To all the other nominees in the category, have fun at the Oscars, LOSERS!"
-Bo Burnham accepting his WGA prize for Original Screenplay
This is not common at all but last night the Writers Guild of America opted to ditch the Best Picture nominated films and instead chose Can You Ever Forgive Me? in Adapted and Eighth Grade (which was not even nominated for the Oscar *sniffle*) in Original as the year's best screenplays. Though the WGA and the Oscar winners only line up about half the time (some of that due to eligibility differences) it's pretty rare that the WGA skips Best Picture nominees if they have the option of awarding them. The last time they gave their Adapted Screenplay prize to a non Oscar Best Pic contender was American Splendor (2003) and the last time they gave their Original Screenplay to a non Oscar Best Pic contender was Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) so we're talking quite a while ago. It's so uncommon that it happening in both categories simultaneously is a downright shock; it's literally never happened in the history of the WGA...
At least not in the history since 1985 which is when the WGA began to divide their prizes the same way that Oscar does.
Since both Eighth Grade and Can You Ever Forgive Me? are in our forthcoming top ten list AND nominated at our own awards, and we believe awards season should always air on the side of 'spreading the wealth,' we highly approve of this shocking result. At the Oscars, though, the signs are pointing to BlacKkKlansman for Adapted and one of the Best Picture nominees in Original, but which...
My head and heart tell me that The Favourite should be impossible to deny in Original Screenplay given the frankly awesome dialogue and razor sharp storytelling. On the other hand Green Book is popular enough within Hollywood to win something on Oscar night besides just 'Supporting' Actor for Mahershala Ali, so screenplay seems the likeliest place.
You can see a full list of WGA winners and check out acceptance speeches here.