Observations about the Writers Guild film nominations

The Writers Guild Award nominations were announced today. In the two main categories, the nominees were:

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
(500) Days of Summer, Written by Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber; Fox Searchlight
Avatar, Written by James Cameron; 20th Century Fox
The Hangover, Written by Jon Lucas & Scott Moore; Warner Bros.
The Hurt Locker, Written by Mark Boal; Summit Entertainment
A Serious Man, Written by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen; Focus Features

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Crazy Heart, Screenplay by Scott Cooper; Based on the novel by Thomas Cobb; Fox Searchlight
Julie & Julia, Screenplay by Nora Ephron; Based on the books Julie & Julia by Julie Powell and My Life in France by Julia Child with Alex Prud’homme; Sony Pictures
Precious: Based on the novel Push by Sapphire, Screenplay by Geoffrey Fletcher; Based on the novel Push by Sapphire; Lionsgate
Star Trek, Written by Roberto Orci & Alex Kurtzman; Based upon Star Trek, Created by Gene Roddenberry; Paramount Pictures
Up in the Air, Screenplay by Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner; Based upon the novel by Walter Kirn; Paramount Pictures

Many times the Guild nominations mirror the Oscar nominations. I don’t think that will be the case this year, mainly because Guild members were only allowed to vote for screen writers who were members of the guild. That excluded people like Quentin Tarantino, who I expect will get an original screenplay nomination for Inglourious Basterds, probably bumping The Hangover, and the writers of Up, which will probably eliminate the Oscar chances for (Dare I say it?) Avatar in this category. But Avatar’s screenplay was its weakest element anyway.

I was surprised that Crazy Heart and Star Trek received nominations and would not be at all surprised to see either omitted as Oscar finalists. Not being Guild members eliminated the writers of An Education and Fantastic Mr. Fox, both of which could replace Heart and Trek, when the Oscar nominations are announced.