If you were wondering why your local hardware shop is running low on trophy polish, it's probably because we're now in the thick of movie awards season. The latest nominations annoucement? The Writers Guild Awards (WGAs), awarding to the best screenwriters of the year by two suspiciously similar-sounding organisations: the Writers Guild of America, East; and the Writers Guild of America, West.
A handful of frontrunners have already emerged in this year's race, and the usual suspects were present and correct, with nominations for La La Land, Manchester By The Sea, and Moonlight.
Slightly more surprising: Deadpool – which boasts a screenplay bursting with crude pop culture references and creative swearing – also picked up a nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay. Ryan Reynolds' subversive superhero movie also goes into this weekend's Golden Globes with two nominations – some rare awards recognition for superhero frivolties.
Also heartening from the WGA's three movie catgeories were nominations for Arrival, Denis Villeneuve's cerebral sci-fi; and Hell Or High Water, David Mackenzie's neo-western – both of which seemed to be getting left behind in the awards chatter.
Here's the full list of nominees. The 2017 WGA awards winners will be announced in a ceremony hosted by Patton Oswalt on Sunday 19 February.
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Hell or High Water, written by Taylor Sheridan
La La Land, written by Damien Chazelle
Loving, written by Jeff Nichols
Manchester by the Sea, written by Kenneth Lonergan
Moonlight, screenplay by Barry Jenkins, story by Tarell McCraney
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Arrival, screenplay by Eric Heisserer; Based on the Story “Story of Your Life” by Ted Chiang
Deadpool, written by Rhett Reese & Paul Wernick; based on the X-Men Comic Books
Fences, screenplay by August Wilson; based on his play
Hidden Figures, screenplay by Allison Schroeder and Theodore Melfi; based on the book by Margot Lee Shetterly
Nocturnal Animals, screenplay by Tom Ford; based on the novel Tony and Susan by Austin Wright
DOCUMENTARY SCREENPLAY
Author: The JT LeRoy Story, written by Jeff Feuerzeig
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
Zero Days, written by Alex Gibney