# 36th Writers Guild of America Awards

The 36th Writers Guild of America Awards honored the best television, and film writers of 1983. Winners were announced in 1984.

## Winners and nominees
### Film

Winners are listed first highlighted in boldface.
| Best Drama Written Directly for the Screenplay Tender Mercies, Written by Horton Foote Silkwood, Written by Nora Ephron and Alice Arlen WarGames, Written by Lawrence Lasker and Walter F. Parkes | Best Comedy Written Directly for the Screenplay The Big Chill, Written by Lawrence Kasdan and Barbara Benedek Risky Business, Written by Paul Brickman Zelig, Written by Woody Allen |
| Best Drama Adapted from Another Medium Reuben, Reuben, Screenplay by Julius J. Epstein; Based on the novel by Peter De Vries and the play by Herman Shumlin The Right Stuff, Screenplay by Philip Kaufman; Based on the book by Tom Wolfe The Year of Living Dangerously, Screenplay by David Williamson, Peter Weir and C.J. Koch; Based on the novel by C.J. Koch | Best Comedy Adapted from Another Medium Terms of Endearment, Screenplay by James L. Brooks; Based on the novel by Larry McMurtry A Christmas Story, Written by Jean Shepherd, Leigh Brown, and Bob Clark; Based on the novel "In God We Trust, All Other Pay Cash" by Jean Shepherd To Be or Not to Be, Written by Thomas Meehan and Ronny Graham; Based on the 1942 screenplay by Edwin Justus Mayer and the story of Melchior Lengyel and Ernst Lubitsch |

### Television

| Episodic Comedy "Give Me a Ring Sometimes" – Cheers (NBC) – Glen Charles and Les Charles "Boys in the Bar" – Cheers (NBC) – Ken Levine and David Isaacs "The Spy Who Came in for a Cold One" – Cheers (NBC) – David Lloyd "Let Me Count the Ways" – Cheers (NBC) – Heide Perlman "Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen" – M*A*S*H (CBS) – Alan Alda, Burt Metcalf, John Rappaport, Dan Wilcox, Thad Mumford, Elias Davis, David Pollock and Karen Hall "Scenskees from a Marriage: Part 1 & 2" – Taxi (NBC) – Howard Gewirtz and Ian Praiser "Jim's Inheritance" – Taxi (NBC) – Ken Estin | Episodic Drama "Trial by Fury" – Hill Street Blues (NBC) – David Milch "Jane Doe #37" – Cagney & Lacey (CBS) – Peter Lefcourt "Gung Ho" – Hill Street Blues (NBC) – David Milch, Jeffrey Lewis and Michael Wagner "Eugene's Comedy Empire Strikes Back" – Hill Street Blues (NBC) – Anthony Yerkovich, David Milch, Karen Hall, Steven Bochco and Jeffrey Lewis "Addiction" – St. Elsewhere (NBC) – John Masius and Tom Fontana "Pilot" – Two Marriages (ABC) – Carol Sobieski |
| Daytime Serials Ryan's Hope (ABC) – Claire Labine, Mary Munisteri, Paul Avila Mayer and Nancy Fordh Capitol – John William Corrington, Joyce Hooper Corrington, Shirley Hartman, Steve Hayes, Susan Goldberg, David Carren, Stephen Karpf, Elinor Karpf, Peggy O'Shea, Craig Carlson, Granville Burgess, Richard Camp and Peggy Sloane | Adapted Drama Anthology For Us the Living: The Medgar Evers Story (PBS) – Ossie Davis and Ken Rotcop |
| Original/Adapted Comedy Anthology The Other Woman – Lila Garret and Anne Meara | Original Drama Anthology Special Bulletin (NBC) – Marshall Herskovitz and Edward Zwick |
| Original/Adapted Multi-Part Long Form Series "Part II" – Blood Feud (OPT) – Robert Boris "Part I" – V (NBC) – Kenneth Johnson | Children's Show "The Woman Who Willed a Miracle" – ABC Afterschool Special (ABC) – Arthur Heinemann "Big Bird in China" – Sesame Street (PBS) – Jon Stone and Joseph A. Bailey "Oh Boy! Babies!" – NBC Special Treat (NBC) – Carole Hart, Bruce Hart and Sherry Coben |

### Special awards

Laurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement :
* Jack Rose, Melville Shavelson, Melvin Frank, and Norman Panama |
* Laurel Award for TV Writing Achievement |
* John Gay |
* Valentine Davies Award |
* Jerome Lawrence, and Robert E. Lee |
* Morgan Cox Award |
* Nate Monaster |