Celebrating its 25th year as the industry standard for screenwriting software, Final Draft, Inc. today announced the nominees for the 11 annual Screenwriters Choice Awards (SCA). The screenwriting competition is voted on by registered Final Draft users. Winners will be announced at a ceremony on February 11th at the Paramount Theatre on the Paramount Pictures Studios lot that will be hosted for the second year in a row by Thomas Lennon and Robert Ben Garant. The recipient of the Hall of Fame Award will be Paul Schrader (“Taxi Driver,” “Raging Bull”).
The nominees are as follows (in alphabetical order by film or television program title):
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
- “Bridge of Spies” – Matt Charman, The Coen Brothers
- “Ex Machina” – Alex Garland
- “Inside Out” – Pete Docter, Meg LaFauve, Josh Cooley
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
- “The Big Short” – Adam McKay, Charles Randolph (book by Michael Lewis)
- “The Martian” – Drew Goddard (book by Andy Weir)
- “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” – Lawrence Kasdan & J.J. Abrams and Michael Arndt (characters by George Lucas)
BEST TELEVISION DRAMA
- “Downton Abbey” – Julian Fellowes
- “Fargo” – Steve Blackman, Robert De Laurentiis, Noah Hawley
- “Game of Thrones” – D.B. Weiss and David Benioff
BEST TELEVISION COMEDY
- “The Big Bang Theory” – Chuck Lorre, Bill Prady
- “Modern Family” – Steven Levitan, Christopher Lloyd
- “Orange is the New Black” – Jenji Kohan
The Final Draft Awards include: the Hall of Fame Award, honoring a writer whose work has had a profound influence on the industry; the SCA, which recognizes the past year’s writers at the top of their craft; and the Big Break Screenwriting Contest, which awards more than $80,000 in cash and prizes to aspiring writers.
