The Writers Guild of Canada is pleased to announce the presenters for the 21st annual WGC Screenwriting Awards (held on April 24 at the TELUS Centre for Performance and Learning’s Koerner Hall in Toronto).
Joining host Laurie Elliott on stage: Pure showrunner Michael Amo with actor Alex Paxton-Beesley, Bellevue co-showrunner Jane Maggs with actor Shawn Doyle, and Second Jen showrunner Jeff Biederman with Second Jen co-creator and actor Amanda Joy.
The WGC Screenwriting Awards are the only awards in Canada to focus solely on screenwriting talent. Finalists include the writers of scripts from Kim’s Convenience, Odd Squad, Letterkenny, X Company, Private Eyes, Wynonna Earp, 19-2, Degrassi: Next Class, Two Lovers and a Bear, Maudie and more. Special awards including the WGC Showrunner Award will also be presented.
The 2017 awards are hosted by screenwriter, stand-up comedian and actor Laurie Elliott, and are written by screenwriter and stand-up comedian Terry McGurrin with Laurie Elliott.
Clement Virgo (The Book of Negroes), Russ Cochrane (Orphan Black) and Amanda Walsh (Schitt’s Creek) were among the winners recognized at the 2016 Writers Guild of Canada Screenwriting Awards on Monday night in Toronto. Hosted by Elvira Kurt, the WGC event—delivered to a packed Koerner Hall—also celebrated the 25th anniversary of the WGC, which broke away from ACTRA in 1991 to become a guild of independently congregated writers.
“Writers, this is a big night for you,” Kurt joked during her opening monologue. “I look around and I see that the Chuck Taylor’s have been polished, the Spanx have been spanked, spiffy outfits have been borrowed and for some of us the meds we take for social anxiety are almost kicking in.”
“I want to thank all of my fellow finalists, and to all female screenwriters for telling their stories because you inspired me to tell my story,” Walsh said upon winning the TV Comedy category for her Schitt’s Creek script “The Cabin.” Orphan Black writer and co-executive producer Aubrey Nealon accepted Cochrane’s award for Season 3’s “Newer Elements of Our Defense,” while Virgo and The Book of Negroes author Lawrence Hill (pictured above) were on hand to accept the trophy for writing in a Movie of the Week or Miniseries.
Clive Endersby received the Alex Barris Mentorship Award, Penny Gummerson the Sondra Kelly Award, Peter Mohan the Writers Block Award and Frank van Keeken the Showrunner Award, who stunned the crowd by announcing he’d been ousted as showrunner on The Next Step and Lost & Found Music Studios.
Frank van Keeken (Image courtesy of Christina Gapic.)
Here’s the complete list of categories (winners denoted in blue):
CHILDREN Numb Chucks, Season 2 “Witless to the Prosecution” Written by Evan Thaler Hickey
Odd Squad, Season 1 “Puppet Show”
Written by Charles Johnston
Pirate Express, Season 1 “Fountain of Misspent Youth”
Written by David Elver
DOCUMENTARY Deluged by Data Written by Josh Freed
Ninth Floor
Written by Mina Shum
MOW & MINISERIES The Book of Negroes: Episode 1 Story by Lawrence Hill, Teleplay by Clement Virgo
The Gourmet Detective
Written by Becky Southwell & Dylan Neal
Kept Woman
Written by Doug Barber & James Phillips
SHORTS & WEBSERIES
Bob! The Slob
Written by James Nadler
Goldfish Written by Michael Konyves
TV COMEDY
Mr. D, Season 4 “President Jimmy”
Written by Anita Kapila
Mr. D, Season 4 “Short Stocked”
Written by Marvin Kaye
Schitt’s Creek, Season 1 “The Cabin” Written by Amanda Walsh
TV DRAMA
19-2, Season 2 “Orphans”
Written by Jesse McKeown
19-2, Season 2 “Property Line”
Written by Nikolijne Troubetzkoy
19-2, Season 2 “School”
Adapted by Bruce M. Smith
Orphan Black, Season 3 “Newer Elements of Our Defense” Written by Russ Cochrane
X Company, Season 1 “Into the Fire”
Written by Mark Ellis & Stephanie Morgenstern
TWEENS & TEENS Some Assembly Required, Season 2 “Rocket with a Pocket” Written by Jennica Harper
Some Assembly Required, Season 2 “Snappo”
Written by Cole Bastedo & Jennifer Siddle
The Stanley Dynamic, Season 1 “The Stanley Grandpa”
Written by Alice Prodanou
FEATURE FILMS A Christmas Horror Story Written by James Kee and Sarah Larsen and Doug Taylor and Pascal Trottier
