Enron Doc Takes Writers Guild Award

By Rich Drees

     February 3, 2006- The documentary Enron: The Smartest Guys In The Room, which charts the scandal that brought down the Texas-based energy conglomerate, has won the Writers Guild Award for documentary screenplay.

     Accepting the award was the film’s director and producer Alex Gibney, who adapted the film’s screenplay from the book The Smartest Guys in The Room: The Amazing Rise And Scandalous Fall Of Enron by Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind.

     "In a banner year for documentaries that included parading penguins, cowboy cupids, Peruvian politicos, and a mayoral melee, Alex's film on the Enron accounting scandal stood out as a stinging indictment of greed in American society,” stated Writers Guild president Patric M. Verrone in a statement released after the Wednesday evening ceremony. “Gibney's gripping documentary of the Enron accounting scandal is a testament to how powerful nonfiction storytelling can be.”

     The award comes two days into the criminal trials of former Enron Corporation executives Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling for fraud and conspiracy.

     The film is also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.