The Writers Guild of America announced the winners of the 57th Annual Writers Guild Awards for outstanding achievement in writing for the screen, television, and radio in ceremonies at The Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles and the Pierre Hotel in New York on Saturday, February 19, 2005.
Subversive screenplay inverter/deconstructionist Charlie Kaufman (Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Adaptation, Human Nature, Being John Malkovich) struck again with another of his dream-logic masterstrokes, this one perhaps reaching the farthest down into the human soul, by way of the highways and byways of an erasable mind. Extraordinary performances by Jim Carrey and especially Kate Winslet didn’t hurt either.
I’m not sure if there is an absolute limit on the path toward narrative, temporal and emotional disorganization from which the writer can still tie it all back together by the end of the film, but Kaufman appears determined to find out.
SCREEN WINNERS
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Screenplay by Charlie Kaufman, Story by Charlie Kaufman & Michel Gondry & Pierre Bismuth, Focus Features
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Sideways, Screenplay by Alexander Payne & Jim Taylor, Based on the novel by Rex Pickett, Fox Searchlight Pictures
TELEVISION WINNERS
EPISODIC DRAMA
THE SUPREMES (The West Wing), Written by Debora Cahn; NBC
EPISODIC COMEDY
PIER PRESSURE (Arrested Development), Written by Jim Vallely & Mitchell Hurwitz; Fox
IDA’S BOYFRIEND (Malcolm in the Middle), Written by Neil Thompson; FOX
LONG FORM – ORIGINAL
SOMETHING THE LORD MADE, Written by Peter Silverman and Robert Caswell; HBO
LONG FORM – ADAPTED
ANGELS IN AMERICA, Teleplay by Tony Kushner, Based on the play by Tony Kushner; HBO
ANIMATION
CATCH ‘EM IF YOU CAN (The Simpsons), Written by Ian Maxtone-Graham; FOX
COMEDY/VARIETY – MUSIC, AWARDS, TRIBUTES – SPECIALS
THE KENNEDY CENTER HONORS, Written by George Stevens, Jr. and Sara Lukinson; CBS
COMEDY/VARIETY – (including talk) SERIES
LATE NIGHT WITH CONAN O’BRIEN, Written by Mike Sweeney, Chris Albers, Jose Arroyo, Andy Blitz, Kevin Dorff, Dan Goor, Michael Gordon, Brian Kiley, Michael Koman,Demetri Martin, Brian McCann, Guy Nicolucci, Conan O’Brien, Allison Silverman, Robert Smigel, Brian Stack, Andrew Weinberg; NBC
DAYTIME SERIALS
GUIDING LIGHT, Written by David Kreizman, Tita Bell, Joyce Brotman, Christopher Dunn, Lloyd Gold, Kimberly Hamilton, Jill Lorie Hurst, Penelope Koechl, Eleanor Labine, Royal Miller, Casandra Morgan, Danielle Paige, David Smilow, Gillian Spencer, Brett Staneart, Donna Swajeski, Ellen Weston; CBS
CHILDREN’S SCRIPT
A SEPARATE PEACE, Teleplay by Wendy Kesselman, Based on the Novel by John Knowles; Showtime
DOCUMENTARY – CURRENT EVENTS
FROM CHINA WITH LOVE (Frontline), Written by Michael J. Kirk; PBS
DOCUMENTARY – OTHER THAN CURRENT EVENTS
THE FIGHT (American Experience), Written by Barak Goodman; PBS
NEWS – REGULARLY SCHEDULED, BULLETIN OR BREAKING REPORT
THE REAGAN FUNERAL (ABC World News Tonight with Peter Jennings), Written by Steve Alperin; ABC
NEWS – ANALYSIS, FEATURE, OR COMMENTARY
CHANGE OF HEART (60 Minutes II), Written by Rebecca Peterson & Scott Pelley; CBS