There are about 8,000 professional award shows every year, ranging in importance from Grammy to Oscar, but there’s only one that truly matters: The Writers Guild Awards. Obviously, writers are some of the most important people in the entire world, and that’s especially true for the entertainment industry. Without writers, we’d all just be filthy animals, grunting at each other in the mud. We would have no drama to be shocked by, no comedy to laugh at, and no stories to pass down to our children. Writers are literally modern-day gods, with the awe-inspiring ability to create worlds and—just as easily—destroy them.
Writers also happen to be profoundly intelligent, which is why so many of the TV shows and movies that the Writers Guild Of America chose to honor during its annual award ceremony are absolutely the most-deserving. The Grand Budapest Hotel took home Best Original Screenplay, The Imitation Game took Best Adapted Screenplay, and The Internet’s Own Boy: The Story Of Aaron Swartz won Best Documentary Screenplay, all of which were probably the right pick. Even if they weren’t, writers said they are, and that makes it true.
The rest of the winners are equally impossible to argue with: True Detective won Best Drama Series and Best New Series, Louie won for Best Comedy Series and Louis C.K. himself won the Episodic Comedy award for “So Did The Fat Lady,” and The Simpsons’ “Brick Like Me” episode won the Animation award. Even the Outstanding Achievement In Video Game Writing award (which usually goes to an Assassin’s Creed game by default, since not too many game writers are guild members) went to a worthy nominee: The Last Of Us: Left Behind. Basically, the writers got it right, as they always do.
The full list of winners is below:
Film Winners
Original Screenplay: The Grand Budapest Hotel, Screenplay by Wes Anderson; Story by Wes Anderson & Hugo Guinness; Fox Searchlight
Adapted Screenplay: The Imitation Game, Written by Graham Moore; Based on the book Alan Turing: The Enigma by Andrew Hodges; The Weinstein Company
Documentary Screenplay: The Internet’s Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz, Written by Brian Knappenberger; FilmBuff
Television And New Media Winners
Drama Series: True Detective, Written by Nic Pizzolatto; HBO
Comedy Series: Louie, Written by Pamela Adlon, Louis C.K.; FX
New Series: True Detective, Written by Nic Pizzolatto; HBO
Episodic Drama: “The Last Call” (The Good Wife), Written by Robert King & Michelle King; CBS
Episodic Comedy: “So Did the Fat Lady” (Louie), Written by Louis C.K.; FX
Long Form Original: Deliverance Creek, Written by Melissa Carter; Lifetime
Long Form Adapted: Olive Kitteridge, Teleplay by Jane Anderson, Based on the novel by Elizabeth Strout; HBO
Short Form New Media—Original: “Episode 113: Rachel” (High Maintenance), Written by Katja Blichfeld & Ben Sinclair
Animation: “Brick Like Me” (The Simpsons), Written by Brian Kelley; Fox
Comedy/Variety (Including Talk)—Series: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, Writers: Kevin Avery, Tim Carvell, Dan Gurewitch, Geoff Haggerty, Jeff Maurer, John Oliver, Scott Sherman, Will Tracy, Jill Twiss, Juli Weiner; HBO
Comedy/Variety—Music, Awards, Tributes—Specials: 71st Annual Golden Globe Awards, Written by Barry Adelman; Special Material by Alex Baze, Dave Boone, Robert Carlock, Tina Fey, Jon Macks, Sam Means, Seth Meyers, Amy Poehler, Mike Shoemaker; NBC
Quiz And Audience Participation: Hollywood Game Night, Head Writer: Grant Taylor; Writers: Alex Chauvin, Ann Slichter; NBC
Daytime Drama: General Hospital, Written by Ron Carlivati, Anna Theresa Cascio, Suzanne Flynn, Kate Hall, Elizabeth Korte, Daniel James O’Connor, Elizabeth Page, Katherine Schock, Scott Sickles, Chris Van Etten; ABC
Children’s Script—Episodic And Specials: “Haunted Heartthrob” (Haunted Hathaways), Written by Bob Smiley; Nickelodeon
Documentary Script—Current Events: “United States of Secrets: The Program (Part One)” (Frontline); PBS; Written by Michael Kirk & Mike Wiser; PBS
Documentary Script—Other Than Current Events: “League of Denial: The NFL’s Concussion Crisis” (Frontline), Written by Michael Kirk & Mike Wiser; PBS
TV News Script—Regularly Scheduled, Bulletin, Or Breaking Report: “Nelson Mandela: A Man Who Changed the World” (World News with Diane Sawyer), Written by Dave Bloch, Lisa Ferri, Diane Sawyer; ABC News
TV News Script—Analysis, Feature, Or Commentary: “Nowhere to Go” (60 Minutes), Written by Oriana Zill de Granados, Scott Pelley, Michael Rey; CBS
Radio Winners
Radio Documentary: “Three Shots Rang Out: The JFK Assassination 50 Years Later,” Written by Darren Reynolds; ABC News Radio
Radio News Script—Regularly Scheduled, Bulletin, Or Breaking Report: “World News This Week,” Written by Andrew Evans; ABC News Radio
Radio News Script—Analysis Feature, Or Commentary: “Civil Rights at 50,” Written by Jane Tillman Irving; WCBS Radio
Promotional Writing Winner
On-Air Promotion (Television, New Media, Or Radio): “How I Met Your Mother,” Written by Dan Greenberger; CBS
Video Game Winner
Outstanding Achievement In Video Game Writing: The Last of Us: Left Behind, Written by Neil Druckmann; Sony Computer Entertainment