An Education, Basterds, Single Man, The Road Disqualified for WGA
Edward Douglas of ComingSoon delivers the bad news (confirmed by Indiewire’s Peter Knegt):
This note is to let you know that Nick Hornby, writer of AN EDUCATION, will be ineligible for a WGA nomination for his work on the film, due to a new rule instituted after production was completed.
Oscar will correct that technicality.
Steve Pond also reports about the three Weinsteins:
Quentin Tarantino is not a member of the WGA or the DGA, and his films are not made under those guilds’ agreements. “A Single Man” and “The Road,” written by Tom Ford and Joe Penhall, were likewise not the work of WGA members and not covered by applicable agreements.
I was asked recently whether Tarantino can still be nominated for a DGA and the answer was yes, of course – Pulp Fiction. But it wasn’t nominated for a WGA. It did, however, WIN the Oscar. Dumb rules. For an Oscar strategy perspective it’s good to get this news out early so that people won’t think that the scripts were rebuffed.
[NOTE: The reason A Single Man, The Road, and Inglourious Basterds are ineligible is simple and blunt: None of the authors of those scripts are members of the WGA. Likewise Hornby is ineligible for An Education due to similar clubby reasons: He's not a member of his local WGA Great Britain. ~ Ryan]
The Natural says:
Wednesday, January 6, 2010 at 10:32am
LOL.
ladylurks says:
Wednesday, January 6, 2010 at 10:33am
Yikes, they’re falling fast. Apparently Weinstein isn’t sending screeners to the WGA, which probably won’t hurt Inglourious Basterds but could put the kibosh on The Road and A Single Man. I don’t think Nine ever had much chance at a WGA nom anyway.
But pretty soon there will be nobody left.
guany says:
Wednesday, January 6, 2010 at 10:33am
Steve Pond is reporting that Basterds, A Single Man, and The Road are also not eligible.
http://www.thewrap.com/ind-column/three-weinstein-films-ineligible-wga-awards-12563
Jabba says:
Wednesday, January 6, 2010 at 10:38am
TRIPLE FUCKIN FACEPALM…
ladylurks says:
Wednesday, January 6, 2010 at 10:39am
Wow, now there REALLY will be nobody left.
Jabba says:
Wednesday, January 6, 2010 at 10:42am
LOL, after this, District 9 is so locked for WGA nod. Sad.
Gregoire says:
Wednesday, January 6, 2010 at 10:44am
At this rate, All About Steve is probably a lock.
Mike says:
Wednesday, January 6, 2010 at 10:44am
“…due to a new rule instituted after production was completed.”
Why so vague? What exactly is this new rule that has apparently disqualified not just An Education, but three other films as well? When a film is disqualified, I want to hear just exactly what is the justification.
Sasha Stone says:
Wednesday, January 6, 2010 at 10:48am
At this rate, All About Steve is probably a lock.
LOL….
unlikelyhood says:
Wednesday, January 6, 2010 at 10:50am
Good to know. Hopefully the Academy writers know as well, so they don’t let themselves get too prejudiced by the WGA.
Zach says:
Wednesday, January 6, 2010 at 10:50am
This means that The Messenger and It’s Complicated will probably be nominated, and everyone will fuss and overreact (angry? happy?) that Nancy Meyers could be Oscar-nominated. On the adapted side, this leaves at least 9 films (2-3 locks) in the running for 5 spots.
jb says:
Wednesday, January 6, 2010 at 10:51am
that leaves 3 slots open for adapted screenplay
likely lineup
crazy heart
district 9
fantastic mr. fox
precious
up in the air
Zach says:
Wednesday, January 6, 2010 at 10:52am
Don’t forget Invictus. It may not get the nod from the Academy (in this category), but a WGA nod would at least reflect the broad-based support we’ve come to expect.
John says:
Wednesday, January 6, 2010 at 10:54am
exactly ^.
Why ROAD and SINGLE MAN???
Bill says:
Wednesday, January 6, 2010 at 10:56am
noooo, some of the best scripts of the year, dumb dumb people
guany says:
Wednesday, January 6, 2010 at 11:01am
Correct me if I’m mistaken, but doesn’t the WGA just flat-out not nominate Animated films?
Wouldn’t that mean that Up and Fantastic Mr. Fox are also not eligible?
What you Say says:
Wednesday, January 6, 2010 at 11:10am
Inglourious is the best screenplay of the year and will win the Oscar category so won’t hurt it all. Could hurt An Education a little.
Ryan Adams says:
Wednesday, January 6, 2010 at 11:27am
@ Mike #8, and other bewildered readers.
[NOTE: The reason A Single Man, The Road, and Inglourious Basterds are ineligible is simple and blunt: None of the authors of those scripts are members of the WGA. Likewise Hornby is ineligible for An Education due to similar boys' club reasons: He's not a member of his local WGA Great Britain.]
CeciliaTallis says:
Wednesday, January 6, 2010 at 11:32am
The WGA consistently has the most middlebrow and irrelevant nominees due to inane rules disqualifying top contenders and inexplicably bad taste.
Our likely nominees here:
Original
(500) Days of Summer
Avatar
The Hangover
The Hurt Locker
A Serious Man
Alternate: The Messenger
Adapted
District 9
Invictus
Precious
Julie & Julia
Up in the Air
Alternate: Where the Wild Things Are
Sheesh.
Kristopher Tapley says:
Wednesday, January 6, 2010 at 11:36am
Actually, not being a member isn’t a deal-breaker. The script merely has to have been written under the guild’s Minimum Basic Agreement or under a collective bargaining agreement of another guild.
j says:
Wednesday, January 6, 2010 at 11:40am
If A Single Man’s screenplay doesn’t get an Oscar nom I will cut a bitca.
What I’m dying to see get rewarded the most this year –
Wins: Streep & Firth
Noms: A Single Man’s screenplay
Jane Campion’s direction
Up for Best Picture
Otto says:
Wednesday, January 6, 2010 at 11:49am
Ok so: Up, Fantastic Mr Fox, An Education, Inglorious Basterds, The Road and A Single Man are inellegible for WGA.
So…
Original: A Serious Man, (500) Days of Summer, Hurt Locker, and then? Avatar? The Messenger? It’s Complicated? or maybe something foreign like The White Ribbon or Broken Embraces?
Adapted: Up in the Air, Precious.. God, this is empty. I don’t recall Adapted Screenplay to be this empty ever (at least in for the WGA) So In the Loop? Invictus? Bright Star?…The Informant!? Julie and Julia…?
Jason says:
Wednesday, January 6, 2010 at 11:54am
i’m stunned that tarantino isn’t a member of either guild…
and i’m a little confused on how that happens for any of these writers (excluding hornby who is a fiction/nonfiction prose writer…)
i’m a canadian actor, so i know all about our union and i know a lot about sag/aftra as well, and it’s pretty much a situation where if you want to continue working on big projects, you need to be in the union…this is so interesting to me…
Free says:
Wednesday, January 6, 2010 at 12:03pm
What the fuck is left?
Marlon says:
Wednesday, January 6, 2010 at 1:00pm
Best Original Script
Mark Boal, The Hurt Locker
Nancy Meyers, It’s Complicated
Joel & Ethan Coen, A Serious Man
Jon Lucas & Scott Moore, The Hangover
Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber, (500) Days of Summer
Best Adapted Script
Geoffrey Fletcher, Precious
Anthony Peckham, Invictus
Roberto Orci & Alex Kurtzman, Star Trek
Neill Blomkamp & Terri Tatchell, District 9
Jason Reitman & Sheldon Turner, Up in the Air
Alt: Nora Ephron, Julie & Julia
m1 says:
Wednesday, January 6, 2010 at 1:02pm
What?!
daveylow says:
Wednesday, January 6, 2010 at 1:04pm
I hope The Messenger is nominated over The Hangover and It’s Complicated. Unless the screenwriters aren’t guild members either.
daveylow says:
Wednesday, January 6, 2010 at 1:10pm
I went to the WGA web site and I didn’t see anything in the rules that says that writers for animated films are not eligible.
Jason M says:
Wednesday, January 6, 2010 at 1:10pm
Hey Sasha,
Kris at InContention just discovered that District 9, In The Loop, Fantastic Mr. Fox and UP are also ineligible.
Ryman says:
Wednesday, January 6, 2010 at 1:18pm
You know, it’s interesting if you look at last year’s nominations:
Original:
-Burn After Reading (not nominated)
-Milk (WGA winner & Oscar winner)
-Vicky Christina Barcelona (not nominated)
-The Visitor (not nominated)
-The Wrestler (not nominated)
Adapted:
-The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (nominated)
-The Dark Knight (not nominated)
-Doubt (nominated)
-Frost/Nixon (nominated)
-Slumdog Millionaire (WGA winner & Oscar winner)
It’s interesting that the nominations you’ll see for the WGAs will be way different than the upcoming Oscars. Now in my opinion, I’m not as concerned for A Single Man or The Road as much as Inglourious Basterds and An Education. I’m sure those will still get the nominations even if they’re NOT a member of the Writers Guild. I mean, Tarantino WON the Oscar for Pulp Fiction and it wasn’t even nominated at the WGA and he still kicked all their asses. I’m sure that for the ones nominated for the WGA, only half of them will go to the Oscars. That’s something I’m willing to bet on.
Sasha Stone says:
Wednesday, January 6, 2010 at 1:19pm
Thanks, Jason. Wow. Horrid.
guany says:
Wednesday, January 6, 2010 at 1:21pm
This is absolutely hilarious!
Zach says:
Wednesday, January 6, 2010 at 1:33pm
Oh, geesh, CeciliaTallis is right – they love their slight comedies – don’t be surprised by Julie & Julia in adapted!
And MORE disqualifications? Are they too international? This rule really should be changed.
After realizing I confused A Single Man with A Serious Man YET again, I’ll predict, for Original:
-The Hurt Locker
-A Serious Man
-(500) Days of Summer
-The Hangover
-The Messenger
Alt: It’s Complicated (Sigh, too many comedies, even neglecting Avatar…just kidding.)
With Inglourious Basterds and Up replacing The Hangover and The Messenger at the Oscars.
(Why is UP ineligible? If this is wrong, I firmly predict it for WGA.)
Adapted:
-Up in the Air
-Precious
-Crazy Heart
-Invictus
-Where the Wild Things Are
Alt: A Single Man (NOT predicting the Meryl comedies)
With An Education, District 9, and Fantastic Mr. Fox replacing Crazy Heart, Invictus, and WTWTA.
WGA Kinks and Quirks says:
Wednesday, January 6, 2010 at 1:34pm
If IB and EDUCATION are out, maybe some new spots:
ADAPTED
Julie & Julia
Fantastic Mr. Fox
Bright Star
A Single Man
Everybody’s Fine
ORIGINAL
The Hurt Locker
A Serious Man
Moon
District 9
Drag Me to Hell
Zach says:
Wednesday, January 6, 2010 at 1:37pm
LOLOL at your predictions, sorry, just LOL!
Alper says:
Wednesday, January 6, 2010 at 2:43pm
I dislike An education so it’s very good news for me. Goobye An Education goodbye and don’t come back! Haha
nassy says:
Wednesday, January 6, 2010 at 3:15pm
As much as i LOVED ‘an education’ and ‘a single man’ their disqualification from WGA makes sense. the WGA is there to protect the writers, and when they give out their awards it IS for members of the guild. they can’t just nominate someone who isn’t part of the guild. the WGA ensures rights and protections to the writer, nominating a writer who is not part of it just does not make sense.
Joao Mattos says:
Wednesday, January 6, 2010 at 3:41pm
To be a part of a Union, that’s great. To be obliged to be part of a Union, so that you very existence won’t be ignored (is not just a movie; it’s a bunch of them that are being left on the side as they are not relevant) that’s awful.
And we are talking about art here.
The Jack says:
Wednesday, January 6, 2010 at 4:02pm
I’m pretty sure Tarantino left in protest after Robert Rodriguez was told he couldn’t make ‘Sin City’ with Frank Miller under DGA rules. As such, I don’t think he can be nominated for a DGA, despite being nominated for ‘Pulp Fiction’ (since he was still a member then).
TC says:
Wednesday, January 6, 2010 at 4:59pm
Well, there goes any serious reason for me to watch the Oscars. I may tune in parts of it, but otherwise…just meh. All these other people don’t need Oscars. I wanted Blomkamp to follow Guillermo Del Toro’s and Peter Jackson’s career trajectory…Screenplay Oscar being their industry breakthrough. And all signs pointed to that. It’s Blomkamp who needed the honors. It’s Blomkamp who I’d like to see go to an awards show and mingle and get the media kudos get his first taste of being appreciated. Say what you want aobut how meaningless we think the Oscars have become, but it’s still the difference between being fast-tracked for the “prestiege” projects and being relegated to just “coomercial” material. (would Del Toro have gotten “the Hobbit” otherwise?) If D9 hadn’t gotten the GG Screenplay nom and the PGA, then I wouldn’t have gotten my hopes up.
Now I’m thinking that D9 got the PGA for Jackson love –or token nod to Jackson after TLB tanked, NOT for any love of D9 in the Industry, even after its stunning success (near-universal critical acclaim and more importantly, $116 mil from a first-time director, with uncoventional material).
I smell backbiting here. People jealous of Blomkamp perhaps? I really think the studios are desperate to get their franchise blockbusters a major Oscar nomination of *some* kind, even if they aren’t eligable for BP–Star Trek, Harry Potter anyone? (Look at the ad on this page–it’s not like the media isn’t giving them help.)
So I guess I can kiss D9 at the Oscars goodbye. In a year with 10 BP noms and likewise 10 PGA’s. It can’t even get a Screenplay nom with such an expanded field… I doubt it may even get a VX nom, with only 3 spots? If an FX-heavy film that was made for only $30 million got an FX nom, it would terrorize the studios…
TC says:
Wednesday, January 6, 2010 at 5:08pm
PS the only thing I can think of, is that maybe Blomkamp was disqualified b/c D9 was “adapted” not from a novel or play, but from a short Internet film. Doesn’t matter if it was his own film and he was expanding on his own script. It’s WGA snobbery again. Protecting “writers.” In their ratty little minds, if D9 got WGA or Oscar honors, then a hundred little video store pissants would rush to make their little YouTube would-be “classics” too, and bye-bye real “writers.”
*Shakes head*. Amazing. Blomkamp was so much more than that. If this is indeed the reasoning…(let’s hope it’s not because of the pointed D9 DVD C director’s commentary…)
Wait a minute…then why was D9 nominated as an Origional Screenplay at the Globes? I’m confused…just tell me D9 is now dead in the water as far as the Oscars are concerned, and it’ll make it so much easier…
menyc says:
Wednesday, January 6, 2010 at 6:00pm
I can’t imagine anyone would think that District 9 would ever be nomitated for a screenplay as it is a sieve multiplied by swiss cheese.
ElementaryJeeves says:
Thursday, January 7, 2010 at 1:35am
I will be seriously offended if Avatar wins a screenplay nom. Say what you want about teh movie, i will agree it was the finest cinematic experience in the movies this year. But let’s face it the screenplay / story / plot / dialogues weren’t exactly it’s strongest points.