The Writer's Guild of America is one of the final Hollywood trade organizations to hand out its annual prizes, and with their awards ceremony happening last night, it means that movie awards season is finally, truly almost over. The winners in the top categories-- i.e., the ones we're likely to see reflected at the Oscars on Sunday-- were Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris for Original Screenplay and The Descendants, written by Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, for Best Adapted Screenplay. There was also a film prize that isn't awarded at the Oscars, a Documentary Screenplay award that went to Better This World.
It's worth noting that the WGA has some very, very strange eligibility requirements that eliminated a lot of contenders who will be a factor at the Oscars, notably Best Picture frontrunner The Artist. It's still very likely that Woody Allen will triumph in the end at the Oscars-- and, as always, not show up to receive his prize-- but it's just bizarre in general to have a major precursor prize that completely excludes one of the biggest contenders. On the Adapted side, The Descendants is also very capable of repeating its feat at the Oscars, especially since this once-frontrunner for Best Picture has gotten steamrolled, like everything else, by The Artist. The Academy will often spread the love around when given the chance, and since The Artist isn't eligible in Adapted, it's one prize they can safely give to somebody else.
If you've got a case of Oscar mania this week, you're not alone-- we've got a ton of awards coverage coming throughout the week, so keep coming up as we prepare for the big day on Sunday!
