JulietLife as We Know ItMiddle MenMorning GloryMother and ChildThe Other GuysOur Family WeddingPlease GiveRemember MeSaltSecretariatSolitary ManSomewhereSpliceStoneWelcome to the RileysWonderful WorldYou Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger

ELIGIBLE – ADAPTED SCREENPLAY (TOTAL: 33)

127 HoursAlice in WonderlandThe American Barney’s VersionBarry MundayThe CraziesEat Pray LoveThe Extra ManFair GameFor Colored GirlsHarry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1I Love You Phillip MorrisIt’s Kind of a Funny StoryJack Goes BoatingThe Karate KidThe Last SongLegend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’HooleLet Me InLike Dandelion DustThe Next Three DaysPercy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning ThiefPrince of Persia: The Sands of TimeRabbit HoleRedShutter IslandThe Social NetworkThe Sorcerer’s ApprenticeThe TempestToday’s SpecialThe TownTron: LegacyTrue GritThe Twilight Saga: Eclipse

It’s rather… unfortunate that films like Eclipse, Alice in Wonderland, Grown Ups and Furry Vengeance are eligible and others like Toy Story 3, The King’s Speech and Winter’s Bone have been given the cold shoulder. But in the end rules are rules and they can’t be broken just so that the awards favorites can get nominated.

I’ll leave it up to you to give your picks for what you think should nominated and ultimately win.

The WGA award winners will be announced on February 5th, 2011.

Source: Variety

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