Lion King scribe Linda Woolverton has received the eleventh annual Animation Writing Award for lifetime achievement from the Writers Guild of America, West’s Animation Writers Caucus (AWC). The honor, bestowed in recognition of her creative contributions to advance the craft of film and television animation writing, was presented at the AWC’s annual awards ceremony held on Nov. 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,’ comments WGAW president Patric M. Verrone. ‘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.’
While working as a development exec at CBS early in her career, Woolverton wrote two young adult novels, Star Wind and Running Before the Wind. The books were published by Houghton Mifflin and 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 exec, Woolverton was hired to write the screenplay for Beauty and the Beast. The 1991 release won the Golden Globe for Best Comedy/Musical and became the first animated film to be nominated for the Best Picture Academy Award. Woolverton was again hired by Disney to pen The Lion King with Irene Mecchi and Jonathan Roberts, and to 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).
Woolverton later adapted her Beauty and the Beast script for the Broadway stage, garnering a Tony Award nomination for Best Book of a Musical in 1994. She was also awarded the Laurence Oliver Award for Best New Musical in the U.K. 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 and grossing more than $1.4 billion worldwide. In addition, she co-wrote the book for Elton John and Tim Rice’s hit musical Aida, which ran for five years on Broadway.
Most recently,Woolverton penned the screenplay for Tim Burton’s ucpoming live-action/CG adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland. The film stars Johnny Depp and will employ digital performance-capture technology. She is also writing screenplays for Sony and Warner Bros.
Founded in 1994, the WGAW’s Animation Writers Caucus represents more than 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, most recently, Brad Bird. The 2009 Writers Guild Awards will be held on Saturday, Feb. 7, 2009, with simultaneous ceremonies at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles and the Hudson Theatre at the Millennium Broadway Hotel in New York City.
