Road to the Oscars: Producers and Writers Guilds announce their nominees

Awards season is really heating up ahead of the 83rd Academy Awards on February 27th in Hollywood, California and today both the Producers Guild and the Writers Guild of America have announced the contenders for their forthcoming prizes...

2011 Producers Guild Awards nominees...

First up was the PGA, whose shortlist for their most prestigious honour - The Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer Of Theatrical Motion Pictures - has few surprises and looks very similar to what we should expect when the nominees for Best Picture are announced at the back end of January (as it happens, this particular award is typically a strong indicator of the eventual winner of the Best Picture Oscar).

The Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer Of Theatrical Motion Pictures

127 Hours (Danny Boyle, Christian Colson)
Black Swan (Scott Franklin, Mike Medavoy, Brian Oliver)
Inception (Christopher Nolan, Emma Thomas)
The Fighter (David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman, Mark Wahlberg)
The Kids Are All Right (Gary Gilbert, Jeffrey Levy-Hinte, Celine Rattray)
The King’s Speech (Iain Canning, Emile Sherman, Gareth Unwin)
The Social Network (Dana Brunetti, Cean Chaffin, Michael De Luca, Scott Rudin)
The Town (Basil Iwanyk, Graham King)
Toy Story 3 (Darla K. Anderson)
True Grit (Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, Scott Rudin)

The Award for Outstanding Producer Of Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures

Despicable Me (John Cohen, Janet Healy, Christopher Meledandri)
How To Train Your Dragon (Bonnie Arnold)
Toy Story 3 (Darla K. Anderson)

Meanwhile the nominees for the PGA's documentary category were also announced back in December and consist of Client 9: The Rise And Fall Of Eliot Spitzer, Earth Made Of Glass, Inside Job, Smash His Camera, The Tillman Story and Waiting for ‘Superman’, while honourary awards will be handed out to James Cameron (Milestone Award), Tom Hanks, Gary Goetzman (Norman Lear Achievement Award In Television), Scott Rudin (David O. Selznick Achievement Award In Theatrical Motion Pictures), Laura Ziskin (Visionary Award) and RealD (Vanguard Award).

2011 Writers Guild Awards nominees...

Unlike the PGA, the recipients of the Writers Guild Awards usually vary from the eventual Oscar winners due to stringent qualification criteria which has made a number of Academy Award hopefuls such as Toy Story 3, Blue Valentine, The King's Speech and Winter's Bone ineligible. Take a look at their shortlists...

Original Screenplay

Black Swan (Mark Heyman, Andres Heinz, John McLaughlin)
The Fighter (Scott Silver, Paul Tamasy, Eric Johnson, Keith Dorrington)
Inception (Christopher Nolan)
The Kids Are All Right (Stuart Blumberg, Lisa Cholodenko)
Please Give (Nicole Holofcener)

Adapted Screenplay

127 Hours (Danny Boyle, Simon Beaufoy)
I Love You Phillip Morris (John Requa, Glenn Ficarra)
The Social Network (Aaron Sorkin)
The Town (Ben Affleck, Peter Craig, Aaron Stockard)
True Grit (Joel Coen, Ethan Coen)

Documentary Screenplay

Enemies of the People (Rob Lemkin, Thet Sambath)
Freedom Riders (Stanley Nelson)
Gasland (Josh Fox)
Inside Job (Charles Ferguson, Chad Beck, Adam Bolt)
The Two Escobars (Michael Zimbalist, Jeff Zimbalist)
Who is Harry Nilsson (And Why is Everybody Talkin’ About Him?) (John Scheinfeld)

The Producers Guild Awards will be handed out on January 22nd with the Writers Guild Awards following on February 5th.