WGA Awards Set For A Month After Oscars As Strikes Continue To Shake Up Awards Season

After an unprecedented summer of strikes, the ripple effects continue to hit the 2023-24 awards season.

In a flipping of the script, the WGA Awards now will be held on April 14 – more than a month after the Academy Awards. In a statement to Deadline, the WGA West and East pointed to their nearly five-month-long labor action as the cause of the dramatic shift.

“This year’s Writers Guild Awards are being held in April to allow for a full awards submission process to occur after the strike,” the WGAW and WGAE said in a statement to Deadline. See the guild’s full awards timeline below.

Also unusual is the fact that the Writers Guild Awards nominations won’t be announced until February 21, nearly a month after the Academy Awards noms are revealed. So much for the Oscars‘ Adapted and Original Screenplay categories potentially being affected by the WGA noms. The 2023 WGA Awards were handed out March 5 — a week before the 95th annual Oscars. Everything Everywhere All at Once and Women Talking took the WGA’s respective Original and Adapted Screenplay trophies, with both later triumphing at the Academy Awards.

Elsewhere among the guilds, the SAG Awards were set for February 24 nearly six months ago, but that was some eight weeks before SAG-AFTRA went on strike against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. Complications likely will arise as the actors union labor action continues — especially since the 30th annual SAG Awards is set to stream on Netflix, one of the companies SAG-AFTRA is picketing. That date is holding firm for now, though.

The DGA Awards remain set for February 10, and the Producers Guild Awards will be presented about two weeks later on the 25th.

Here are the key dates for the 2024 Writers Guild Awards

Wednesday, November 1:
Submissions Open in ALL Categories: Screenplays (Original, Adapted, Documentary), Series (Drama, Comedy, Limited, New), TV-Radio/Audio-New Media Scripts and Paul Selvin Award (WGAW)

Friday, December 22:
Deadline for submissions: Series (Drama, Comedy, New, Limited); TV-Radio/Audio-New Media Scripts and Paul Selvin Award (WGAW)

Monday, January 22:
Preliminary Series (Drama, Comedy, New, Limited) and Screenplay (Original and Adapted) online voting begins

Friday, February 9:
Deadline for Preliminary Series (Drama, Comedy, New, Limited) and Screenplay (Original and Adapted)

Wednesday, February 21:
Screenplay (Original, Adapted, Documentary) and Television, New Media, News, Radio/Audio, and Promotional Writing Nominations Announced

Friday, February 23:
Final Series & Screenplay online voting begins

Thursday, March 7:
Beyond Words: Writers Guild Awards-nominated screenwriters panel

Friday, March 8:
Deadline for Final Series & Screenplay online voting

TBA:
“And the Nominees Are…” Writers Guild Awards nominees panel

Sunday, April. 14:
76th annual Writers Guild Awards

Pete Hammond contributed to this report.