The 71st Annual WGA Awards will be handed Sunday, February 17th, 2019.

As I have been doing for a few years, as we get into the awards season, I’ll post the fictional ballots for some of the guild awards, showing what my vote would be if I had one. I will, as a rule, abstain from my fictional vote if I haven’t seen at least half of the nominees. And to be perfectly clear, I’m not a member of any of these guilds and organizations.

The list of nominees can be seen here.

Here it goes:

Documentary Screenplay: abstain (Not seen: Bathtubs Over Broadway, Fahrenheit 11/9, Generation Wealth, In Search of Greatness.)

Original Screenplay: Adam McKay, for Vice

McKay pulls the somewhat rare feat of building a film around a circle of unpleasant characters living successful lives, but nevertheless making the whole very entertaining. He uses all the narrative tricks in the manual, from flashbacks and an (almost) omniscient narrator to a light approach to a serious matter. (Not seen: Eighth Grade.)

Adapted Screenplay: Charlie Wachtel & David Rabinowitz and Kevin Willmott & Spike Lee, for BlacKkKlansman

Working from a real-life story but taking immense liberties with it, the screenplay creates a few very interesting characters and navigates many different tones, succeeding in all of them, all the while also serving a scathing criticism of contemporary times.