Guild Awards - screenplays

A guest post by Andrea Gibb from the Guild's Film Committee

It's often been said that the three essentials for a successful movie are 'script, script and script' and the screenplay categories in the Writers' Guild Awards are a great opportunity to celebrate the art and craft of the screenwriter.

The Film Committee is asking all Guild members to send in their nominations for the screenplays from the last year that stood out. We're looking for the scripts that held an audience through the power of their story telling, characterisation and dialogue

The Guild is also delighted to be initiating a new award this year for the best first feature length screenplay. This is to highlight writers who are new to film and acknowledge their achievement in getting their first screenplay produced. Any produced screenplay can be considered for both these awards providing the film has been screened at festivals or in cinemas in the UK during the period 1/06/08 to 31/05/09.

Below is a list of films in both categories that meet the criteria. As well as sending your nominations feel free to add comments about the films that worked best for you.

Screenplays eligible for Feature Film Screenplay – Newcomer:

Better Things - Duane Hopkins
Cass - Jon S Baird Clubbed - Geoff Thompson
Donkey Punch - Olly Blackburn, David Bloom
Mum and Dad - Stephen Sheil
The Secret of Moonacre - Graham Alborough, Lucy Shuttleworth
Sisterhood - Emily Corcoran
Summer - Hugh Ellis
Wild Child - Lucy Dahl
Cherrybomb - Darragh Carville
Is Anybody There? - Peter Harness
In the Loop - Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Ianucci, Tony Roche, (additional dialogue Ian Martin)
Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel - Jamie Mathieson Helen - Joe Lawler, Christine Molloy + Ben Slater (script consultant)
Faintheart - David Lemon, Vito Rocco
Dummy - Michael Mueller, Paula Barnes, Matthew Thompson
1234 - Giles Borg
Awaydays - Kevin Sampson
Broken Lines - Doraly Rosa, Dan Fredenburgh
Bronson - Brock Norman Brock, Nicholas Winding Refn
Franklin - Gerald McMorrow
Shifty - Eran Creevy
The Waiting Room - Roger Goldby
Unrelated - Joanna Hogg
The Escapist - Daniel Hardy, Rupert Wyatt
Tuesday - Sacha Bennett
Outlanders - Jimmy Gardner Dominic Lees
Special People - Justin Edgar
The Children - Tom Shankland
Caught in the Act - Neil Salvage, Steve Speirs.
A Bunch of Amateurs - Nick Newman, John Ross, Ian Hislop and Jonathon Gershfield
Lesbian Vampire Killers - Paul Hupfield, Stuart Williams
I Can’t Think Straight - Shamim Sarif, Kelly Moss
Good - John Wrathall
City Rats - Simon Fantauzzo
Little Ashes - Phillipa Goslett
(NB These screenplays are also eligible for best screenplay award and can be nominated for both)

Screenplays eligible for Best Screenwriter Award
(All the above plus) :
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas - Mark Herman
The Dark Knight - Christopher Nolan and Johnathan Nolan
Frost / Nixon - Peter Morgan
The Reader - David Hare
Slumdog Millionaire - Simon Beaufoy
Dean Spanley - Alan Sharp
Mamma Mia - Catherine Johnson
Brideshead Revisited - Jeremy Brock, Andrew Davies
Adulthood - Noel Clarke
Eden Lake - James Watkins
The Edge of Love - Sharman MacDonald
Hope Eternal - Karl Francis
How To Lose Friends And Alienate People - Peter Straughan
Incendiary - Sharon Maguire
RocknRolla - Guy Ritchie
Somers Town - Paul Fraser
The Damned United - Peter Morgan
Rage - Sally Potter
Genova - Laurence Coriat, Michael Winterbottom
The Other Man - Charles Wood, Richard Eyre
I know, You Know - Justin Kerrigan
Love Live Long - Mike Figgis
New Town Killers - Richard Jobson
French Film - Aschlin Ditta
Puffball - Dan Weldon, Fay Weldon
Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging - Gurinder Chada, Paul Mayeda Berges, Will McRobb and Chris Viscardi
Death Defying Acts - Tony Grisoni and Brian Ward
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day - David Magee and Simon Beaufoy
Bigga Than Ben - Suzie Halewood
The Duchess - Saul Dibb, the director, has a co-writing credit for this with two non-British writers, Jeffrey Hatcher and Anders Thomas Jensen
Easy Virtue - Stephan Elliot, Sheridan Jobbins
Far North - Asif Kapadia, Tim Miller, Sara Maitland (story)
The Broken - Sean Ellis
The Young Victoria - Julian Fellowes
Reverb - Eltan Arrusi
Hush - Mark Tonderai
The Boat That Rocked - Richard Curtis
Cheri - Christopher Hampton
Quantum of Solace - Neil Purvis, Robert Wade, (US writer Paul Haggis also gets a credit on this)
Hunger - Steve McQueen, Enda Walsh.

Please send nominations in any or all of the above categories by email to mailto:%20anne@writersguild.org.uk with your full name and Guild membership number. Please make it clear which writers you are nominating in which categories. Please nominate only one title in each category.

Nominations may also be submitted by post to the Guild office. Please mark envelopes “Award nominations”, Writers’ Guild of Great Britain, 40 Rosebery Avenue, London EC1R 4RX.

The deadline for nominations is Friday 28 August 2009 and the shortlist will be announced on Wednesday 30 September 2009. The winners will be announced on Sunday 29 November 2009.