WRITERS GUILDS ANNOUNCE CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS FOR SEVENTH ANNUAL WGA DOCUMENTARY SCREENPLAY AWARD

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASENew York and Los Angeles – The Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) and Writers Guild of America, West (WGAW) have launched a collective call for submissions for the seventh annual WGA Documentary Screenplay Award, honoring outstanding achievement in documentary feature writing.Submissions for the WGA’s top doc writing award may be received from September 9 through November 23, 2010. Documentary screen nominees are set to be announced on January 4, 2011, along with Original and Adapted Screenplay nominees. The WGA Documentary Screenplay Award will be presented at the 2011 Writers Guild Awards slated for Saturday, February 5, 2011 at simultaneous ceremonies in New York and Los Angeles.First presented in 2005 to spotlight the writer’s essential role in the collaborative creative process of documentary filmmaking, 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, most recently, Mark Monroe for The Cove in 2010.

Established to recognize that most non-fiction feature films are written, the WGA Documentary Screenplay Award continues to spotlight the Guilds’ ongoing outreach efforts to help more people in the diverse community of nonfiction writers receive the benefits of a Writers Guild contract.Qualifications for 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 WGAE Nonfiction Writers Caucus or the WGAW Nonfiction Writers Caucus to be considered.•    The deadline for submissions is 8:00 p.m. (EST) and 5:00 p.m. (PST) on Tuesday, November 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 for WGA awards consideration. •    Foreign-language films are eligible, provided they feature English-language subtitles.Further inquiries about the WGA Documentary Screenplay Award may be directed to Rebecca Olerich, WGAE Director of Programs and Events, at (212) 767-7835, email: or to Melissa Gage in the WGAW Awards office at (323) 782-4571; email: .The 2011 Writers Guild Awards will be held on Saturday, February 5, 2011, simultaneously in New York City and at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles. For more information about the 2011 Writers Guild Awards submission process, guidelines, and official entry forms, please visit www.wgaeast.org or www.wgae.org.For media press inquiries about the 2011 Writers Guild Awards New York show, please contact Sherry Goldman in the WGAE Press Office at (718) 224-4133 or email: sherry@goldmanpr.net; or visit online at: www.wgaeast.org.For media inquiries about the 2011 Writers Guild Awards Los Angeles show, please contact Gregg Mitchell in the WGAW Communications Department at: (323) 782-4574, email: gmitchell@wga.org, or visit online at: www.wga.org.The Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) and 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.