According to its Wednesday announcement, the Writer' Guild Association (WGA) has nominated 15-scripts from three different categories, including veterans:
1. Woody Allen for 'Vicky Cristina Barcelona' his 19th screenplay nomination and whose has won four WGA original screenplay awards for 'Annie Hall' (1977), 'Hannah and Her Sisters' (1985), 'Broadway Danny Rose' (1987) and 'Crimes and Misdemeanors' (1991).
2. Eric Roth for 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button', his fourth career nomination, having won four WGA original screenplay awards, including and award for best adaptation for 'Forrest Gump' (1994).
3. Brothers Joel and Ethan Coen for 'Burn After Reading ', also their fourth nomination.

Among the newcomer nominations are writers Christopher and Jonathan Nolan for 'The Dark Knight'; Dustin L. Black for 'Milk' and Robert Siegel for 'The Wrestlers'.

In the running for the Best Original Screenplay award are: Allen, the Coens and Tom McCarthy for 'The Visitor'. Up for best adapted screenplay, we have Roth (story by Roth and Robin Swicord); the Nolan brothers (story by Christopher Nolan and David S. Goyer); Simon Beaufoy for 'Slumdog Millionaire' (based on the novel 'Q & A' by Vikas Swarup; and John P. Shanley and Peter Morgan for adapting their own stage plays i. e. 'Doubt' and 'Frost/Nixon' respectively. Incidentally, Shanley also won the best original screenplay award for Moonstruck' (1988).

The five documentaries nominated for an Oscar, include:
1.    'Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story' - Stefan Forbes and Noland Walker.
2.    ' Chicago 10' - Brett Morgan.
3.    'Fuel' - Johnny O'Hara.
4.    'Gonzo: The Life And Work Of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson' - Alex Gibney.
5.     'Waltz With Bashir' - Folman.

However, 'Revolutionary Road', 'Rachel Getting Married', 'The Reader', 'Gran Torino' and 'Happy Go Lucky', failed to make the grade . While, animated films like 'Wall-E' and 'Kung Fu Panda', are not eligible for WGA nominations, as they were not written under the Guild's contracts.

The 2008 WGA awards to be presented on 7th February at the Century Plaza , Los Angeles and Hudson Theatre in New York , simultaneously.

With twelve thousand members voting, the WGA nominations were made from 155-original and 100-adapted screenplays. TV and radio category nominations have already been announced and awards for which will also be presented on 7th February.

As a rule, no film has ever won an Academy Award for best picture, if it is not nominated by both the Producers Guild of America and the Writers Guild of America.