2008 Award Recipient

The Writers Guild of America West’s Animation Writers Caucus (AWC) has named writer Linda Woolverton as the honoree of its eleventh annual Animation Writing Award for lifetime achievement, recognizing her creative contributions to advance the craft of film and television animation writing. The Guild’s prestigious award was presented to Woolverton at the AWC’s annual awards ceremony held on November 6 at WGAW headquarters in Los Angeles.

“Linda is one of the few writers about whom it's safe to say that her work has been seen and loved by billions. As if writing the most successful animated film of all time and the only one ever nominated for a Best Picture Oscar isn't enough, adapting her work into a 14-year run on Broadway is nice, too,” commented WGAW President Patric M. Verrone.

While working as a development executive at CBS early in her career, Woolverton wrote two young adult novels, Star Wind and Running Before the Wind. After her books were published by Houghton Mifflin, she soon made the transition from TV development exec to full-time writer, penning teleplays for animated TV shows such as The Berenstain Bears, Ewoks, Teen Wolf, Real Ghostbusters, My Little Pony, The Popples, and DuckTales.

When one of her novels caught the attention of a Disney executive, she was hired to write the screenplay for the Disney animated feature Beauty and the Beast. Upon its release in 1991, the film won the Golden Globe for the Best Comedy/Musical and became the first animated film to be nominated for the Best Picture Academy Award. Later, Woolverton was again hired by Disney to pen Disney’s animated feature The Lion King (co-written by Woolverton and Irene Mecchi and Jonathan Roberts), as well as provide story material for Mulan. Woolverton’s other shared screen credits include Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey (screenplay by Caroline Thompson and Linda Woolverton, based upon The Incredible Journey by Sheila Burnford) and Arctic Circle (narration by Linda Woolverton and Mose Richards and Kristin Gore).

Later, Woolverton went on to adapt her Beauty and the Beast script for the Broadway stage. The hugely popular musical debuted at the Palace Theatre three years after the release of the hit movie. Woolverton received a Tony Award nomination for Best Book of a Musical in 1994, as well as being awarded the Laurence Oliver Award for Best New Musical in the UK. The musical production of Beauty and the Beast ran for 5,464 performances between 1994 and 2007, becoming the sixth-longest-running show in Broadway history, grossing more than $1.4 billion worldwide, and playing in 13 countries and 115 cities during its lengthy run. On the theatrical front, Woolverton also co-wrote the book for Elton John and Tim Rice's hit musical Aida, which ran for five years at the Palace Theatre.

Woolverton most recently penned the screenplay for the live-action/CGI remake of Alice in Wonderful, based on Lewis Carroll’s classic children’s novel and currently in production, directed by Tim Burton and starring Johnny Depp. She is also writing screenplays for Sony and Warner Bros.

The WGAW’s AWC Animation Writing Award is given to a member(s) of the Animation Writers Caucus or Writers Guild who has advanced the literature of animation in film and/or television through the years and made outstanding contributions to the profession of the animation writer. Founded in 1994, the WGAW’s Animation Writers Caucus represents over 600 animation writers and works to advance economic and creative conditions in the field. Through organizing efforts, educational events, and networking opportunities, the Caucus is a leading proponent for animation writers. Recent AWC Writing Award honorees include Jules Feiffer, Jack Mendelsohn, Al Jean, Michael Reiss, and the AWC’s most recent recipient, Brad Bird.