Sacha Baron Cohen's 鈥淏orat Subsequent Moviefilm鈥 was partly improvised and scripted by nine writers, but it still walked away Sunday night with one of the Writers Guild Awards' top honours, best adapted screenplay.
At the guild's virtual, pre-recorded 73rd annual awards, the biggest winners were a pair of awards-season dark horses. Best original screenplay went to the script for the feminist revenge thriller 鈥淧romising Young Woman,鈥 by writer-director Emerald Fennell. The film, which is nominated for five Oscars including best picture, triumphed over Aaron Sorkin's 鈥淭he Trial of the Chicago 7,鈥 along with 鈥淪ound of Metal,鈥 鈥淛udas and the Black Messiah鈥 and 鈥淧alm Springs.鈥
The 鈥淏orat鈥 sequel win came over 鈥淢a Rainey's Black Bottom,鈥 鈥淣ews of the World,鈥 鈥淥ne Night in Miami鈥 and 鈥淭he White Tiger.鈥 Due to guild regulations, several of this year's best-picture nominees at the Academy Awards weren't nominated, including 鈥淢ank,鈥 鈥淣omadland,鈥 鈥淢inari鈥 and 鈥淭he Father.鈥
Baron Cohen and his fellow eight credited writers for the film's screenplay and story accepted the award by Zoom.
鈥淭hank you for this incredible award, though I can't help thinking we won it because 60% of the Writers Guild worked on this movie,鈥 said Baron Cohen. 鈥淎 film like this is extremely hard to write partly because it stars real people whose behaviour is completely unpredictable. Well, apart from Rudy Giuliani who did everything we hoped for.鈥
Kal Penn hosted the show, streamed privately for invitees, from his living room. He began dressed in a tuxedo and ended in his pyjamas.
Best documentary screenplay went to the Jamal Khashoggi documentary 鈥淭he Dissident,鈥 written by director Bryan Fogel and Mark Monroe. The film, which streaming services were too timid to acquire, Fogel has argued, missed out on an Oscar nomination.
Other awards included 鈥淭ed Lasso鈥 for comedy series; 鈥淭he Crown鈥 for drama series; 鈥淭he Great鈥 for episodic comedy; and 鈥淥zark鈥 for episodic drama.
The guild's awards came after the conclusion of a two-year battle with talent agencies over potential conflicts of interest as representatives of film and TV writers. Last month, WME became the final big agency to sign the guild's agreement over an industry practice known as 鈥減ackaging.鈥
鈥淥ur agency campaign has made us true partners again with our agency representatives,鈥 said David Goodman, president of the WGA West.
