January 12, 2010 
source: wga.org
The Writers Guild of America have announced their nominations for Best Original Screenplay and Best Adapted Screenplay. The usual suspects are here, along with some glaring omissions and a couple of surprises too. Check out the nominees below!
Best Original Screenplay
(500) Days of Summer – Scott Nuestadter and Michael H. Weber
Avatar – James Cameron
The Hangover – Jon Lucas and Scott Moore
The Hurt Locker – Mark Boal
A Serious Man – Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
Best Adapted Screenplay
Crazy Heart – Scott Cooper
Julie and Julia – Nora Ephron
Precious – Geoffrey Fletcher
Star Trek – Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman
Up in the Air – Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner
The big omissions are An Education, District 9, Inglourious Basterds, In the Loop and A Single Man, which have each been excluded because either the screenwriter is not a WGA member, the screenwriter is not covered by the WGA’s Minimum Basic Agreement to sidestep membership, or the film has been made by a non-signatory company. Pixar’s Up and Fantastic Mr. Fox are ineligible because they are animated.
With all these exceptions, you are starting to see why The Hangover and Avatar scored nominations.
Tom O’Neill at the LA Times reminds us that 8 of the last 13 WGA Best Original Screenplay winners have gone on to take the Oscar. Meanwhile, 9 of the last 13 WGA Best Adapted Screenplay winners went on to Oscar glory.
Some of the nominated screenplays have been released by the studio for your perusal. If you are so inclined, check them out and decide on a worthy victor.
Discuss: Your favourite screenplay of 2010? Inglourious Basterds would be mine, but with that excluded from the WGA’s, I’d be happy to see (500) Days of Summer win Best Original. My vote for Adapted Screenplay belongs to Up in the Air.
Quickflix 
Did they change the rules yesterday? As recently as last year, Wall-e was nominated for Best Original Screenplay and Ratatouille in the same category in 2008. So why is UP ineligible for being an animated feature? As if animation needs no script or story.
Sorry Patrick, neither WALL-E or RATATOUILLE were nominated by the WGA. Perhaps you are thinking of the Oscars, where they indeed WERE nominated.Besides, its still ridiculous that the WGA would exclude animations. UP AND FANTASTIC MR. FOX had two of the best screenplays of the year!