SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2017 2 The 69th Annual Writers Guild Awards SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2017 • EDISON BALLROOM •

Officers Lowell Peterson Michael Winship: President Executive Director Jeremy Pikser: Vice President Bob Schneider: Secretary–Treasurer Ruth Gallo Assistant Executive Director Council Members John Auerbach Marsha Seeman Henry Bean Assistant Executive Director Kyle Bradstreet Sue “Bee” Brown Awards Committee Andrea Ciannavei Bonnie Datt, Chair Lisa Takeuchi Cullen Ann B. Cohen Bonnie Datt Don Hooper A.M. Homes Lily-Hayes Kaufman David Keller Gail Lee Susan Kim Allan Neuwirth Christopher Kyle Danielle Paige Gail Lee Dan Perlman Kathy McGee Bill Scheft Matt Nelko Courtney Simon Phil Pilato Richard Vetere Theresa Rebeck Shannon Walker Bill Scheft Courtney Simon Dana Weissman Beau Willimon Director of Programs

Nancy Hathorne Events Coordinator

Jason Gordon Director of Communications

Jenna Bond Member Services Manager

PKPR Red Carpet 3

GREETING

We’re happy to be back at the elegant Edison Ballroom for the fourth time, as we continue to add to this venue’s colorful history. The Edison got its start as a music club in the 1930s, featuring the era’s top Swing bands. Then, in the 1990s it briefly became The Supper Club, hosting everyone from Tony Bennett to David Bowie. In the interim, it was the Edison Theatre, home to many Broadway shows, including the infamous “Oh! Calcutta!”

But tonight is not about great music or Seventies nudity. It’s about elevating the words of the writer. The Writers Guild of America, East brings us here to honor some of the best work that our members have produced in the past year. The entertainment and news industries depend on writers. Tonight we remind the world of that.

I’m thrilled that you’re here to celebrate at our annual event, but as someone who is also a member of the WGAE’s Council, I want to urge you to not let this be your only way of engaging with the Guild. I encourage you to become involved with the WGAE’s committees and caucuses as well as its career training sessions, activities and organizing campaigns. Plus, if you’re in need of a quiet place to work, members can even come to the office and use the writing room.

My deepest congratulations to all tonight’s winners and nominees. I’d like to give my heartfelt appreciation to our brilliant host and all our presenters. I’d also like to thank my amazing Co-Executive Producer, Shannon Walker, the show’s incredible Head Writer, Ann Cohen, and the rest of our talented writing team, as well as our dedicated Awards Committee and tireless WGAE staff, particularly Marsha Seeman, Dana Weissman, Nancy Hathorne, Jenna Bond and Jason Gordon, the crew, all tonight’s volunteers, my fellow Council members, my very patient husband Chris and everyone else involved in making tonight’s show possible.

In Solidarity,

Bonnie Datt Chair, WGAE Awards Committee

5 WHAT TO DO WHEN SO MUCH SEEMS UNDONE. As we come together to celebrate the craft of writing, to enjoy and uphold the finest work our members have created in the last year, it is difficult to ignore the turmoil and anger outside. We live in changed circumstances, in a place where too many people feel threatened – but also a place where many have been inspired to act up, to speak out, to get active.

WGAE members who write and produce news find themselves on the front lines in the battle to protect robust, unrestrained truth-telling, to defend investigation and forthright analysis in the strange new world of “alternative facts” and 140-character assassinations. But our storyteller members also fear they won’t be able to create characters and narratives that are challenging or controversial, that don’t fit a narrowed vision of what is safe to say – and, more to the point, to sell. My own view is that the revitalized activism in the creative community has the potential to create more than enough space for independent voices. But only if we sustain and expand our work.

As a union, we have had considerable success negotiating collective bargaining agreements to benefit the 1200 or so members who write, edit, and produce news. Next month we begin negotiations for an agreement covering the thousands of members, East and West, who write drama and comedy and more for television, film, and digital platforms like Netflix and Amazon. Fortunately, the mega-corporations that sit on the other side of the table have done extraordinarily well lately – about $50 billion in profit last year alone. But we can’t assume they will agree to apply these riches to meet the real needs of our freelance members unless we mobilize.

Now more than ever we must dedicate ourselves to broadening our community of creative professionals. Let us celebrate the work our members have done, and let us deepen our commitment to each other and to the activist work that lies ahead. We are, indeed, stronger together.

In Solidarity,

Lowell Peterson Executive Director THE SHOW HOSTED BY LEWIS BLACK

PRESENTERS Becky Ann Baker Dylan Baker Danielle Brooks Tituss Burgess Bill Camp Jake Gyllenhaal David Harbour Brian Tyree Henry Jill Kargman Jane Krakowski Elizabeth Marvel Amber Ruffin Triumph The Insult Comic Dog Alex Wagner

ANNOUNCER Nancy Giles

7 Screenplay by ERIC HEISSERER Based on the Story “Story of Your Life” Written by TED CHIANG HONORARY AWARDS JOHN WATERS IAN MCLELLAN HUNTER AWARD PRESENTED BY DAVID SIMON FOR CAREER ACHIEVEMENT IN WRITING STEVE O’DONNELL HERB SARGENT AWARD PRESENTED BY STEVE YOUNG FOR EXCELLENCE IN COMEDY WRITING AND FOR INSPIRING OTHERS THROUGH LEADERSHIP AND MENTORING JELANI COBB WALTER BERNSTEIN AWARD PRESENTED BY MICHAEL WINSHIP AND WALTER MOSLEY FOR CONFRONTING SOCIAL INJUSTICE IN THE FACE OF ADVERSITY COURTNEY SIMON RICHARD B. JABLOW AWARD PRESENTED BY MELISSA SALMONS FOR DEVOTED SERVICE TO THE GUILD JOE WALTERS MICHAEL COLLYER MEMORIAL FELLOWSHIP IN SCREENWRITING PRESENTED BY LOWELL PETERSON AWARDED BY THE WRITERS GUILD INITIATIVE; FUNDED BY THE CHARLES & LUCILLE KING FAMILY FOUNDATION JORDAN HOUSTON THE JOHN MERRIMAN AWARD PRESENTED BY LOWELL PETERSON FOR THE STUDY OF BROADCAST JOURNALISM AT AMERICAN UNIVERSITY, WASHINGTON, D.C. MOTION PICTURE NOMINEES ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY Fences, Screenplay by August Wilson; Based on his Play; Paramount Pictures Hell or High Water, Written by Taylor Sheridan; CBS Hidden Figures, Screenplay by Allison Schroeder and Theodore Melfi; Based La La Land, Written by Damien on the Book by Margot Lee Shetterly; Chazelle; Lionsgate Twentieth Century Fox

Loving, Written by Jeff Nichols; Nocturnal Animals, Screenplay by Focus Features Tom Ford; Based on the Novel Tony and Susan by Austin Wright; Manchester by the Sea, Written by Focus Features Kenneth Lonergan; Amazon Studios/ Roadside Attractions

Moonlight, Screenplay by Barry DOCUMENTARY SCREENPLAY Jenkins, Story by Tarell Alvin McCraney; A24 Author: The JT LeRoy Story, Written by Jeff Feuerzeig; Amazon Studios

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY Command and Control, Telescript by & , Arrival, Screenplay by Eric Heisserer; Story by Brian Pearle and Kim Roberts; Based on the Story “Story of Your Life” Based on the Book Command and by Ted Chiang; Paramount Pictures Control by Eric Schlosser; American Experience Films Deadpool, Written by Rhett Reese & Paul Wernick; Based on the X-Men Zero Days, Written by ; Comic Books; Twentieth Century Magnolia Pictures Fox Film

10 THE 69TH ANNUAL WRITERS GUILD AWARDS