2017 WGA Documentary Screenplay Award – Call For Submissions

New York and Los Angeles (August 15, 2016) – The Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) and the Writers Guild of America, West (WGAW) have announced the submission period is now open for the 2017 WGA Documentary Screenplay Award, honoring outstanding achievement in documentary feature writing. Submissions will be accepted from August 15 through November 18, 2016.

Qualifications for WGA Documentary Screenplay Award eligibility include:

• Theatrical documentaries must have been written under the WGA’s Minimum Basic Agreement (MBA) or under a bona fide collective bargaining agreement of the Writers Guild of Canada, Writers’ Guild of Great Britain, Writers Guild of Ireland, Writers’ Guild of South Africa, New Zealand Writers Guild, Film Writers’ Association (India), La Guilde Francaise des Scénaristes (France), Scriptwriters Guild of Israel, the Société des Auteurs de Radio, Télévision et Cinéma (Québec) or Verband Deutscher Drehbuchautoren (VDD/Germany) (collectively, “affiliate Guilds”).
• Documentaries must contain an on-screen writing credit and have been exhibited theatrically in Los Angeles or New York for at least one week during 2016.
• The deadline for submissions is 5:30 p.m. (PST) Friday, November 18, 2016.
• Scripts must be feature length (more than 40 minutes).
• Documentaries that received their first public exhibition via broadcast or cable television are not eligible for WGA awards consideration.
• Foreign-language films are eligible, provided they feature English-language subtitles.

WGA Documentary Screenplay nominees, as well as Original and Adapted Screenplay nominees, will be announced on Wednesday, January 4, 2017.

Further inquiries regarding the WGA Documentary Screenplay Award may be directed to Jennifer Burt in the WGAW Awards Office at (323) 782-4569, email: jburt@wga.org, or to Dana Weissman in the WGAE Awards Office at (212) 767-7835, email: dweissman@wgaeast.org.

The Writers Guild Awards honor outstanding writing in film, television, new media, videogames, news, radio, promotional, and graphic animation categories. The awards will be presented at concurrent ceremonies on Sunday, February 19, 2017, in New York City at the Edison Ballroom and in Los Angeles at the Beverly Hilton. For more information about the 2017 Writers Guild Awards, please visit www.wgaeast.org or www.wga.org.

For media inquiries about the 2017 Writers Guild Awards New York City show, please contact Jason Gordon in the WGAE Communications Department at (212) 767-7809 or email: jgordon@wgaeast.org.

For media inquiries about the 2017 Writers Guild Awards Los Angeles show, please contact Gregg Mitchell in the WGAW Communications Department at: (323) 782-4651 or email: gmitchell@wga.org.

The Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) and the Writers Guild of America, West (WGAW)  are labor unions representing writers in motion pictures, television, cable, digital media, and broadcast news. The Guilds negotiate and administer contracts that protect the creative and economic rights of their members; conduct programs, seminars, and events on issues of interest to writers; and present writers’ views to various bodies of government. For more information on the Writers Guild of America, East, visit www.wgaeast.org. For more information on the Writers Guild of America, West, visit www.wga.org.

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