WGAw Honors Exceptional Writers
David Chase and Budd Schulberg Among Those to Receive Awards
Screenwriters in the area of film and television will be honored on Wednesday, April 23, 2008, at the Writers Guild of America West 2008 Awards Luncheon.
In addition to honoring the 2008 Writers Guild Awards Winners and Nominees on Wednesday, April 23, 2008, the Writers Guild of America West 2008 Awards Luncheon will celebrate David Chase (The Sopranos) and Budd Schulberg (On the Waterfront), as well as Tom Schulman (Dead Poets Society, What About Bob?), Don M. Mankiewicz (Ironside, Marcus Welby, MD), Brad Bird (Ratatouille, The Incredibles), and Robert Eisele and Jeffrey Porro (for The Great Debaters).
Tom Schulman will receive the Valentine Davies Award, recognizing both his writing legacy and valued service to the WGAw, the entertainment industry, and community at large. Veteran TV writer Don M. Mankiewicz will be presented with the Morgan Cox Award for his exemplary service to the WGAw to help empower his fellow writers. Brad Bird will receive the Animation Writers Caucus Lifetime Achievement Award.
The Great Debaters—screenplay by Robert Eisele and story by Robert Eisele and Jeffrey Porro—will be honored with the Paul Selving Award, celebrating written work that embodies the spirit of constitutional rights and civil liberties. Based on an inspiring true story, The Great Debaters chronicles the journey of English Professor Melvin Tolson, a brilliant but volatile debate team coach who teaches a group of underdog students the power of words.
David Chase to receive the Paddy Chayefsky Laurel Award for Television
The Soprano’s creator David Chase will receive the Paddy Chayefsky Laurel Award for Television,which is the WGA's highest award for television writing; it’s for outstanding lifetime contributions.
With the “passing” of The Sopranos David Chase ended his exemplary series in a most-talked-about fashion. His creation showed off his diverse talents as writer, director, and producer. A six-time WGA nominee, Chase's most recent Writers Guild Award win was for Dramatic Series in 2007 for The Sopranos, shared with Diane Frolov, Andrew Schneider, Matthew Weiner, and Terence Winter. Over the past decade, Chase has earned multiple Emmys for his work on The Sopranos.
Chase received his first Emmy in 1978 for the popular series The Rockford Files (Outstanding Drama Series), shared with the show's producers, and also earned the Edgar Allen Poe Award from the Mystery Writers of America. Chase was instrumental in the success of such cutting-edge TV series as I'll Fly Away and Northern Exposure, bringing to each of these acclaimed shows a rich sense of character, a taste of iconoclastic humor, an eye for cinematic complexities, and a resistance to convention. As a result, I'll Fly Away was twice nominated for an Emmy for Best Series. The series was ultimately purchased for syndication by PBS Public Television, the only time a network show has been so honored.
Budd Schulberg to receive the Paddy Chayefsky Laurel Award for Screen
Budd Schulberg will receive the Laurel Award for Screen for advancing the literature of motion pictures. Although best known for his work on the big screen, the On The Waterfront screenwriter has written teleplays, novels, non-fiction, and short stories. On the Waterfront earned Schulberg a Writers Guild Award for his work (Screen: Best Written American Drama, 1955), as well as an Academy Award (Best Writing, Story and Screenplay).
His other notable screen credits range from A Face in the Crowd (1957), based on his own short story, to Little Orphan Annie (screenplay by Schulberg and Sam Ornitz, screen story by Sam Ornitz & Endre Bohem, based on the comic strip by Harold Gray), and Winter Carnival (1939, screenplay by Budd Schulberg and Maurice Rapf and Lester Cole). Television work includes the 1981 telefilm A Question of Honor (based on the book by Sonny Grosso with Phil Rosenberg) and the documentary Once Upon A Time…Is Now: The Story of Princess Grace (1977).
Schulberg's other works include Ringside: A Treasury of Boxing Reportage, his autobiography Moving Pictures: Memories of a Hollywood Prince, novels such as The Harder They Fall and The Disenchanted, and The Seasons of Success
For more information, go to www.wga.org.
