The BAFTAS weren't the only little hunks of wood-mounted kudos being handed out to movie making types over the weekend. It was also the night of nights for the Writers Guild of America. There are two main categories, and the winners this year were Little Miss Sunshine, for which Michael Arndt scooped up Best Original Screenplay, while William Monahan picked up Best Adapted Screenplay** **for The Departed.
Each winner can feel justifiably proud, given the stiff competition in each category. The other nominees for Original Screenplay were Babel, United 93,** The Queen** (all of which also missed out on the BAFTA in the same category to LMS), and Stranger Than Fiction. Monahan's work bested the adaptations for The Devil Wears Prada, Borat, Little Children, and Thank You For Smoking. Both Arndt and Monahan are now favourites to win the Oscar in their categories.
The recently created (is four years old recent? We think so) documentary award went to Amy Berg for her weighty examination of a priest and paedophile, Deliver Us From Evil, while the TV categories were won by the final series of The Sopranos (Best Drama Series), The Office (Best Comedy Series), and Ugly Betty (Best New Series). The ever reliable Steve Carell provided the highlight of the evening when he and eleven other writers picked up a second award for The Office (Top Comedy Episode, 'Casino Night') by insisting "The other wiriters did not help me, so I celebrate me."