It’s kind of not really a big deal (but we feel compelled to write about since the story is making its way around the web) but today it was revealed that “Inglourious Basterds” (written by Quentin Tarantino), “A Single Man” (written by Tom Ford & David Scearce) and “The Road” (written by Joe Penhall) are ineligible in the WGA awards race, leaving the field a bit more wide open when the nominations are announced on Monday.
The reasoning behind the decision is actually quite simple: none of these guys are members of the WGA. Apparently, you can still be nominated for a WGA award even if you’re not a member but the film has to be made according to the protocols in the guild’s Minimum Basic Agreement (which is 461 pages long). The Weinsteins were already aware of this fact and didn’t even bother sending screeners to members of the guild. Oddly enough, they didn’t send screeners for “Nine” which is eligible though probably not likely to get any screenwriting nods from WGA or anyone else.
While recognition from the industry is nice, no one outside of it really cares and it doesn’t effect box office dollars in any real way, which for the struggling Weinstein Company, is of primary importance these days. Fanboys can rest easy knowing that Tarantino (and the others) are still eligible for Oscar, and more likely for the cash-strapped Weinsteins, they’re saving their marketing and for-your-consideration dollars for that instead.
