# 61st Writers Guild of America Awards

The 61st Writers Guild of America Awards honored the best film, television, and video game writers of 2008. Winners were announced on February 7, 2009.

## Nominees

Names in bold denote the winners.

### Film
#### Best Adapted Screenplay

* The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – Eric Roth (screenplay), Eric Roth and Robin Swicord (story); F. Scott Fitzgerald (author)
* The Dark Knight – Jonathan and Christopher Nolan (screenplay), Christopher Nolan and David S. Goyer (story); Bob Kane and Bill Finger (creators)
* Doubt – John Patrick Shanley (screenplay and playwright)
* Frost/Nixon – Peter Morgan (screenplay and playwright)
* Slumdog Millionaire – Simon Beaufoy (screenplay); Vikas Swarup (author) †

#### Best Original Screenplay

* Burn After Reading – Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
* Milk – Dustin Lance Black †
* Vicky Cristina Barcelona – Woody Allen
* The Visitor – Tom McCarthy
* The Wrestler – Robert Siegel

#### Best Documentary Feature Screenplay

* Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story - Stefan Forbes and Noland Walker
* Chicago 10 - Brett Morgen
* Fuel - Johnny O'Hara
* Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson - Alex Gibney; from the words of Hunter S. Thompson
* Waltz with Bashir - Ari Folman

### Television
#### Dramatic Series

| Title | Writers | Network |
| Dexter | Scott Buck, Daniel Cerone, Charles H. Eglee, Drew Greenberg, Adam E. Fierro, Lauren Gussis, Clyde Phillips, Scott Reynolds, Melissa Rosenberg, and Timothy Schlattman | Showtime |
| Friday Night Lights | Bridget Carpenter, Kerry Ehrin, Brent Fletcher, Jason Gavin, Carter Harris, Elizabeth Heldens, David Hudgins, Jason Katims, Patrick Massett, Aaron Rahsaan Thomas, and John Zinman | NBC |
| Lost | Carlton Cuse, Drew Goddard, Adam Horowitz, Christina M. Kim, Edward Kitsis, Damon L. Lindelof, Greggory Nations, Kyle Pennington, Elizabeth Sarnoff, and Brian K. Vaughan | ABC |
| Mad Men | Lisa Albert, Jane Anderson, Rick Cleveland, David Isaacs, Andre Jacquemetton, Maria Jacquemetton, Marti Noxon, Robin Veith, and Matthew Weiner | AMC |
| The Wire | Ed Burns, Chris Collins, Dennis Lehane, David Mills, George Pelecanos, Richard Price, David Simon, and William F. Zorzi | HBO |

#### Comedy Series

| Title | Writers | Network |
| 30 Rock | Jack Burditt, Kay Cannon, Robert Carlock, Tina Fey, Donald Glover, Andrew Guest, Matt Hubbard, Jon Pollack, John Riggi, Tami Sagher, and Ron Weiner | NBC |
| Entourage | Doug Ellin, Jeremy Miller, Ally Musika, Steve Pink, and Rob Weiss | HBO |
| The Office | Steve Carell, Jennifer Celotta, Greg Daniels, Lee Eisenberg, Brent Forrester, Dan Goor , Charlie Grandy , Mindy Kaling, Ryan Koh, Lester Lewis, Paul Lieberstein, Warren Lieberstein , B. J. Novak, Michael Schur, Aaron Shure, Gene Stupnitsky, and Halsted Sullivan | NBC |
| The Simpsons | J. Stewart Burns, Daniel Chun, Joel H. Cohen, Kevin Curran, John Frink, Tom Gammill, Stephanie Gillis, Dan Greaney, Reid Harrison, Al Jean, Billy Kimball, Tim Long, Ian Maxtone-Graham, Bill Odenkirk, Carolyn Omine, Don Payne, Michael Price, Max Pross, Mike Reiss, Mike Scully, Matt Selman, Matt Warburton, Jeff Westbrook, Marc Wilmore, and William Wright | Fox |
| Weeds | Roberto Benabib, Mark A. Burley, Ron Fitzgerald, David Holstein, Rolin Jones, Brendan Kelly, Jenji Kohan, Victoria Morrow, and Matthew Salsberg | Showtime |

#### New Series

| Title | Writers | Network |
| Breaking Bad | Vince Gilligan, Peter Gould, Patty Lin, and George Mastras | AMC |
| Fringe | J. J. Abrams, Jason Cahill, Julia Cho, David H. Goodman, Felicia Henderson, Brad Caleb Kane, Alex Kurtzman, Darin Morgan, J. R. Orci, Roberto Orci, Jeff Pinkner, and Zack Whedon | Fox |
| In Treatment | Rodrigo García, Bryan Goluboff, Davey Holmes, William Meritt Johnson, Amy Lippman, and Sarah Treem | HBO |
| Life On Mars | Josh Appelbaum, Andre Nemec, Scott Rosenberg, Becky Hartman Edwards, David Wilcox, Adele Lim, Bryan Oh, Tracy McMillan, Sonny Postiglione, Phil M. Rosenberg, and Meredith Averill | ABC |
| True Blood | Alan Ball, Brian Buckner, Raelle Tucker, Alexander Woo, Nancy Oliver, and Chris Offutt | HBO |

#### Episodic Drama

| Title | Series | Writers | Network |
| "Don't Ever Change" | House | Doris Egan & Leonard Dick | Fox |
| "Double Booked" | Burn Notice | Craig O'Neill & Jason Tracey | USA |
| "Gray Matter" | Breaking Bad | Patty Lin | AMC |
| "Pilot" | Breaking Bad | Vince Gilligan | AMC |
| "Pilot" | Eli Stone | Greg Berlanti & Marc Guggenheim | ABC |
| "There's Something About Harry" | Dexter | Scott Reynolds | Showtime |

#### Episodic Comedy

| Title | Series | Writers | Network |
| "Believe in the Stars" | 30 Rock | Robert Carlock | NBC |
| "Cooter" | 30 Rock | Tina Fey | NBC |
| "Crime Aid" | The Office | Charlie Grandy | NBC |
| "Crush'd" | Ugly Betty | Tracy Poust & Jon Kinnally | ABC |
| "Succession" | 30 Rock | Andrew Guest & John Riggi | NBC |
| "Vote for This and I Promise to Do Something Crazy at the Emmys" | My Name Is Earl | Greg Garcia | NBC |

#### Long Form - Original

| Title | Writers | Network |
| An American Crime | Tommy O'Haver & Irene Turner | Showtime |
| Pilot (Fringe) | J. J. Abrams, Alex Kurtzman & Roberto Orci | Fox |
| Recount | Danny Strong | HBO |

#### Long Form - Adaptation

| Title | Writers | Network |
| Generation Kill | "Stay Frosty" - Teleplay by Ed Burns, Story by David Simon & Ed Burns, Based on the book by Evan Wright "Bomb in the Garden" - Teleplay by David Simon, Story by David Simon & Ed Burns, Based on the book by Evan Wright | HBO |
| John Adams | "Join or Die" & "Independence" - Teleplay by Kirk Ellis; Based on the book by David McCullough) | HBO |
| The Memory Keeper's Daughter | Teleplay by John Pielmeier; Based on the book by Kim Edwards | Lifetime |

#### Animation

| Title | Series | Writers | Network |
| "Apocalypse Cow" | The Simpsons | Jeff Westbrook | Fox |
| "The Debarted" | The Simpsons | Joel H. Cohen | FOX |
| "E Pluribus Wiggum" | The Simpsons | Michael Price | FOX |
| "Homer and Lisa Exchange Cross Words" | The Simpsons | Tim Long | FOX |
| "Life: A Loser's Manual" | King of the Hill | Dan McGrath | FOX |
| "Strangeness on a Train" | King of the Hill | Jim Dauterive | FOX |

#### Comedy/Variety (Including Talk) Series

| Title | Writers | Network |
| Late Night with Conan O'Brien | Writers Mike Sweeney, Chris Albers, Jose Arroyo, Dan Cronin, Kevin Dorff, Daniel J. Goor, Michael Gordon, Berkley Johnson, Brian Kiley, Michael Koman, Brian McCann, Guy Nicolucci, Conan O'Brien, Matt O'Brien, Robert Smigel, Brian Stack, and Andrew Weinberg | NBC |
| Late Show with David Letterman | Head Writers Eric Stangel, Justin Stangel, Writers Michael Barrie, Jim Mulholland, Steve Young, Tom Ruprecht, Lee Ellenberg, Matt Roberts, Jeremy Weiner, Joe Grossman, Bill Scheft, Bob Borden, Frank Sebastiano, and David Letterman | CBS |
| Real Time with Bill Maher | Written by Scott Carter, Adam Felber, Matt Gunn, Brian Jacobsmeyer, Jay Jaroch, Chris Kelly, Bill Maher, Billy Martin, and Danny Vermont | HBO |
| Saturday Night Live | Head Writers Seth Meyers, Paula Pell, Andrew Steele, Writers Doug Abeles, James Anderson, Alex Baze, James Downey, Charlie Grandy, Steve Higgins, Colin Jost, Erik Kenward, Rob Klein, John Lutz, Lorne Michaels, John Mulaney, Simon Rich, Marika Sawyer, Akiva Schaffer, Robert Smigel, John Solomon, Emily Spivey, Kent Sublette, Jorma Taccone, Bryan Tucker, Additional Sketches by Robert Carlock | NBC |
| The Colbert Report | Head Writers Allison Silverman, Tom Purcell, and Rich Dahm, Writers Bryan Adams, Michael Brumm, Stephen Colbert, Rob Dubbin, Glenn Eichler, Peter Grosz, Peter Gwinn, Barry Julien, Laura Krafft, Jay Katsir, Frank Lesser, and Meredith Scardino | Comedy Central |
| The Daily Show with Jon Stewart | Head Writer Steve Bodow, Writers Rory Albanese, Rachel Axler, Kevin Bleyer, Rich Blomquist, Tim Carvell, Wyatt Cenac, J.R. Havlan, DJ Javerbaum, Rob Kutner, Josh Lieb, Sam Means, John Oliver, Jason Ross and Jon Stewart | Comedy Central |

#### Comedy/Variety – Music, Awards, Tributes – Specials

| Title | Writers | Network |
| 2008 Film Independent Spirit Awards | Written by Billy Kimball, Aaron Lee, Jennifer Celotta, and Rainn Wilson | IFC/AMC |
| Jimmy Kimmel's Big Night of Stars | Written by Jimmy Kimmel, Gary Greenberg, Molly McNearney, Bryan Paulk, Ned Rice, Jon Bines, Will Burke, Rick Rosner, Jake Lentz, Sal Iacono, and Tony Barbieri | ABC |

#### Daytime Serials

| Title | Writers | Network |
| As the World Turns | Written by Jean Passanante, Leah Laiman, Courtney Simon, Lisa Connor, David A. Levinson, Peter Brash, Richard Culliton, Susan Dansby, Cheryl Davis, and Leslie Nipkow | CBS Daytime |
| One Life to Live | Written by Ron Carlivati, Carolyn Culliton, Elizabeth Page, Aida Croal, Shelly Altman, Janet Iacobuzio, Chris Van Etten, Anna Theresa Cascio | ABC Daytime |

#### Children's
##### Episodic & Specials

| Title | Series | Writers | Network |
| "Elmo's Christmas Countdown" | Sesame Workshop | Written by Joey Mazzarino | ABC |
| "Spencer's 18th Birthday" | South of Nowhere | Written by Arika Lisanne Mittman | The N |
| "The Un-Party" | Imagination Movers | Written by Scott C. Gray & Rick Gitelson | Disney Channel |

##### Long Form or Special

| Title | Series | Writers | Network |
| "Polar Bears" | The Naked Brothers Band | Written by Polly Draper | Nickelodeon |

#### Documentary
##### Current events

| Title | Series | Writers | Network |
| "Bush's War: Part One" | Frontline | Written by Michael Kirk | PBS |
| Depression: Out of the Shadows | Depression: Out of the Shadows | Written by Larkin McPhee | PBS |
| "Judgment Day: Intelligent Design on Trial" | NOVA | Written by Joseph McMaster | PBS |
| "Rules of Engagement" | Frontline | Written by Arun Rath | PBS |
| "The Medicated Child" | Frontline | Written by Marcela Gaviria | PBS |

##### Other than current events

| Title | Series | Writers | Network |
| Andrew Jackson: Good, Evil, and the Presidency | Andrew Jackson: Good, Evil, and the Presidency | Written by Carl Byker | PBS |
| "Kit Carson" | American Experience | Written by Michelle Ferrari | PBS |
| "Secrets of the Parthenon" | NOVA | Written by Gary Glassman | PBS |
| Episode Two: "The Best of Times, The Worst of Times (1924-1945)," | The Jewish Americans | Written by David Grubin | PBS |
| The Truth about Cancer | The Truth about Cancer | Written by Linda Garmon | PBS |

#### News
##### Regularly scheduled, bulletin, or breaking report

| Title | Series | Writers | Network |
| ABC Weekend News | ABC Weekend News | Joel Siegel, Karen Mooney, and David Muir | ABC |
| "Up to the Minute" | CBS News | Matt Nelko | CBS |

##### Analysis, feature, or commentary

| Title | Series | Writers | Network |
| "Exonerated" | 60 Minutes | Tom Anderson and Jenny Dubin | CBS |
| "Show Me the Love: Amazing Pen Pal Connection" | Good Morning America | Raquel Hecker | ABC |
| "The Warren Buffett Challenge: Are the Rich Taxed Enough?" | Good Morning America | Lisa Ferri | ABC |
| "Yankee Stadium and the New Gilded Age" | Bill Moyers Journal | Bill Moyers & Michael Winship | PBS |

### Video games
#### Videogame Writing

* Star Wars: The Force Unleashed - Haden Blackman, Shawn Pitman, John Stafford and Cameron Suey
* Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 - Writer Haris Orkin, story producer Mical Pedriana
* Dangerous High School Girls in Trouble! - Writing Keith Nemitz, additional writing Adrianne Ambrose
* Fallout 3 - Lead Writer Emil Pagliarulo, quest writing Erik J. Caponi, Brian Chapin, Jon Paul Duvall, Kurt Kuhlmann, Alan Nanes, Bruce Nesmith and Fred Zeleny, additional quest writing Nate Ellis, William Killeen, Mark Nelson and Justin McSweeney
* Tomb Raider: Underworld - Story Eric Lindstrom and Toby Gard, screenplay Eric Lindstrom

## Paul Selwin Civil Rights Award

* Dustin Lance Black, "to the member whose script best embodies the spirit of constitutional and civil rights and liberties."