33rd Writers Guild of America Awards

Award ceremony for writing of 1980

33rd WGA Awards
Date	1981
Organized by	Writers Guild of America, East and the Writers Guild of America, West
← 32nd WGA Awards 34th →

The 33rd Writers Guild of America Awards honored the best television, and film writers of 1980. Winners were announced in 1981.

Winners and nominees

Film

Winners are listed first highlighted in boldface.

Best Drama Written Directly for the Screenplay

Melvin and Howard, Written by Bo Goldman
- Fame, Written by Christopher Gore
- My Bodyguard, Written by Alan Ormsby

Best Comedy Written Directly for the Screenplay

Private Benjamin, Written by Nancy Meyers, Charles Shyer and Harvey Miller
- Nine to Five, Written by Colin Higgins and Patricia Resnick; Story by Patricia Resnick
- Return of the Secaucus Seven, Written by John Sayles
- Stardust Memories, Written by Woody Allen

Best Drama Adapted from Another Medium

Ordinary People, Screenplay by Alvin Sargent; Based on the novel by Judith Guest
- Coal Miner's Daughter, Screenplay by Thomas Rickman; Based on the Loretta Lynn and George Vecsey autobiography
- The Elephant Man, Screenplay by Christopher De Vore, Eric Bergren and David Lynch; Based on the book by Frederick Treves
- The Great Santini, Screenplay by Lewis John Carlino; Based on the novel by Pat Conroy
- The Stunt Man, Screenplay by Lawrence B. Marcus and Richard Rush; Based on the novel by Paul Brodeur

Best Comedy Adapted from Another Medium

Airplane!, Screenplay by Jim Abrahams, David Zucker and Jerry Zucker; Based on the story by Arthur Hailey
- Hopscotch, Screenplay by Brian Garfield and Bryan Forbes; Based on the novel by Brian Garfield
- Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back, Screenplay by Leigh Brackett and Lawrence Kasdan; Based on the story by George Lucas

Television

Episodic Comedy *"Heal Thyself" – MASH (CBS) – Dennis Koenig and Gene Reynolds** "The Child Stealers" – Barney Miller (ABC) – Frank Dungan and Jeff Stein "Morale Victory" – MASH* (CBS) – John Rappaport "Bottle Fatigue" – MASH* (CBS) – Thad Mumford, and Dan Wilcox "Art Work" – Taxi (ABC) – Glen Charles and Les Charles "Alex Jumps Out of an Airplane" – Taxi (ABC) - Ken Estin "The Censors" – The Associates (ABC) – Stan Daniels and Ed. Weinberger "Sometimes" – United States (NBC) – Larry Gelbart and Everett Greenbaum	Episodic Drama *"Pilot: Part 1 & 2" – Tenspeed and Brown Shoe* (ABC) – Stephen J. Cannell** "Second Spring" – Little house on the Prairie (NBC) – John T. Dugan "Inheritance" – Lou Grant (CBS) – April Smith "Brushfire" – Lou Grant (CBS) – Allan Burns, and Gene Reynolds "Blackout" – Lou Grant (CBS) – Steve Kline "Dreams" – MASH* (CBS) – Alan Aldan and James Jay Rubinfier "Pilot" – Skag (NBC) – Abby Mann
Daytime Serials Ryan's Hope (ABC) – Paul Avila Mayer, Claire Labine, Mary Munisteri and Jeffrey Lane The Doctors (NBC) – Eugenie Hunt, Ann Marie Barlow and Ralph Ellis Texas (NBC) – John William Corrington, Joyce Hooper Corrington, Ralph Adamo, Carole Berlin, Harry Boehm, Elizabeth Boehm, Patrick Mulcahey and John Saffron	Children's Script - Episodic & Specials *"The Secret of Lost Valley" – Wonderful World of Disney* (NBC) – Paul A. Golding and David Irving** "Animal Talk" – CBS Library (CBS) – Kimmer Ringwald "The Incredible Book Escape" – CBS Library (CBS) – George Arthur Bloom "The Gold-Bug" – ABC Weekend Specials (ABC) – Edward Pomerantz
Variety, Musical or Comedy All Commercials, A Steve Martin Special (NBC) – Steve Martin, Neal Israel, Jeffrey Barron, Earl Brown, Carmen Finestra, Denny Johnston, Sean Kelly, Pat McCormick, Michael McManus, Pat Proft and Mason Williams

Special awards

Laurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement
Ben Hecht
Laurel Award for TV Writing Achievement
Larry Gelbart
Valentine Davies Award
Arthur E. Orloff
Morgan Cox Award
Ronald Austin

References

"Awards Winners". wga.org. Writers Guild of America. Archived from the original on 2012-12-05. Retrieved 2010-06-06.
"Writers Guild of America, USA (1981)". IMDb. Retrieved 2019-06-29.

External links

WGA.org

v t e Writers Guild of America Awards
Film Awards	Best Adapted Screenplay Best Original Screenplay Best Documentary Screenplay
Television/ New Media Awards	Animation Comedy Series Comedy/Variety Talk Series Comedy/Variety Specials Comedy/Variety Sketch Series Daytime Serials Drama Series Episodic Comedy Episodic Drama Long Form – Adapted Long Form – Original Short Form New Media New Series Children's Script Documentary Script – Current Events Documentary Script – Other Than Current Events
Special Awards	Paul Selvin Award Valentine Davies Award Animation Writers Caucus Animation Writing Award Laurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement Laurel Award for TV Writing Achievement Evelyn F. Burkey Award
Former Awards	Musical Western American Scene Drama Comedy
Ceremonies	1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 Years are of film release; ceremonies are held the following year

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