David Lynch to Posthumously Receive WGAW’s 2025 Laurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement
Los Angeles – Iconic screenwriter and director David Lynch—writer of Blue Velvet (1986), Wild at Heart (1990), Mulholland Drive (2001), and more—has been named the recipient of the Writers Guild of America West’s 2025 Laurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement. The Guild’s lifetime achievement award is presented to members who have “advanced the literature of motion pictures and made outstanding contributions to the profession of the screenwriter.”
“Writer-director David Lynch’s uncompromising vision pushed the boundaries of filmmaking,” said WGAW President Meredith Stiehm. “We’re proud to honor him and his legacy.”
Lynch accepted the Laurel Award for Screenwriting in late 2024 prior to his passing on January 16, 2025.
While studying at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Lynch was first drawn to filmmaking out of a desire to see his paintings move. He left Pennsylvania after three semesters to study at the AFI Conservatory, where he wrote and directed his first feature, Eraserhead (1977). An experimental cult classic, Eraserhead was later selected for preservation the National Film Registry by the US Library of Congress. His work caught the attention of Stuart Cornfeld, personal assistant to film legend Mel Brooks who would go on to hire Lynch to co-write and direct the critically acclaimed biographical drama The Elephant Man (1980) for which he was nominated for Writers Guild Award for Adapted Screenplay, and an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.
Lynch’s next project was the 1984 film adaptation of Frank Herbert’s classic sci-fi novel Dune for the De Laurentis Entertainment Group. Lynch’s experiences working on a large budget studio-driven project inspired him to take a cut in pay in order to maintain complete creative control over his next film, the genre-bending Blue Velvet (1986), which led to Lynch being nominated for an Academy Award for Best Directing, a Golden Globe nomination for Best Screenplay, and Independent Spirit Award nominations for Best Screenplay and Best Directing, and a Writers Guild Award nomination for Original Screenplay. Though polarizing critics and audiences upon release, Blue Velvet established Lynch as a visionary master of psychological horror.
In 1990, along with Mark Frost, Lynch created the surrealist primetime television series Twin Peaks which ran two seasons and won three Golden Globes, two Primetime Emmys, and a Peabody Award. In 1992, Lynch and Robert Engels co-wrote Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, a prequel to the series for which Lynch was nominated for the Palm d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival.
With Barry Gifford, Lynch co-wrote Lost Highway in 1997, the first of three Lynch films set in Los Angeles. In 2006, Lynch wrote and directed his final film, 2006’s Inland Empire. In 2017, Twin Peaks returned for a third season, receiving four Emmy nominations.
David Lynch passed away on January 16, 2025, weeks after accepting the award. The award will be presented by Kyle MacLachlan.
The Laurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement is presented to members who have “advanced the literature of motion pictures and made outstanding contributions to the profession of the screenwriter.” Past Screen Laurel Award recipients include Walter Hill, Charlie Kaufman, Nancy Meyers, James L. Brooks, Elaine May, Oliver Stone, Harold Ramis, David Mamet, Paul Mazursky, Lawrence Kasdan, Eric Roth, Steven Zaillian, Robert Towne, and Lowell Ganz & Babaloo Mandel.
For a press photo of 2025 Screen Laurel Award honoree David Lynch, click here.
Photo by: Josh Telles
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The 2025 Writers Guild Awards Los Angeles ceremony will be livestreamed! Tune in at 4:30 p.m. PT at awards.wga.org.
The Writers Guild Awards honor outstanding writing in film, television, streaming, news (broadcast and digital), radio/audio, and promotional categories. The 2025 Writers Guild Awards (77th Annual) will be held on Saturday, February 15. For more information about the 2025 Writers Guild Awards, please visit awards.wga.org or wgaeast.org/awards.
Please direct Los Angeles-based media inquiries regarding the 2025 Writers Guild Awards to Bob Hopkinson in the WGAW Communications Department at (310) 801-8563 or email: Bob Hopkinson.
Please direct New York-based media inquiries regarding the 2025 Writers Guild Awards to Jason Gordon in the WGAE Communications Department at (212) 767-7809 or email: Jason Gordon.
The Writers Guild of America West (WGAW) and the Writers Guild of America East (WGAE) are labor unions representing writers in motion pictures, television, cable, digital media, and broadcast news. The Guilds negotiate and administer contracts that protect the creative and economic rights of their members; conduct programs, seminars, and events on issues of interest to writers; and present writers’ views to various bodies of government. For more information on the Writers Guild of America West, visit www.wga.org. For more information on the Writers Guild of America East, visit www.wgaeast.org.