“Baby Reindeer” and “Fargo” are big competitors – GoldDerby

Netflix and FX

In the Best Miniseries/Television Movie Screenplay category, 89 entries are nominated for the 2024 Emmys, 22 fewer than last year but still enough to earn six nominations. This category has been interesting to watch, especially last year when, for the first time, three TV movies were nominated after being completely avoided for seven years: Weird: The Al Yankovic Story (Al Yankovic And Eric Appel), “Fire Island” (Joel Kim Booster) and “Prey” (Patrick Aison and Daniel Trachtenberg). The other half of the category last year was the limited/anthological series “Swarm” (Donald Glover and Janine Nabers), “Fleishman is in trouble” (Taffy Brodesser-Akner) and the winner “Beef” (Lee Sung-Jin).

Another reason for the low number of submissions is that all but one of these potential miniseries candidates have individual entries for their programs, a pattern that emerges in the Writing category and can be attributed to one of two reasons. For quite a few of these shows, only one writer wrote all of the episodes of the respective series alone, leaving no choice but to submit the show as a whole to meet Emmy rules, which include “Baby Reindeer” (Richard Gadd), “Ripley” (Steven Zaillian) and “Feud: Capote vs. The Swans” (Jon Robin Baitz).

Of the shows given the freedom to select episodes from their seasons, nearly all opted for a single submission, eliminating any possibility of vote splitting. And for many top contenders, the selections corresponded to either their premiere or finale, which fare well in the nominations. Entering their introductory hours are “Fargo” (“The Tragedy of the Commons”), “The Sympathizer” (“Death Wish”) and “Fellow Travelers” (“You’re Wonderful”), and previous two-time winner “Black Mirror” also entered the nod for the first episode of its anthology season (“Joan Is Awful”). Entering their final hours are “True Detective: Night Country” (“Part 6”), “Masters of the Air” (“Part 9”) and “Lessons in Chemistry” (“Introduction to Chemistry”).

SEE Watch our lively chats with hundreds of 2024 Emmy nominees

Other miniseries to keep an eye on include “A Murder at the End of the World,” which won an award at the Writers Guild of America Awards earlier this year and was shortlisted for its second episode, and “Expats,” which submitted its penultimate episode written by the creator Lulu Wang. “Under the Bridge” is the only likely contender that decided to submit multiple episodes to the competition, taking advantage of the premiere/finale prototype and also aiming for a fourth episode.

And after last year, it’s wise to keep an eye out for more TV movies being added to that schedule, including “Mr. Monk’s Case: A Monk Movie” – which could secure the first writing credit for the franchise after the original failed to do so in its eight-year run – “Red, White & Royal Blue,” the WGA Award winner “Quiz Lady” and “The Caine Story,” which follows the late William Friedkin for his final project.

Several factors go into deciding which anthology series writers choose. This is especially true this year, as many anthology series that were nominated in previous years are making a comeback. Some of them retain their original creators, such as Noah Hawley for “Fargo” and Charlie Brooker for “Black Mirror.” Although the writers are not on the ballot, many of these shows have a number of established names behind them, such as Zaillian, Friedkin, Wang and Park Chan-wook for “The Sympathizer.” Combine that with miniseries that are rapidly gaining popularity and buzz since their debut like “Baby Reindeer,” and it’s harder than ever to make predictions in this category. So it will be interesting to see who makes the cut when the nominations are announced on July 17.

Here are some of the top contenders to consider in your 2024 Emmy predictions for Best Screenplay for a Miniseries/Television Movie:

“Baby Reindeer”
Richard Gadd

“Fargo” – The Movie
“The Tragedy of the Commons” (Noah Hawley)

“Ripley” – Translation
Steven Zaillian

“True Detective: Nightland”
“Part 6” (Issa López)

“The Sympathizer”
“Death Wish” (Park Chan-wook and Don McKellar)

“Chemistry lessons”
“Introduction to Chemistry” (Lee Eisenberg)

“Fellow travelers”
“You are wonderful” (Ron Nyswaner)

“Black Mirror”
“Joan is terrible” (Charlie Brooker)

“Master of the Skies”
“Part Nine” (John Orloff & Joel Anderson Thompson)

“Feud: Capote vs. The Swans”
Jon Robin Baitz

“A murder at the end of the world”
“Chapter 2: The Silver Deer (Brit Marling, Zal Batmanglij, Melanie Marnich & Rebecca Roanhorse)

“Foreigners”
“Central” (Lulu Wang)

“Under the bridge”
“The Mirror” (Quinn Shephard)
“Beautiful British Columbia” (Stuti Malhotra)
“Only Mercy” (Samir Mehta)

“Mr. Monk’s Last Case: A Monk Movie”
Andy Breckman

“The Court Martial in Honor of the Caine”
William Friedkin

“Quiz Lady”
Jen D’Angelo

“Red, White & Royal Blue”
Matthew Lopez and Ted Malawer

PREDICTIONS the Emmy nominees 2024 until July 17

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