The Writers Guild of America has chosen "The Social Network," "Black Swan," "The Fighter" and "The Kids Are All Right" as being among the best scripts of 2010.
And this being the WGA, they've also thrown a few curveballs into the mix, including dark horse candidates "I Love You Phillip Morris" and "Please Give."
In the Original Screenplay category, "Black Swan," "The Fighter," "The Kids Are All Right" and "Please Give" will compete with "Inception."
For Adapted Screenplay, prohibitive favorite "The Social Network" is up against "127 Hours," "I Love You Phillip Morris," "The Town" and "True Grit."
Among the screenplays overlooked by WGA voters are "Rabbit Hole" and "Shutter Island" on the adapted side, and "Get Low" and "Greenberg" among original scripts.
The WGA nominations followed the Producers Guild nominations on what is the single busiest day for Hollywood guild nominations.
While other guild awards have a better track record predicting Oscar nominations, the Writers Guild prize is strictly a union award that goes to the best screenplays written by WGA members or produced under WGA guidelines, or under the guidelines of affiliated international guilds.
At the same time that it released its nominations, the WGA released a list of its eligible films. The list matched the one first published last week by theWrap.
Among the acclaimed screenplays eligible for Oscars but ineligible for WGA Awards are "The King's Speech," "Winter's Bone," "Blue Valentine" and "Another Year."
A total of 76 screenplays qualified for WGA Awards in 2010, compared to 241 that qualified for the Academy Awards.
Over the past five years, 30 of the 50 films nominated for Academy Awards had previously received WGA nominations. When it comes to Oscar-wining scripts, though, the Writers Guild has a sterling track record: of the last 10 scripts to win WGA awards, only last year's Adapted Screenplay winner, "Up in the Air," failed to take home an Academy Award. ("Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire" won instead.)
The WGA Awards will be handed out on February 5 at simultaneous ceremonies in Los Angeles and New York.
The nominations:
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Black Swan, Screenplay by Mark Heyman and Andres Heinz and John McLaughlin; Story by Andres Heinz; Fox Searchlight
The Fighter, Screenplay by Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson; Story by Keith Dorrington & Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson; Paramount Pictures
Inception, Written by Christopher Nolan; Warner Bros.
The Kids Are All Right, Written by Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg; Focus Features
Please Give, Written by Nicole Holofcener; Sony Pictures Classics
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
127 Hours, Screenplay by Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy; Based on the book Between a Rock and a Hard Place by Aron Ralston; Fox Searchlight
I Love You Phillip Morris, Written by John Requa & Glenn Ficarra; Based on the book by Steven McVicker; Roadside Attractions
The Social Network, Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin; Based on the book The Accidental Billionaires by Ben Mezrich; Sony Pictures
The Town, Screenplay by Peter Craig and Ben Affleck & Aaron Stockard; Based on the novel Prince of Thieves by Chuck Hogan; Warner Bros.
