2024 Writers Guild Awards Honor ‘The Holdovers,’ ‘American Fiction,’ and ‘Succession’ Among Winners

The 76th Writers Guild of America Awards was held yesterday, April 14, 2024. The purpose of the event was to honor the best writing in film, television, and radio of 2023. It was quite unusual for this year’s event as the WGA Awards ceremonies were held more than a month after the 2024 Oscars. Nevertheless, the ceremony finally happened with the triumphs of the best. Among the winners were The Last Us, Beef, Poker Face, The Simpsons, and Last Week Tonight, which took home the trophies presented on Sunday night at simultaneous ceremonies in New York and Los Angeles. The L.A. ceremony was hosted by Niecy Nash-Betts, while the N.Y. edition was hosted by Josh Gondelman.

Who are the winners and nominees of Writers Guild Awards?

Alexander Payne’s The Holdovers won the award for best original screenplay. While accepting his award in L.A., Holdovers writer David Hemingson thanked “a brilliant cast and a brilliant director” for bringing the story to life and accepted “in memory of my mother who raised me, my uncle who saved me, and my father, who gave me my love of the written word and taught me the value of integrity.”

While Holdovers took home the trophy, the winner of the Best Original Screenplay Oscar, Anatomy of a Fall, was deemed ineligible for the WGA Awards. That’s because, unlike other guilds, the WGA deems ineligible any scripts for movies not produced under its Minimum Basic Agreement or a bona fide collective bargaining agreement with various affiliated countries. Additionally, Cord Jefferson’s American Fiction won the Best Adapted Screenplay.

In the TV categories, The Bear won best comedy series, while Succession was named best drama series. The Last of Us won the award for best writing for a new series, and Beef won Best Limited Series writing. All grabbed trophies from the Emmys, SAG Awards, Golden Globes, and Critics Choice in recent months.

Succession also won the prize for Episodic Drama for the “Living+” episode after Peacock’s Poker Face took the Episodic Comedy trophy. HBO’s The Last of Us won the WGA Award for New Series, and Fox’s The Simpsons again won the Animation prize, this time for the episode “Carl Carlson Rides Again.”

In a previously unannounced tribute, The WGA East’s Richard B. Jablow Award was presented to the members and leadership of IATSE, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, SAG-AFTRA, and American Federation of Musicians, for “demonstrating unwavering support and sacrifice during the WGA’s 148-day strike.” Jablow, for whom the award is named, helped found the WGAE, wrote its constitution and served as its first counsel.

Here are the winners at the 2024 Writers Guild Awards:

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

• The Holdovers, Written by David Hemingson; Focus Features

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

• American Fiction, Screenplay by Cord Jefferson, Based upon the novel Erasure by Percival Everett; Amazon MGM Studios

DOCUMENTARY SCREENPLAY

• The Pigeon Tunnel, Written by Errol Morris; Apple Original Films

DRAMA SERIES

• Succession, Written by Will Arbery, Jesse Armstrong, Miriam Battye, Jon Brown, Jamie Carragher, Ted Cohen, Nate Elston, Francesca Gardiner, Callie Hersheway, Lucy Prebble, Georgia Pritchett, Tony Roche, Susan Soon He Stanton, Will Tracy; HBO | Max

COMEDY SERIES

• The Bear, Written by Karen Joseph Adcock, Joanna Calo, Kelly Galuska, Rene Gube, Sofya Levitsky-Weitz, Stacy Osei-Kuffour, Alex Russell, Catherine Schetina, Christopher Storer; FX Networks

LIMITED SERIES

• Beef, Written by Joanna Calo, Bathsheba Doran, Jean Kyoung Frazier, Niko Gutierrez-Kovner, Lee Sung Jin, Alice Ju, Carrie Kemper, Mike Makowsky, Marie Hanhnhon Nguyen, Kevin Rosen, Alex Russell; Netflix

NEW SERIES

• The Last of Us, Written by Neil Druckmann, Halley Gross, Craig Mazin, Bo Shim; HBO | Max

ANIMATION

• “Carl Carlson Rides Again” (The Simpsons), Written by Loni Steele Sosthand; Fox

EPISODIC DRAMA

• “Living+” (Succession), Written by Georgia Pritchett & Will Arbery; HBO | Max

EPISODIC COMEDY

• “Escape From Shit Mountain” (Poker Face), Written by Nora Zuckerman & Lilla Zuckerman; Peacock

COMEDY/VARIETY TALK SERIES

• Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, Senior Writers Daniel O’Brien, Owen Parsons, Charlie Redd, Joanna Rothkopf, Seena Vali Writers Johnathan Appel, Ali Barthwell, Tim Carvell, Liz Hynes, Ryan Ken, Mark Kramer, Sofia Manfredi, John Oliver, Taylor Kay Phillips, Chrissy Shackelford; HBO | Max

COMEDY/VARIETY SPECIALS

• Sarah Silverman: Someone You Love, Written by Sarah Silverman; HBO | Max

COMEDY/VARIETY SKETCH SERIES

• I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson, Writers Tim Robinson, Zach Kanin, John Solomon, Gary Richardson, Reggie Henke, Brendan Jennings, Patti Harrison; Netflix

QUIZ AND AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION

• The Chase, Head Writer David Levinson Wilk Writers Erik Agard, Kyle Beakley, Micki Boden, Megan Broussard, Jonathan Daly, Brian Greene, Robert King, Jason Lundell, Sierra Mannie, Amy Ozols, Bobby Patton, Ellen Teitel, Ari Yolkut; NBC

CHILDREN’S EPISODIC, LONG-FORM AND SPECIALS

• “Romance Dawn” (One Piece), Written by Matt Owens & Steven Maeda; Netflix

DAYTIME DRAMA

• Days of Our Lives, Head Writer Ron Carlivati Creative Consultant Ryan Quan Writers Sonja Alar, Jazmen Darnell Brown, Joanna Cohen, Carolyn Culliton, Richard Culliton, Cheryl Davis, Kirk Doering, Christopher Dunn, Jamey Giddens, David Kreizman, Henry Newman, Dave Ryan, Katherine D. Schock; Peacock

TV & NEW MEDIA MOTION PICTURES

• Quiz Lady, Written by Jen D’Angelo; Hulu

SHORT-FORM NEW MEDIA

• Carpool Karaoke, Written by Casey Stewart and David Young; Apple TV+

NEWS SCRIPT – ANALYSIS, FEATURE, OR COMMENTARY

• “Healing and Hope” (60 Minutes), Written by Scott Pelley, Nicole Young, Kristin Steve; CBS News

NEWS SCRIPT – REGULARLY SCHEDULED, BULLETIN, OR BREAKING REPORT

• “Surprise Attack!” (CBS Weekend News), Written by J. Craig Wilson, Ambrose Rafferty; CBS News

DIGITAL NEWS

• “The Persuaders: A 5-Part Investigation into the Union-Busting Industry,” Written by Dave Jamieson; HuffPost

RADIO/AUDIO DOCUMENTARY

• “The Call” (This American Life), Written by Mary Harris; Slate

RADIO/AUDIO NEWS SCRIPT – REGULARLY SCHEDULED, BULLETIN, OR BREAKING REPORT

• “World News This Week – Week of March 17, 2023,” Written by Joy Piazza; ABC News Radio

RADIO/AUDIO NEWS SCRIPT – ANALYSIS, FEATURE, OR COMMENTARY

• “The Diagnosis Was Fatal. She Couldn’t Get an Abortion” (What Next), Written by Madeline Ducharme and Mary Harris; Slate

ON AIR PROMOTION

• “WCBS AM Promos,” Written by Bill Tynan; WCBS Newsradio 880