TV Article Writers Guild Awards honor 'Perks' and 'Looper' among surprises By Anthony Breznican Anthony Breznican Anthony is a Senior Writer for EW. EW's editorial guidelines Published on January 4, 2013 06:40PM EST Photo: John Bramley John Bramley The tricky thing about the Writers Guild Awards is that some of the major contenders for the Oscar aren’t eligible. So the absence of Django Unchained and Amour in the original screenplay category has more to do with the work not being covered by the guild than an actual snub of the writing. The same goes for the adapted screenplays Les Miserables and Beasts of the Southern Wild. Still, the work nominated today by the writers union could each still be major Oscar players. Among the surprises — which will be welcome to many — Rian Johnson’s time-travel saga Looper scored an original screenplay mention, even though the sci-fi genre tends to be overlooked for such awards, and Stephen Chbosky, one of the few authors to both direct and write the screenplay for his own novel, received an adapted screenplay mention for The Perks of Being a Wallflower. Here’s the full list of nominees. The awards will be presented Feb. 17, while the Oscars — which close voting today — will reveal nominations on Jan. 10 and present its awards on Feb. 24. ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY Flight Written by John Gatins Looper Written by Rian Johnson The Master Written by Paul Thomas Anderson Moonrise Kingdom Written by Wes Anderson & Roman Coppola Zero Dark Thirty Written by Mark Boal ADAPTED SCREENPLAY Argo Screenplay by Chris Terrio; Based on a selection from The Master of Disguise by Antonio J. Mendez and the Wired Magazine article “The Great Escape” by Joshuah Bearman Life of Pi Screenplay by David Magee; Based on the novel by Yann Martel Lincoln Screenplay by Tony Kushner; Based in part on the book Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin The Perks of Being a Wallflower Screenplay by Stephen Chbosky; Based on his own novel Silver Linings Playbook Screenplay by David O. Russell; Based on the novel by Matthew Quick DOCUMENTARY SCREENPLAY The Central Park Five Written by Sarah Burns and David McMahon and Ken Burns The Invisible War Written by Kirby Dick Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God Written by Alex Gibney Searching for Sugar Man Written by Malik Bendejelloul We Are Legion: The Story of the Hacktivists Written by Brian Knappenberger West of Memphis Written by Amy Berg & Billy McMillin For more on Oscar season Follow @breznican