Writers Guild of America Award for Television: Long Form – Adapted

Writers Guild of America Award for Television: Long Form – Adapted
Writers Guild of America Award for Television: Long Form – Adapted
Awarded for	Outstanding Writing for a Long Form – Adapted
Country	United States
Presented by	Writers Guild of America
First awarded	1976
Currently held by	Maid – Bekah Brunstetter, Marcus Gardley, Michelle Denise Jackson, Colin McKenna, Molly Smith Metzler (2021)
Website	www.wga.org

The Writers Guild of America Award for Television: Long Form – Adapted is an award presented by the Writers Guild of America to the writers of the best long form program based on the previously published material or work of the season. It has been awarded since the 50th Annual Writers Guild of America Awards in 1996.

Through the 70s and 80s, numerous categories were presented to recognize writing for long-form programs, some of them were for anthology series or limited series while others also included television films as "long form". The divisions between original and adapted were presented in some of the categories presented during these years, though not all of them.

Since the 39th Writers Guild of America Awards in 1976, two categories are presented to recognize the writing in long form television media, these two categories remain to this day and are: Long Form – Original and Long Form – Adapted.

Name history

Best Anthology Adaptation (1979)
Best Multi-Part Long Form Series and/or Any Production of More Than Two Parts (1978-1979)
Best Adapted Drama Anthology (1082-1985)
Best Original/Adapted Comedy Anthology (1984-1985)
Best Original/Adapted Multi-Part Long Form Series (1984)
Best Long Form - Adapted (1986-present)

Winners and nominees

The year indicates that each ceremony honored the programs of that year. Single winner of the year is left unmarked, while other winners which also have nominees are highlighted in gold and in bold.

1970s

Best Anthology Adaptation

Year	Program	Writer(s)	Source material	Network	Ref.
1978
	A Christmas to Remember	Stewart Stern	The novel The Melodeon by Glendon Swarthout	CBS	^[1]
	A Woman Called Moses	Lonne Elder III	The book by Marcy Heidish	NBC	^[1]

Best Multi-Part Long Form Series and/or Any Production of More Than Two Parts

Year	Program	Writer(s)	Source material	Network	Ref.
1978
1978	Centennial "Only The Rocks Live Forever"	John Wilder	The novel by James A. Michener	NBC	^[1]
1979
1979	Backstairs at the White House	Gwen Bagni and Paul Dubov	The novel My Thirty Years Backstairs at the White House by Lillian Rogers Parks	NBC	^[2]

1980s

Best Adapted Drama Anthology

Year	Program	Writer(s)	Source material	Network	Ref.
1982
1982	Of Mice and Men	E. Nick Alexander	The novel by John Steinbeck	NBC	^[3]
1983
1983	For Us the Living: The Medgar Evers Story	Ossie Davis and Ken Rotcop	The book by Myrlie Evers-Williams and William Peters	PBS	^[4]
1984
1984	The Dollmaker	Susan Cooper and Hume Cronyn	The novel by Harriette Simpson Arnow	ABC	^[5]
1985
1985	The Burning Bed	Rose Leiman Goldemberg	The novel by Faith McNulty	NBC	^[6]

Best Original/Adapted Comedy Anthology

Year	Program	Writer(s)	Source material	Network	Ref.
1984
1984	Hobson's Choice	Burt Prelutsky	Original TV movie	CBS	^[5]
1985
1985	The Ratings Game	Michael Barrie and Jim Mulholland	Original TV movie	Showtime	^[6]

Best Original/Adapted Multi-Part Long Form Series

Year	Program	Writer(s)	Source material	Network	Ref.
1983
	Blood Feud "Part II"	Robert Boris	Original TV movie	Syndicated	^[4]
	V "Part I"	Kenneth Johnson	Original miniseries	NBC	^[4]
1984
1984	The First Olympics: Athens 1896	Charles Gary Allison and William Bast	Original miniseries	NBC	^[5]

Best Long Form - Adapted

Year	Program	Writer(s)	Source material	Network	Ref.
1986
	Peter the Great	Edward Anhalt	*The book Peter the Great: His Life and World* by Robert K. Massie**	NBC	^[7]
	Trapped in Silence	Vickie Patik	The book Murphy's Boy by Torey Hayden	CBS	^[7]
1987
	Escape from Sobibor	Reginald Rose	Various sources ^[a]	CBS	^[8]
	Prison for Children	Christopher Knopf		CBS	^[8]
1988
	Onassis: The Richest Man in the World "Part 1"	Jacqueline Feather and David Seidler	*The book Ari: The Life and Times of Aristotle Socrates Onassis* by Peter Evans**	ABC	^[9]
	**Hallmark Hall of Fame: Foxfire**	Susan Cooper	The play by Cooper, Hume Cronyn and Jonathan Brielle	CBS
	A Friendship in Vienna	Richard Alfieri	The book The Devil in Vienna by Doris Orgel	Disney Channel
1989
1989	Lonesome Dove "Part I: Leaving"	William D. Wittliff	The novel by Larry McMurtry	CBS	^[10]

1990s

Best Long Form - Adapted

Year	Program	Writer(s)	Source material	Network	Ref.
1990
1990	Voices Within: The Lives of Truddi Chase	E. Jack Neuman	*The book When Rabbit Howls* by Truddi Chase**	ABC	^[11]
1991
1991	Long Road Home	Jane-Howard Hammerstein	The novel by Ronald B. Taylor	NBC	^[12]
1992
	The Broken Cord	Ann Beckett	The book by Michael Dorris	ABC	^[13]
	Miss Rose White	Anna Sandor	The play A Shayna Maidel by Barbara Lebow	NBC	^[13]
1993
	Barbarians at the Gate	Larry Gelbart	The book by Bryan Burrough and John Helyar	HBO	^[14]
	Silent Cries	Walter Halsey Davis, and Vickie Patik	*The book Guests of the Emperor* by Janice Young Brooks**	NBC	^[14]
1994
1994	A Family Torn Apart	Matthew Bombeck	*The book Sudden Fury: A True Story of Adoption and Murder* by Leslie Walker**	NBC	^[15]
1995
	Citizen X	Chris Gerolmo	*The book The Killer Department* by Robert Cullen**	HBO	^[16]
	Joseph	Lionel Chetwynd	The novel by James Carrington	TNT	^[16]
1996
	The Boys Next Door	William Blinn	The play by Tom Griffin	CBS	^[17] ^[18]
	Homecoming	Christopher Carlson and Mark Jean	The novel by Cynthia Voigt	Showtime
	Kissinger and Nixon	Lionel Chetwynd	The book Kissinger: A Biography by Walter Isaacson	TNT
1997
	Bastard Out of Carolina	Anne Meredith	The novel by Dorothy Allison	Showtime	^[19] ^[20]
	George Wallace	Paul Monash and Marshall Frady	The book Wallace: The Classic Portrait of Alabama Governor George Wallace by Frady	TNT
	The Hunchback	John Fasano	The novel The Hunchback of Notre-Dame by Victor Hugo	TNT
	In the Gloaming	Will Scheffer	A New Yorker short story by Alice Elliott Dark	HBO
1998
	The Love Letter	James Henerson	The short story by Jack Finney	CBS	^[21] ^[22]
	Don King: Only in America	Kario Salem	The book Only in America: The Life and Crimes of Don King by Jack Newfield	HBO
	Thicker Than Blood	Bill Cain	The play Stand-Up Tragedy by Cain	TNT
1999
	The Confession	David Black	*The novel Fertig* by Sol Yurick**	Cinemax	^[23] ^[24]
	A Cooler Climate	Marsha Norman	The book by Zena Collier	Showtime
	Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years	Emily Mann	The book by Sarah Louise Delany, Annie Elizabeth Delany and Amy Hill Hearth	CBS
	The Devil's Arithmetic	Robert J. Avrech	The novel by Jane Yolen	Showtime

2000s

Year	Program	Writer(s)	Source material	Network	Ref.
2000
	RKO 281	John Logan	The film The Battle Over Citizen Kane by Richard Ben Cramer and Thomas Lennon from American Experience	HBO	^[25] ^[26]
	Tuesdays with Morrie	Thomas Rickman	The book by Mitch Albom	ABC
	Deliberate Intent	Andy Wolk and Lisa Mohan	The book by Rod Smolla	FX
	A House Divided	Paris Qualles	The book Woman of Color, Daughter of Privilege: Amanda Dickson by Kent Anderson Leslie	Showtime
2001
	Anne Frank: The Whole Story	Kirk Ellis	*The book Anne Frank: The Biography* by Melissa Müller**	ABC	^[27] ^[28]
	Baby	David Manson, Kerry Kennedy and Patricia MacLachlan	The novel by MacLachlan	TNT
	The Mists of Avalon	Gavin Scott	The novel by Marion Zimmer Bradley	TNT
	Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows	Robert L. Freedman	The memoir by Lorna Luft	ABC
	The Song of the Lark	Joseph Maurer	The novel by Willa Cather	PBS
2002
	Band of Brothers "Bastogne"	Bruce C. McKenna	The book by Stephen E. Ambrose	HBO	^[29] ^[30]
	Last Call	Henry Bromell	The memoir Against the Current: As I Remember F. Scott Fitzgerald by Frances Kroll Ring	Showtime
	Hysterical Blindness	Laura Cahill	The book by Cahill	HBO
	Roughing It	Steven H. Berman	The book by Mark Twain	Hallmark
2003
	Out of the Ashes	Anne Meredith	*The book I Was a Doctor in Auschwitz* by Gisella Perl**	Showtime	^[31] ^[32]
	Normal	Jane Anderson	The play Looking for Normal by Anderson	HBO
	Rudy: The Rudy Giuliani Story	Stanley Weiser	The book Rudy!: An Investigative Biography of Rudy Giuliani by Wayne Barrett	USA Network
	The Stranger Beside Me	Matthew McDuffie and Matthew Tabak	The book by Ann Rule	USA Network
2004
	Angels in America	Tony Kushner	The play by Kushner	HBO	^[33]
	Cavedweller	Anne Meredith	The novel by Dorothy Allison	Showtime
	The Wool Cap	William H. Macy and Steven Schachter	The film Gigot by Gene Kelly	TNT
2005
	The Life and Death of Peter Sellers	Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely	The book by Roger Lewis	HBO	^[35] ^[36]
	The Colt	Stephen Harrigan	The short story by Mikhail Sholokhov	Hallmark
	Lackawanna Blues	Ruben Santiago-Hudson	The play by Santiago-Hudson	HBO
	Our Fathers	Thomas Michael Donnelly	The book by David France	Showtime
2006
2006	Not awarded				^[37]
2007
	The Company	Ken Nolan	The novel by Robert Littell	TNT	^[38] ^[39]
	Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee	Daniel Giat	The book by Dee Brown	HBO
	The Starter Wife	Josann McGibbon and Sara Parriott	The novel by Gigi Levangie	USA Network
2008
	John Adams "Join or Die", "Independence"	Kirk Ellis	The book by David McCullough	HBO	^[40] ^[41]
	Generation Kill "Stay Frosty", "Bomb in the Garden"	Ed Burns and David Simon	The book by Evan Wright	HBO
	The Memory Keeper's Daughter	John Pielmeier	The novel by Kim Edwards	Lifetime
2009
	Taking Chance	Michael Strobl and Ross Katz	The journal by Strobl	HBO	^[42] ^[43]
	America	Joyce Eliason and Rosie O'Donnell	The novel by E. R. Frank	Lifetime	^[42] ^[43]

2010s

Year	Program	Writer(s)	Source material	Network	Ref.
2010
	The Pacific "Part Eight: Iwo Jima"	Robert Schenkkan and Michelle Ashford	Various sources ^[b]	HBO	^[44] ^[45]
	The Pillars of the Earth	John Pielmeier	The novel by Ken Follet	Starz
	Temple Grandin	Christopher Monger and William Merritt Johnson	The memoirs Emergence by Temple Grandin and Margaret Scariano, and Thinking in Pictures by Grandin	HBO
	The Pacific "Part Four: Gloucester/Pavuvu/Banika"	Robert Schenkkan and Graham Yost	Various sources	HBO
2011
	Too Big to Fail	Peter Gould	The book by Andrew Ross Sorkin	HBO	^[46]
	Mildred Pierce	Todd Haynes and Jon Raymond	The novel by James M. Cain	HBO	^[46]
2012
	Game Change	Danny Strong	The book by Mark Halperin and John Heilemann	HBO	^[47]
	Coma "Part 1", "Part 2"	John J. McLaughlin	The novel by Robin Cook	A&E	^[47]
2013
	Muhammad Ali's Greatest Fight	Shawn Slovo	The book by Howard Bingham and Max Wallace	HBO	^[48] ^[49]
	Killing Kennedy	Kelly Masterson	The book by Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard	Nat Geo	^[48] ^[49]
2014
	Olive Kitteridge	Jane Anderson	The novel by Elizabeth Strout	HBO	^[50]
	Houdini	Nicholas Meyer	The book Houdini: A Mind in Chains: A Psychoanalytic Portrait by Bernard C. Meyer	History
	Klondike	Paul Scheuring, Josh Goldin, Rachel Abramowitz	The book Gold Diggers: Striking It Rich in the Klondike by Charlotte Gray	Discovery
	The Normal Heart	Larry Kramer	The play by Kramer	HBO
	The Leftovers "Pilot"	Damon Lindelof and Tom Perrotta	The novel by Perrotta	HBO
2015
	Fargo	Steve Blackman, Bob DeLaurentis, Noah Hawley, Ben Nedivi, and Matt Wolpert	The film by Joel Coen and Ethan Coen	FX	^[51]
	The Red Tent	Elizabeth Chandler and Anne Meredith	The novel by Anita Diamant	Lifetime
	Show Me a Hero	David Simon and William F. Zorzi	The book by Lisa Belkin	HBO
2016	The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story	Scott Alexander, Joe Robert Cole, D.V. DeVincentis, Maya Forbes, Larry Karaszewski and Wally Wolodarsky	*The book The Run of His Life: The People v. O.J. Simpson* by Jeffrey Toobin**	FX	^[52]
	11.22.63	Bridget Carpenter, Brigitte Hales, Joe Henderson, Brian Nelson and Quinton Peeples	The novel by Stephen King	Hulu
	Madoff	Ben Robbins	The book The Madoff Chronicles: Inside the Secret World of Bernie and Ruth by Brian Ross	ABC
	The Night Of	Richard Price and Steven Zaillian	The television series Criminal Justice by Peter Moffat	HBO
	Roots	Lawrence Konner, Alison McDonald, Charles Murray and Mark Rosenthal	The novel Roots: The Saga of an American Family by Alex Haley	History
2017	Big Little Lies	David E. Kelley	The novel by Liane Moriarty	HBO	^[53]
	Fargo	Monica Beletsky, Bob DeLaurentis, Noah Hawley, Ben Nedivi and Matt Wolpert	The film by Joel Coen and Ethan Coen	FX
	The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks	Peter Landesman, Alexander Woo and George C. Wolfe	The book by Rebecca Skloot	HBO
	The Wizard of Lies	Sam Levinson, John Burnham Schwartz and Samuel Baum	The book by Diana B. Henriques and Truth and Consequences by Laurie Sandell	HBO
2018	The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story	Maggie Cohn and Tom Rob Smith	*The book Vulgar Favors* by Maureen Orth**	FX	^[54]
	The Looming Tower	Bash Doran, Dan Futterman, Alex Gibney, Shannon Houston, Adam Rapp, Ali Selim and Lawrence Wright	The novel by Lawrence Wright	Hulu
	Maniac	Nick Cuse, Cary Joji Fukunaga, Amelia Gray, Danielle Henderson, Mauricio Katz, Patrick Somerville and Caroline Williams	The television series by Espen PA Lervaag, Håakon Bast Mossige, Kjetil Indregard and Ole Marius Araldsen	Netflix
	Sharp Objects	Ariella Blejer, Scott Brown, Vince Calandra, Gillian Flynn, Dawn Kamoche, Alex Metcalf and Marti Noxon	The novel by Flynn	HBO
2019	Fosse/Verdon	Debora Cahn, Joel Fields, Ike Holter, Thomas Kail, Steven Levenson, Charlotte Stoudt, Tracey Scott Wilson	*The book Fosse* by Sam Wasson**	FX	^[55]
	El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie	Vince Gilligan	The television series Breaking Bad by Vince Gilligan	Netflix
	Unbelievable	Michael Chabon, Susannah Grant, Becky Mode, Jennifer Schuur and Ayelet Waldman	Various source ^[c]	Netflix
	The Loudest Voice	John Harrington Bland, Laura Eason, Tom McCarthy, Alex Metcalf, Gabriel Sherman and Jennifer Stahl	The book The Loudest Voice in the Room by Gabriel Sherman	Showtime

2020s

Year	Program	Writer(s)	Source material	Network	Ref.
2020	The Queen's Gambit	Scott Frank and Allan Scott	The novel by Walter Travis	Netflix	^[56]
	Bad Education	Mike Makowsky	The New York Magazine article "The Bad Superintendent' by Robert Kolker	HBO
	Clouds	Kara Holden, Casey La Scala & Patrick Kopka	The book Fly A Little Higher by Laura Sobiech	Disney+
	The Good Lord Bird	Jeff Augustin, Ethan Hawke, Erika L. Johnson, Mark Richard, Kristen SaBerre, Lauren Signorino	The novel by James McBride	Showtime
	Little Fires Everywhere	Harris Danow, Rosa Handelman, Shannon Houston, Attica Locke, Raamla Mohamed, Amy Talkington, Liz Tigelaar, Nancy Won	The novel by Celeste Ng	Hulu
2021	Maid	Bekah Brunstetter, Marcus Gardley, Michelle Denise Jackson, Colin McKenna, Molly Smith Metzler	*The book Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother's Will to Survive* by Stephanie Land**	Netflix	^[57]
	Impeachment: American Crime Story	Flora Birnbaum, Sarah Burgess, Halley Feiffer, Daniel Pearle	The book A Vast Conspiracy by Jeffrey Toobin	FX
	The Underground Railroad	Jihan Crowther, Allison Davis, Jacqueline Hoyt, Barry Jenkins, Nathan C. Parker, Adrienne Rush	The novel by Colson Whitehead	Prime Video
	Halston	Ian Brennan, Ted Malawer, Ryan Murphy, Tim Pinckney, Sharr White, Kristina Woo	The book Simply Halston by Steven Gaines	Netflix
	WandaVision	Peter Cameron, Mackenzie Dohr, Laura Donney, Bobak Esfarjani, Chuck Hayward, Megan McDonnell, Jac Schaeffer, Cameron Squires	The Marvel Comics	Disney+

Notes

^ Escape from Sobibor was based on the book of the same name by Richard Rashke, the manuscript "From the Ashes of Sobibor" by Thomas Blatt and the book Inferno in Sobibor by Stanisław Szmajzner.
^ The Pacific is based on the memoirs Helmet for My Pillow by Robert Leckie and With the Old Breed by Eugene Sledge, with additional material from Red Blood, Black Sand by Chuck Tatum and China Marine by Eugene Sledge.
^ Unbelievable is based on the ProPublica and The Marshall Project article "An Unbelievable Story of Rape" by T. Christian Miller and Ken Armstrong and This American Life radio episode “Anatomy of Doubt".

References

External links

[8] Escape from Sobibor was based on the book of the same name by Richard Rashke, the manuscript "From the Ashes of Sobibor" by Thomas Blatt and the book Inferno in Sobibor by Stanisław Szmajzner.

[45] The Pacific is based on the memoirs Helmet for My Pillow by Robert Leckie and With the Old Breed by Eugene Sledge, with additional material from Red Blood, Black Sand by Chuck Tatum and China Marine by Eugene Sledge.

[58] Unbelievable is based on the ProPublica and The Marshall Project article "An Unbelievable Story of Rape" by T. Christian Miller and Ken Armstrong and This American Life radio episode “Anatomy of Doubt".

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