The Writers Guild West Awards

What kind of an awards event would have a singing seven-foot clown, an award winner running up without her shoes and a presenter coming out in a bathrobe?

The Writers Guild West Awards of course.

Taking place last Sunday at the lovely Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, it was a night that held some interesting surprises. It was also an evening that brimmed with wit (of course, they’re writers!) and even a trivia game beforehand.

Chelsea Peretti (“Brooklyn Nine-Nine”) was the main presenter; she tried to do some crowd interaction (“How many people went to Harvard?”) but perhaps people were shy that night because there weren’t that many hands.

Peretti instantly noted that Bradley Cooper was in the audience and the camera cut to him laughing. He was not the only well-known celebrity – Jami-Lynn Sigler, Sarah Silverman, Jane Lynch, Alison Brie, John Krasinski, Emily Blunt also were there.

Award winners were warned ahead of time that if they went over the allotted minutes in speaking, the orchestra would play “Another One Bites the Dust.” Immediately a violinist stood up and played a few minutes of the tune in perfect harmony.

Presenter Tony Hale (“Arrested Development”) made a few jokes as to what writers were really thinking when actors gave them feedback, as well as what the actors thought in their responses (“I’m fine with those screenwriting changes, I didn’t read the original screenplay anyway”).

A fun moment came when Bill Hader (SNL, “Barry”) came onstage. He spotted Ron Howard sitting in the front and exclaimed, “Parenthood was an (expletive) awesome movie!!” Howard burst out laughing.

The performer clown called Puddles Pity Party did a parody/medley of the songs “Shallow” and “Bohemian Rhapsody” about all the season’s nominated films.

Then one of the first surprises of the night; the award for the best Documentary screenplay award went to “Bathtubs Over Broadway.” A bigger surprise was the best Original Screenplay award going to Bo Burnham’s “Eight Grade.”

“To the other nominees in the category, have fun at the Oscars, losers!” Burnham joked. “No, I prepared nothing. This all belongs to Elsie Fisher who performed the script. No one would care about the script if she hadn’t done it. I joined the guild when I was 18 and my mother did the paperwork, so thank you for that – and my father who did nothing. I believe in love.”

Ron Howard gave the WGA Laurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement to Babaloo Mandel and Lowell Ganz (“Splash,” “Parenthood,” “City Slickers”). They both spoke of how grateful they were for their mentors and for each other. They got a big break working for Garry Marshall (they were fired, then later rehired to work on “The Odd Couple”).

Then there came another huge break for the talented two – working on the hit film “Splash.”

Quipped Mandel, “When the mermaid child appeared in ‘Splash,’ the audience was sold. So we decided we’d put a mermaid child in all our films.”

The last big surprise was Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty’s “Can You Ever Forgive Me?” winning for Adapted Screenplay.

As she accepted the award, Holofcener spoke about Lee Israel, the subject of the film played by Melissa McCarthy. “She’d probably be here sitting in this room judging all of us. She thought she was the smartest person in the room, and she probably was. I wish she was here.”

One thing came from this event; it’s likely now that the Oscar categories for screenplays are wide open and anything can happen.

It will be an interesting time at the Oscars for sure, even though that event won’t have Peretti coming out toward the end of the night in a white bathrobe and slippers. That was unique.

Here is a complete list of WGA winners:

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

• “Eighth Grade,” Written by Bo Burnham; A24

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

• “Can You Ever Forgive Me?,” Screenplay by Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty, Based on the book by Lee Israel; Fox Searchlight

DOCUMENTARY SCREENPLAY

• “Bathtubs Over Broadway,” Written by Ozzy Inguanzo & Dava Whisenant; Focus Features

VIDEOGAME WRITING

• “God of War,” Written by Matt Sophos, Richard Zangrande Gaubert, Cory Barlog; Story and Narrative Design Lead Matt Sophos; Story and Narrative Design Richard Zangrande Gaubert; Narrative Design Orion Walker, Adam Dolin; Sony Interactive Entertainment

TELEVISION, NEW MEDIA AND NEWS NOMINEES

DRAMA SERIES

• “The Americans,” Written by Peter Ackerman, Hilary Bettis, Joshua Brand, Joel Fields, Sarah Nolen, Stephen Schiff, Justin Weinberger, Joe Weisberg, Tracey Scott Wilson; FX Networks

COMEDY SERIES

• “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” Written by Kate Fodor, Noah Gardenswartz, Jen Kirkman, Sheila Lawrence, Daniel Palladino, Amy Sherman Palladino; Prime Video

NEW SERIES

• “Barry,” Written by Alec Berg, Duffy Boudreau, Bill Hader, Emily Heller, Liz Sarnoff, Ben Smith, Sarah Solemani; HBO

LONG FORM ORIGINAL

• “Castle Rock,” Writers: Marc Bernardin, Scott Brown, Lila Byock, Mark Lafferty, Sam Shaw, Dustin Thomason, Gina Welch, Vinnie Wilhelm; Hulu

LONG FORM ADAPTED

• “The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story,” Writers: Maggie Cohn, Tom Rob Smith, Based on the book Vulgar Favors by Maureen Orth; FX Networks

SHORT FORM NEW MEDIA ORIGINAL

• “Class of Lies,” Written by Tessa Leigh Williams; Snapchat

SHORT FORM NEW MEDIA ADAPTED

• “The Walking Dead: Red Machete,” Written by Nick Bernardone; AMC.com

ANIMATION

• “Bart’s Not Dead,” (“The Simpsons”), Written by Stephanie Gillis; Fox

EPISODIC DRAMA

• “Paean To The People” (“Homeland”), Written by Alex Gansa; Showtime

EPISODIC COMEDY

• “Chapter One: Make Your Mark” (“Barry”), Written by Alec Berg & Bill Hader; HBO

COMEDY/VARIETY TALK SERIES

• “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver,” Writers: Tim Carvell, Raquel D’Apice, Josh Gondelman, Dan Gurewitch, Jeff Maurer, Daniel O’Brien, John Oliver, Brian Parise, Owen Parsons, Ben Silva, Will Tracy, Jill Twiss, Seena Vali, Juli Weiner; HBO

COMEDY/VARIETY SKETCH SERIES

• “Nathan For You,” Writers: Leo Allen, Nathan Fielder, Carrie Kemper, Michael Koman, Adam Locke-Norton, Eric Notarnicola; Comedy Central

COMEDY/VARIETY SPECIALS

• “The Fake News with Ted Nelms,” Written by John Aboud, Andrew Blitz, Michael Colton, Ed Helms, Elliott Kalan, Joseph Randazzo, Sara Schaefer; Comedy Central

QUIZ AND AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION

• “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire,” Head Writer: Stephen A. Melcher, Jr.; Writers: Kyle Beakley, Tom Cohen, Patricia A. Cotter, Ryan Hopak, Gary Lucy, James Rowley, Ann Slichter, Dylan Snowden; Disney/ABC Syndication

DAYTIME DRAMA

• “General Hospital,” Head Writers: Shelly Altman, Christopher Van Etten; Writers: Barbara Bloom, Anna Theresa Cascio, Suzanne Flynn, Charlotte Gibson, Lucky Gold, Kate Hall, Elizabeth Korte, Daniel James O’Connor, Donny Sheldon, Scott Sickles; ABC

CHILDREN’S EPISODIC AND SPECIALS

• “The Ersatz Elevator: Part One” (“A Series of Unfortunate Events”), Teleplay by Daniel Handler; Netflix

CHILDREN’S LONG FORM

• No nominees.

DOCUMENTARY SCRIPT – CURRENT EVENTS

• “Trump’s Takeover” (“Frontline”), Written by Michael Kirk & Mike Wiser; PBS

DOCUMENTARY SCRIPT – OTHER THAN CURRENT EVENTS

• “The Eugenics Crusade” (“American Experience”), Written by Michelle Ferrari; PBS

NEWS SCRIPT – REGULARLY SCHEDULED, BULLETIN, OR BREAKING REPORT

• “Catastrophe” (“60 Minutes”), Written by Scott Pelley, Katie Kerbstat, Nicole Young; CBS News

NEWS SCRIPT – ANALYSIS, FEATURE, OR COMMENTARY

• “Wounds of War” (“60 Minutes”), Written by Scott Pelley, Katie Kerbstat, Nicole Young; CBS News

DIGITAL NEWS

• “Inside The Culture Of Sexism At Riot Games,” Written by Cecilia D’Anastasio; Kotaku.com

RADIO/AUDIO NOMINEES

RADIO/AUDIO DOCUMENTARY

• “RFK: 50 Years After Shots Rang Out at The Ambassador Hotel,” Written by Andrew Evans; ABC News Radio

RADIO/AUDIO NEWS SCRIPT – REGULARLY SCHEDULED, BULLETIN, OR BREAKING REPORT

• “Remembering The Good, The Bad and the Brilliant,” Written by Gail Lee; CBS News Radio

RADIO/AUDIO NEWS SCRIPT – ANALYSIS, FEATURE, OR COMMENTARY

• “John McCain: A Life of Service,” Written by Gail Lee; CBS News Radio

PROMOTIONAL WRITING NOMINEES

ON-AIR PROMOTION (RADIO OR TELEVISION)

• “Tribute to Star Trek for the 2019 Creative Arts Emmys,” Written by Sean Brogan; CBS

TELEVISION GRAPHIC ART AND ANIMATION

• No nominees.