WGA Calling for Submissions for Documentary Screenplay Award (HWT)

By Wiretap Staff

The Writers Guild of America West and East are calling for submissions for the WGA Documentary Screenplay Award.

The guilds said submissions can be received from Sept. 9 through Nov. 23, 2010.

Nominees for documentary screen as well as original and adapted screenplay are scheduled to be announced Jan. 4, 2011.

The 2011 Writers Guild Awards are scheduled to be handed out Saturday, Feb. 5, 2011, at simultaneous ceremonies in Los Angeles and New York.

Qualifications for the WGA Documentary Screenplay Award eligibility include:

-- Documentaries submitted for entry must contain an on-screen writing credit and have been exhibited theatrically in Los Angeles or New York for at least one week during 2010.

-- Credited writers of eligible documentaries are required to join either the WGAW Nonfiction Writers Caucus or the WGAE Nonfiction Writers Caucus to be considered.

-- Deadline for submissions is 5:00 p.m. (PST) on Tuesday, Nov. 23, 2010.

-- Scripts need not be written under WGA jurisdiction.

-- Scripts must be feature length (over 40 minutes).

Documentaries that received their first public exhibition via broadcast or cable television are not eligible.

Foreign-language films are eligible, provided they feature English-language subtitles.

Inquiries should be directed to Melissa Gage in the WGAW Awards office at (323) 782-4571; email: [email protected] or to Rebecca Olerich, WGAE Director of Programs and Events, at (212) 767-7835, email: [email protected].

First presented in 2005, previous WGA Documentary Screenplay Award winners include writer-directors Morgan Spurlock ("Super Size Me" in 2005), two-time winner Alex Gibney ("Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room" in 2006, "Taxi to the Dark Side" in 2008), Amy Berg ("Deliver Us From Evil" in 2007), and Mark Monroe for "The Cove" in 2010.