Trophy Talk

The 2021 Writers Guild Awards Winners: Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, Promising Young Woman, Ted Lasso Win Big

Check out the full winners of the 2021 WGAs and see what the awards tell us about the Oscar race.

by Jacqueline Coley | March 21, 2021 | Comments

Tonight the Writers Guild of America (WGA) announced the winners of their awards for outstanding screenwriting in 2021. The awards have a dubious track record when it comes to indicating who might win Best Picture at the Oscars, but they tend to be an apt predictor of the Best Original and Best Adapted Screenplay winners. Last year, Parasite and Jojo Rabbit won the Original and Adapted Screenplay honors before going on to take home the Oscar Prizes in those categories, too.

So who won this year? Sequel Borat Subsequent Moviefilm took home the Best Adapted Screenplay award (much to the shock of many), while Emerald Fennell won Best Original Screenplay for her debut screenplay Promising Young Woman; Fennell beat writing icon Aaron Sorkin’s Trial of the Chicago 7 screenplay to do so. On the television side, Jason Sudeikis’s Ted Lasso was the big winner with two awards for Best Comedy and Best New Series, while The Crown won for Best Drama.

Read on for the full list of the Writers Guild of America’s Television and Film winners.

FILM

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

90% Promising Young Woman (2020)

Written by Emerald Fennell

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

85% Borat Subsequent Moviefilm (2020)

Written by Sacha Baron Cohen, Anthony Hines, Dan Swimer, Peter Baynham, Erica Rivinoja, Dan Mazer, Jena Friedman, Lee Kern. Story by Sacha Baron Cohen, Anthony Hines, Dan Swimer, Nina Pedrad. Based on Characters Created by Sacha Baron Cohen.

BEST DOCUMENTARY SCREENPLAY

96% The Dissident (2020)

Written by Mark Monroe and Bryan Fogel

TELEVISION

COMEDY SERIES

92% Ted Lasso: Season 1 (2020)

Written by Jane Becker, Leann Bowen, Brett Goldstein, Brendan Hunt, Joe Kelly, Bill Lawrence, Jamie Lee, Jason Sudeikis, Pheobe Wals, Bill Wrubel

DRAMA SERIES

96% The Crown: Season 4 (2020)

Written by Peter Morgan and Jonathan Wilson

NEW SERIES

92% Ted Lasso: Season 1 (2020)

Written by Jane Becker, Leann Bowen, Brett Goldstein, Brendan Hunt, Joe Kelly, Bill Lawrence, Jamie Lee, Jason Sudeikis, Pheobe Wals, Bill Wrubel

Original Long Form

Mrs. America
Written by Tanya Barfield, Joshua Griffith, Sharon Hoffman, Boo Killebrew, Micah Schraft, April Shih, Dahvi Waller; FX Networks

Adapted Long Form

The Queen’s Gambit
Written by Scott Frank, Allan Scott, Based on the novel by Walter Tevis; Netflix

Original & Adapted Short Form New Media

#FREERAYSHAWN
Written by Marc Maurino; Quibi

Animation

“Xerox of a Xerox” (BoJack Horseman)
Written by Nick Adams; Netflix

Episodic Drama

“Fire Pink” (Ozark)
Written by Miki Johnson; Netflix

Episodic Comedy

“The Great” (The Great)
Written by Tony McNamara; Hulu

Comedy/Variety Talk Series

Desus & Mero
Writers: Daniel “Desus Nice” Baker, Claire Friedman, Ziwe Fumudoh, Josh Gondelman, Robert Kornhauser, Joel “The Kid Mero” Martinez, Heben Nigatu, Mike Pielocik, Julia Young; Showtime

Comedy/Variety Specials

Stephen Colbert’s Election Night 2020: Democracy’s Last Stand: Building Back America Great Again Better 2020
Head Writers: Ariel Dumas, Jay Katsir Writers: Delmonte Bent, Michael Brumm, River Clegg, Aaron Cohen, Stephen T. Colbert, Nicole Conlan, Paul Dinello, Glenn Eichler, Django Gold, Gabe Gronli, Barry Julien, Michael Cruz Kayne, Eliana Kwartler, Matt Lappin, Felipe Torres Medina, Opus Moreschi, Asher Perlman, Tom Purcell, Kate Sidley, Brian Stack, John Thibodeaux, Steve Waltien; Showtime

Comedy/Variety Sketch Series

At Home with Amy Sedaris
Writers: Jeremy Beiler, Cole Escola, Peter Grosz, Amy Sedaris; truTV

Quiz And Audience Participation

Weakest Link
Head Writer: Ann Slichter Writers: Chip Dornell, Paul Greenberg, Joyce Ikemi, Stuart Krasnow, Jon Macks, Mona Mira, Scott Saltzburg, Aaron Solomon, Chris Sturgeon, Grant Taylor; NBC

Daytime Drama

Days of Our Lives
Head Writer: Ron Carlivati Writers: Lorraine Broderick, Joanna Cohen, Carolyn Culliton, Richard Culliton, Rick Draughon, David Kreizman, Rebecca McCarty, Ryan Quan, Dave Ryan, Katherine D. Schock, Elizabeth Snyder; NBC

Children’s Episodic, Long Form, and Specials

The Sleepover
Written by Sarah Rothschild; Netflix

Documentary Script – Current Events

Agents of Chaos, Part II
Written by Alex Gibney & Michael J. Palmer; HBO Documentary Films

Documentary Script – Other Than Current Events

Opioids, Inc.
Written by Tom Jennings; PBS

News Script – Regularly Scheduled, Bulletin, Or Breaking Report

Anger in America
Written by Dave Bloch, David Muir, Karen Mooney, David Schoetz; ABC News

News Script – Analysis, Feature, Or Commentary

Juneteenth: A Celebration of Overcoming
Written by Dave Bloch; ABC News

Digital News

The Store That Called the Cops on George Floyd
Written by Aymann Ismail; Slate.com