Britons Emerald Fennell and Sacha Baron Cohen were among the winners at the Writers Guild Awards, in a major boost to their Oscars hopes.
Fennell walked away with the prize for best original screenplay for her film, Promising Young Woman – her directorial debut.
She won over the likes of Aaron Sorkin, who wrote The Trial of the Chicago 7, and Will Berson and Shaka King, who wrote Judas and the Black Messiah – all of which are in the running for the best picture gong at next month’s Oscars.
Fennell (C) has been given an Oscar nomination for her film Promising Young Woman. Pic: Merie Weismiller Wallace/Focus Features via AP
She accepted the award from the UK, saying in a video message that the win was an “incredible, unbelievable, wonderful, unexpected dream come true”.
Meanwhile, Sacha Baron Cohen, along with his writing team, won the award for best adapted screenplay for his Borat sequel Subsequent Moviefilm.
In his acceptance speech, he joked: “I can’t help thinking that we won it because 60% of the Writers Guild worked on this thing.”
Borat Subsequent Moviefilm is also nominated for an Oscar in the same category.
Elsewhere at the awards, The Crown won best drama series, while Ted Lasso, an Apple TV original, took home the gongs for best comedy series and best new series.
The Writers Guild Awards show is usually held live on the east and west coast of the US, but due to the pandemic, it ran as a pre-recorded event hosted by actor Kal Penn, themed around “unity”.
Subscribe to the Backstage podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Spreaker
Other winners included Netflix’s chess drama The Queen’s Gambit, and crime series Ozark.
The best documentary screenplay went to Mark Monroe and Bryan Fogel for their work on The Dissident, which looked at the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi
Fennell will be hoping to replicate her success at the Academy Awards next month. Last year, best original screenplay at the Writers Guild Awards was given to Parasite – which went on to Oscars success later in the season.
The Oscars will be held on 25 April, with an in-person ceremony taking place.
