MUMBAI: ‘Argo‘ has solidified itself as the film to beat for the Best Picture Oscar. The Ben Affleck directed film has won the Writers Guild of America (WGA) award for best adapted screenplay.

It beat out competition that included ‘Lincoln‘ which was written by Tony Kushner and ‘Silver Linings Playbook‘ which was written and directed by David O Russell.

The award for Best Original Screenplay went to Mark Boal who wrote ‘Zero Dark Thirty‘. It is about how America hunted Osama Bin Laden.

Malik Bendjelloul won for best documentary for ‘Searching for Sugar Man‘. On the television side ‘Breaking Bad‘ won for television drama and comedian Louis C.K.‘s FX series, ‘Louie‘ won for best comedy series.

The HBO comedy ‘Girls‘ won for best new series.

History Channel‘s ‘Hatfields And McCoys‘ won for best original television long form writing and HBO‘s ‘Game Change‘ won for best adapted television long form.

The IFC series ‘Portlandia‘ took the prize for comedy/variety series and ‘The 66th Annual Tony Awards‘ won for best comedy/variety special. ‘The Simpsons‘ won for TV animation.