2007 Award Recipient

Late screen and television writer Daryl G. Nickens is slated to receive the Morgan Cox Honorary Service Award at the upcoming 2007 Writers Guild Awards ceremony on Sunday, February 11, 2007, recognizing Nickens' decades of dedicated service to help empower and elevate writers, no matter the medium or genre.

“This award is the least we can do to show our gratitude for the tireless work Daryl did for our union and its members. He was loved, and he is missed,” said WGAW President Patric M. Verrone.

A former Writers Guild Foundation vice president and member of the Writers Guild of America West's Board of Directors, Daryl Nickens - who passed away last July at the age of 57 - left an indelible mark on his family, friends, and fellow writers over the years through a prolific body of work and community service, leaving a rich legacy that's certain to endure.

Born January 21, 1949, Nickens was perhaps best known for co-writing the first feature film written by African-Americans to open number one at the box-office: urban comedy hit House Party 2, co-written with Rusty Cundieff. Nickens also wrote the award-winning Wonderworks movie, You Must Remember This.

On the television front, he had been a producer of the Emmy-winning PBS series, Life 360, and part of the creative team behind the hit HBO animated series, Happily Ever After. He also wrote pilots for CBS, Paramount, and Nickelodeon, as well as wrote or co-wrote episodes for such shows as The Parkers, Viper (co-written with Deborah Baron) Benson, What's Happening Now, and The Famous Jett Jackson, in addition to serving as a staff writer on several hit TV series, such as A Different World, 227, and Webster.

Nickens' television work received both Emmy and Writers Guild Award nominations, as well as the Writers Guild of Canada “Top Ten” Award, NAACP Image Awards, and twice for the Humanitas Prize, most recently in 2001 for an episode of The Famous Jett Jackson.

In addition to his successful writing career, Nickens served the writing community as a member of the Board of Directors of the Writers Guild of America West, a trustee of the Writers Guild Health and Pension Fund, and vice president of the Writers Guild Foundation, for which he co-chaired Words Into Pictures in 2002. At this time of his passing this past summer, Nickens had served as treasurer of the Foundation.

As a member of the WGAW since 1983, Nickens served on a wide variety of guild committee over the years, including: Black Writers (1983-86, 1989-92); Board Nominating (1988, 1990, 1996); Committee Advisory Panel/CAP (1996); Writers Guild Foundation Board (2000-06); Human Resources Coordinating (1986-87, 1991); Media Relations (1988-91); Officers Nominating (1989, 1993); P&H Trustee (1995-06); Awards Show (1989-91); and Waiver (1992).

During his later years, he taught screenwriting at the USC School of Cinema-Television at the graduate level, as well as in the Guy Alexander Hanks/Marvin Miller Screenwriting Program, sponsored by Bill Cosby. As a member of the faculty of the American Film Institute's AFI Conservatory, Nickens had served as chair of its graduate screenwriting program. At the time of his death, he taught workshops in both comedy and dramatic writing. Nickens also conducted seminars on screenwriting at the Acapulco Black Film Festival, the Jamerican Film Festival, and the Sundance Institute.

As an author, Nickens' essays appeared in The Journal of the Writers Guild of America, west, The Best American Movie Writing 2001, and The First Time I Got Paid For It: Writers' Tales From The Hollywood Trenches, for which he edited the sequel edition. Most recently, Nickens edited and contributed to the Writers Guild Foundation book, Doing It For Money - The Agony and Ecstasy of Writing and Surviving in Hollywood, published this past May by Tallfellow Press.

The Morgan Cox Award honors that WGAW member or group of members whose vital ideas, continuing efforts, and personal sacrifice best exemplify the ideal of service to the guild. Previous Morgan Cox recipients include Fay Kanin, Allen Rivkin, Mel Shavelson, Irma Kalish, Ann Marcus, George Kirgo, Del Reisman, Hal Kanter, and last year's recipient, Frank Pierson. The late Morgan B. Cox, who passed away in 1968, devoted much of his professional life to serving the Writers Guild, helping ensure that television writers were included under the jurisdiction of the WGA.