Oscar-winning screenwriter Charles Randolph will receive the WGA West’s Paul Selvin Award in recognition of his script for Bombshell, the dramatic retelling of the sexual harassment scandal that brought down Fox News chief Roger Ailes. It will be presented at the 72nd annual Writers Guild Awards‘ L.A. ceremony on February 1 at the Beverly Hilton.
The annual award, named after the guild’s late general counsel, is given to the guild member “whose script best embodies the spirit of the constitutional civil rights and liberties that are indispensable to the survival of free writers everywhere and to which Selvin devoted his professional life.”
“Charles Randolph’s masterful screenplay has turned a challenging and significant cultural moment into a deeply captivating human drama,” said WGA West president David A. Goodman. “His work illustrates that the experience of standing up to abuse transcends the barriers of partisanship and political affiliation. The WGAW is proud to honor him for this outstanding script.”
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Said Randolph, who won an Adapted Screenplay Oscar for 2015’s The Big Short: “I’m moved to receive the Selvin. Since Citizen Kane, screenwriters have told stories based on real people who frustrate easy labels, and I’m proud to be the member of a guild that celebrates human complexity.”
Randolph, a former cultural studies and philosophy professor, began his film career when he was inspired to start writing after spending some time in Los Angeles giving lectures at USC. In 2016, he won the Oscar, the Writers Guild Award and the BAFTA award for best adapted screenplay for The Big Short, which he shared with the acclaimed film’s co-screenwriter-director Adam McKay. His other screenwriting or co-screenwriting credits include Love and Other Drugs (2010), The Interpreter (2005), and The Life of David Gale (2003).
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