US film and television writers gave their top two movie awards on Sunday to romance ‘Midnight in Paris’ and drama ‘The Descendants’ in the final Hollywood guild awards show before next week’s Oscars. Writer-director Woody Allen won the Writers Guild of America award for best original screenplay with ‘Midnight in Paris’, his tale of a young writer in Paris who faces questions of love. ‘The Descendants’, which tells of a man who brings his family together in a time of grief while his cheating wife is hospitalised, earned the WGA trophy for best adapted screenplay for writers Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash. The awards give both movies a lift in the race for the Oscars, the world’s top film honours, because many guild members also belong to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences that gives out the Oscars on February 26. But the guilds have recognised a variety of films this year, making them an inexact forecaster for Oscar success. Earlier this year, the director and producer guilds put ‘The Artist’ atop their list of best films, but ‘The Artist’ was not eligible for a WGA trophy because it was created by French writers. The Screen Actors Guild singled out the performers of civil rights drama ‘The Help’ for its top honour, best ensemble cast, but the WGA went for ‘The Descendants’ over ‘The Help’ in the WGA’s category for best adapted screenplay. The WGA also gave out an award to documentary movie ‘Better This World’. Best TV drama series went to ‘Breaking Bad’, and the writers of ‘Modern Family’ claimed the prize for TV comedy series. ‘Homeland’ was named best new TV series.
