The Writers Guild Awards (both West and East) shared their 2017 TV nominees back in December, but now their list of contenders has been completed, with the announcement of the nominees in the screenplay categories. Most of what you’ll see here is both expected and deserved. The main surprise is one that the Golden Globes sort of got to first: venerating Deadpool with a nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay (the Globes gave Ryan Reynolds, who admittedly was quite good, a nomination for Best Actor in a Motion Picture — Musical or Comedy, as well as giving the film one for Best Motion Picture — Musical or Comedy).
The aesthetically pleasing, but uneven and somewhat empty Nocturnal Animals also got recognized in the Best Adapted Screenplay category, as did Hidden Figures, which Flavorwire’s Jason Bailey described as “a vital and important piece of our history, one that we absolutely should’ve heard by now,” but also a “strikingly slapdash movie, clumsily executed and filled with scenes that are barely half-written, if that.” But that category was also populated with a couple of deserving movies — Arrival and Fences.
Meanwhile, in Original Screenplay, there’s the exquisite Moonlight, and all of the other Good American Films that were surprisingly un-Oscar-bait-y this year.
Here’s the full list of nominees in the screenplay categories:
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Hell or High Water, Written by Taylor Sheridan; CBS Films
La La Land, Written by Damien Chazelle; Lionsgate
Loving, Written by Jeff Nichols; Focus Features
Manchester by the Sea, Written by Kenneth Lonergan; Amazon Studios/Roadside Attractions
Moonlight, Written by Barry Jenkins, Story by Tarell McCraney; A24
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Arrival, Screenplay by Eric Heisserer; Based on the Story “Story of Your Life” by Ted Chiang; Paramount Pictures
Deadpool, Written by Rhett Reese & Paul Wernick; Based on the X-Men Comic Books; Twentieth Century Fox Film
Fences, Screenplay by August Wilson; Based on his Play; Paramount Pictures
Hidden Figures, Screenplay by Allison Schroeder and Theodore Melfi; Based on the Book by Margot Lee Shetterly; Twentieth Century Fox Film
Nocturnal Animals, Screenplay by Tom Ford; Based on the Novel Tony and Susan by Austin Wright; Focus Features
DOCUMENTARY SCREENPLAY
Author: The JT LeRoy Story, Written by Jeff Feuerzeig; Amazon Studios
Command and Control, Telescript by Robert Kenner & Eric Schlosser, Story by Brian Pearle and Kim Roberts; Based on the book Command and Control by Eric Schlosser; American Experience Films
Zero Days, Written by Alex Gibney; Magnolia Pictures
Check out the previously-announced nominees in TV and other categories on the WGA website. The awards ceremony takes place on Sunday, February 19.