February 15, 2025
Rules for WGA Documentary Screenplay Award
ELIGIBILITY RULES
Documentary screenplays must have been written under a WGA collective bargaining agreement or under a bona fide collective bargaining agreement of the Writers Guild of Canada, Writers’ Guild of Great Britain, Writers Guild of Ireland, Writers’ Guild of South Africa, New Zealand Writers Guild, ALMA Sindicato des Guionistas (Spain), Screenwriters Association (India), Screenwriters Guild of Korea (SGK), La Guilde Francaise des Scénaristes (France), Scriptwriters Guild of Israel, the Société des Auteurs de Radio, Télévision et Cinéma (Québec) or Verband Deutscher Drehbuchautoren (VDD/Germany) (collectively, “affiliate guilds”). Please note that an affiliate guild may impose additional requirements for a writer to be considered covered by its collective bargaining agreement.
For documentary screenplays written under a WGA collective bargaining agreement, a Notice of Tentative Writing Credits must be on file with the WGA and the credit determination must be final. Writers of source material are not eligible for awards consideration.
Financial core and fee payer non-members are not eligible to be nominated for or receive WGA Awards.
Films must have been exhibited theatrically in Los Angeles or New York for at least one week during the eligibility period of January 1, 2024 – December 31, 2024. Films that receive their first public exhibition on broadcast, cable or pay television are not eligible for screenplay awards. Films with simultaneous theatrical and streaming exhibitions are eligible for screenplay awards consideration.
Films must be of feature length (more than 40 minutes). Foreign-language films are eligible, provided they have English-language subtitles.
SUBMISSION RULES
The submitted script must be the final script and in either narrative or AV format. In addition, the documentary screenplay must have an on-screen writing credit (i.e. a “written by,” “story by,” “screenplay by,” “documentary screenplay by,” “documentary script by,” “screen story by” or “narration written by” credit, as appropriate) related to the writing of the film.
The entry form must include a Media Platform URL which will host a digital screener of the documentary for the duration of the judging period of 11/22/24 – 1/31/25.
Writer representatives (e.g., agents, managers and publicists) may submit on behalf of a writer. Representatives’ submissions must include the completed entry form, a copy of the script, and a Media Platform URL hosting the digital screener.
Submissions for films written under the jurisdiction of an affiliate guild must include a letter from the affiliate guild verifying awards eligibility.
A receipt will automatically be sent to the email address of the entrant upon successful completion of the submission.
SUBMISSION DEADLINE
The submission deadline is 5:00 p.m. (PST) on Friday, November 22, 2024. No late submissions will be accepted.
THE JUDGING PROCEDURE
Preliminary and final judging will be conducted by panels of volunteer Guild members with established nonfiction writing credits. A writer serving as a judge may not submit a script for award consideration in this category.
Nominations will be based on outstanding achievement. If no script is deemed outstanding, no award will be given for that year. If a script is chosen to receive the award, all credited writers on the film will receive the award. Nominated scripts will be retained at The Writers Guild Foundation Shavelson-Webb Library.