Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie

This is a list of the winners and nominees of the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie.

Winners and nominations

1970s Year Program Episode Nominee(s) Network 1971(23rd)Outstanding Writing in Drama — Adaptation Hollywood Television Theater "The Andersonville Trial" Saul Levitt PBS Hallmark Hall of Fame "Hamlet" John Barton NBC World Premiere NBC Monday & Tuesday Night Movie "Vanished" Dean Riesner Outstanding Writing in Drama — Original Movie of the Week on ABC "Tribes" Marvin Schwarz and Tracy Keenan Wynn ABC CBS Thursday Night Movie "The Brotherhood of the Bell" David Karp CBS World Premiere Movie "San Francisco International Airport" Allan Balter and William Read Woodfield NBC 1972(24th) Outstanding Writing in Drama — Adaptation Movie of the Week "Brian's Song" William Blinn ABC Hallmark Hall of Fame "The Snow Goose" Paul W. Gallico CBS The Homecoming: A Christmas Story Earl Hamner Jr. The New CBS Friday Night Movies "The Glass House" Tracy Keenan Wynn Outstanding Writing in Drama — Original To All My Friends on Shore Allan Sloane CBS Movie of the Weekend "Thief" John D. F. Black ABC The New CBS Friday Night Movies "Goodbye, Raggedy Ann" Jack Sher CBS 1973(25th) Outstanding Writing in Drama — Adaptation The House Without a Christmas Tree Eleanor Perry CBS Bell System Family Theatre "The Red Pony" Ron Bishop and Robert Totten NBC Wednesday Movie of the Week "Go Ask Alice" Ellen M. Violett ABC Outstanding Writing in Drama — Original CBS Thursday Night Movie "The Marcus-Nelson Murders" Abby Mann CBS The New CBS Tuesday Night Movies "Hawkins on Murder" David Karp CBS Wednesday Movie of the Week "That Certain Summer" Richard Levinson and William Link ABC 1974(26th) Best Writing in Drama — Adaptation The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman Tracy Keenan Wynn CBS Hollywood Television Theatre "Steambath" Bruce Jay Friedman PBS NBC Wednesday Night Movie "The Execution of Private Slovik" Richard Levinson and William Link NBC Best Writing in Drama — Original GE Theater "Tell Me Where It Hurts" Fay Kanin CBS CBS Playhouse 90 "The Migrants" Lanford Wilson CBS The New CBS Tuesday Night Movies "Cry Rape!" Will Lorin 1975(27th) Outstanding Writing in a Special Program – Drama or Comedy (Adaptation) IBM Presents Clarence Darrow David W. Rintels NBC ABC Movie Special "QB VII" Edward Anhalt ABC Outstanding Writing in a Special Program – Drama or Comedy (Original) ABC Theater "Love Among the Ruins" James Costigan ABC ABC Theater "The Missiles of October" Stanley R. Greenberg ABC NBC World Premiere Movie "The Law" Joel Oliansky and William Sackheim NBC Queen of the Stardust Ballroom Jerome Kass CBS Special World Premiere ABC Saturday Night Movie "Hustling" Fay Kanin ABC 1976(28th) Outstanding Writing in a Special Program – Drama or Comedy (Adaptation) Fear on Trial David W. Rintels CBS The Entertainer Jeanne Houston, James D. Houston, and John Korty NBC NBC World Premiere Movie "Farewell to Manzanar" Barry Beckerman Outstanding Writing in a Special Program – Drama or Comedy (Original) ABC Theater "Eleanor and Franklin" James Costigan ABC The ABC Friday Night Movie "The Night That Panicked America" Nicholas Meyer and Anthony WilsonABC ABC Theater "I Will Fight No More Forever" Jeb Rosebrook and Theodore Strauss Babe Joanna Lee CBS NBC World Premiere Movie "The Lindbergh Kidnapping Case" JP Miller NBC 1977(29th) Outstanding Writing in a Special Program – Drama or Comedy (Adaptation) Sybil Stewart Stern NBC Bell System Presents "The Man in the Iron Mask" William Bast NBC A Circle of Children Steve Gethers CBS Harry S. Truman: Plain Speaking Carol Sobieski PBS NBC World Premiere Movie "Judge Horton and the Scottsboro Boys" John McGreevey NBC Outstanding Writing in a Special Program – Drama or Comedy (Original) The Big Event "Tail Gunner Joe" Lane Slate NBC The ABC Friday Night Movie "The Boy in the Plastic Bubble" Douglas Day Stewart and Joe Morgenstern ABC ABC Theater "Eleanor and Franklin: The White House Years" James Costigan The Big Event "Raid on Entebbe" Barry Beckerman NBC Victory at Entebbe Ernest Kinoy ABC 1978(30th) Outstanding Writing in a Special Program – Drama or Comedy (Adaptation) Mary White Caryl Ledner ABC Great Performances "Verna: USO Girl" Albert InnauratoPBS Hollywood Television Theatre "Actor" Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee A Love Affair: The Eleanor and Lou Gehrig Story Blanche HanalisNBC The War Between the Tates Barbara Turner Outstanding Writing in a Special Program – Drama or Comedy (Original) The Last Tenant George Rubino ABC Breaking Up Loring Mandel ABC The Defection of Simas Kudirka Bruce Feldman CBS The Gathering James Poe ABC Something for Joey Jerry McNeely CBS The Storyteller Richard Levinson and William Link Outstanding Writing in a Limited Series or Special 1979(31st) The Jericho Mile Michael Mann and Patrick J. Nolan ABC Backstairs at the White House "Book One" Gwen Bagni and Paul Dubov NBC Friendly Fire Fay Kanin ABC Roots: The Next Generations "Chapter 1 – 1880s" Ernest Kinoy Summer of My German Soldier Jane-Howard Hammerstein NBC

1980s Year Program Episode Nominee(s) Network Outstanding Writing in a Limited Series or Special 1980(32nd) Off the Minnesota Strip David Chase ABC Amber Waves Ken Trevey ABC Attica James S. Henerson Hallmark Hall of Fame "Gideon's Trumpet" David W. Rintels CBS Moviola "This Year's Blonde" James Lee NBC 1981(33rd) Playing for Time Arthur Miller CBS Bitter Harvest Richard Friedenberg NBC Masada "Part 4" Joel Oliansky ABC The Shadow Box Michael Cristofer Shōgun "Part 5" Eric Bercovici NBC 1982(34th) Bill Corey Blechman and Barry Morrow CBS Brideshead Revisited "Et in Arcadia Ego" John Mortimer PBS Oppenheimer "Part 5" Peter Prince Sidney Shorr: A Girl's Best Friend Oliver Hailey NBC Skokie Ernest Kinoy CBS 1983(35th) Special Bulletin Marshall Herskovitz and Edward Zwick NBC The Executioner's Song Norman Mailer NBC The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby "Part 4" David Edgar Syndicated Little Gloria... Happy at Last William Hanley NBC Who Will Love My Children? Michael Bortman ABC 1984(36th) ABC Theater "Something About Amelia" William Hanley ABC ABC Theater "The Day After" Edward Hume ABC "The Dollmaker" Susan Cooper and Hume Cronyn Adam Allan Leicht NBC Ernie Kovacs: Between the Laughter April Smith ABC 1985(37th) Do You Remember Love Vickie Patik CBS The Burning Bed Rose Leiman Goldemberg NBC Fatal Vision John Gay The Jewel in the Crown "Crossing the River" Ken Taylor PBS Wallenberg: A Hero's Story Gerald Green NBC Outstanding Writing in a Miniseries or Special 1986(38th) An Early Frost Ron Cowen, Daniel Lipman and Sherman Yellen NBC Lord Mountbatten: The Last Viceroy David Butler PBS Alex: The Life of a Child Carol Evan McKeand and Nigel McKeand ABC Anne of Green Gables "Part 1" Kevin Sullivan and Joe Wiesenfeld PBS Dress Gray "Part 1" Gore Vidal NBC Hallmark Hall of Fame "Love Is Never Silent" Darlene Craviotto CBS 1987(39th) Hallmark Hall of Fame "Promise" Richard Friedenberg, Ken Blackwell and Tennyson Flowers CBS Escape from Sobibor Reginald RoseCBS Hallmark Hall of Fame "Pack of Lies" Hugh Whitemore Nutcracker: Money, Madness & Murder "Part 2" William Hanley NBC A Year in the Life "The First Christmas" Joshua Brand and John Falsey NBC 1988(40th) The Attic: The Hiding of Anne Frank William Hanley CBS Baby M "Part 1" James Steven Sadwith ABC Billionaire Boys Club "Part 1" Gy Waldron NBC Hallmark Hall of Fame "Foxfire" Susan Cooper CBS The Murder of Mary Phagan Jeffrey Lane and George Stevens Jr. NBC 1989(41st) Murderers Among Us: The Simon Wiesenthal Story Abby Mann, Robin Vote and Ron Hutchinson HBO Hallmark Hall of Fame "My Name Is Bill W." William G. Borchert ABC I Know My First Name Is Steven JP Miller and Cynthia Whitcomb NBC Lonesome Dove "Part I: Leaving" William D. Wittliff CBS Roe vs. Wade Alison Cross NBC

1990s Year Program Episode Nominee(s) Network Outstanding Writing in a Miniseries or Special 1990(42nd) American Playhouse "Andre's Mother" Terrence McNally PBS AT&T Presents "The Final Days" Hugh Whitemore ABC "The Incident" Michael Norell and James Norell CBS Hallmark Hall of Fame "Caroline?" Michael De Guzman CBS The Kennedys of Massachusetts William Hanley ABC 1991(43rd) House of Cards Andrew Davies PBSHallmark Hall of Fame "Decoration Day" Robert W. Lenski NBC "Sarah, Plain and Tall" Patricia MacLachlan and Carol Sobieski CBS Paris Trout Pete Dexter Showtime Separate But Equal George Stevens Jr. ABC Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing in a Miniseries or Special 1992(44th) I'll Fly Away "Pilot" Joshua Brand and John Falsey NBC Broadway Bound Neil Simon ABC Doing Time on Maple Drive James Duff Fox Hallmark Hall of Fame "Miss Rose White" Anna Sandor NBC Without Warning: The James Brady Story Robert Bolt HBO 1993(45th) The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom Jane Anderson HBO Barbarians at the Gate Larry Gelbart HBO Citizen Cohn David Franzoni Family Pictures Jennifer Miller ABC Stalin Paul Monash HBO 1994(46th) David's Mother Bob Randall CBS And the Band Played On Arnold Schulman HBO Breathing Lessons Robert W. Lenski CBS Prime Suspect 3 Lynda La PlantePBS Tales of the City Richard Kramer 1995(47th) Serving in Silence: The Margarethe Cammermeyer Story Alison Cross NBC The Burning Season William Mastrosimone, Michael Tolkin and Ron Hutchinson HBO Citizen X Chris Gerolmo Indictment: The McMartin Trial Abby Mann and Myra Mann Hallmark Hall of Fame "The Piano Lesson" August Wilson CBS Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries or Special 1996(48th) Gulliver's Travels Simon Moore NBC The Late Shift George Armitage and Bill Carter HBO Pride and Prejudice Andrew Davies A&E Truman Thomas Rickman HBO The Tuskegee Airmen Paris Qualles, Trey Ellis, Ron Hutchinson, Robert W. Williams and T. S. Cook 1997(49th) Hallmark Hall of Fame "Old Man" Horton Foote CBS Crime of the Century William Nicholson HBO Gotti Steve Shagan Miss Evers' Boys Walter Bernstein Weapons of Mass Distraction Larry Gelbart Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries or Movie 1998(50th) Don King: Only in America Kario Salem HBO From the Earth to the Moon "Apollo One" Graham Yost HBO Gia Jay McInerney and Michael Cristofer Merlin Edward Khmara, David Stevens, and Peter Barnes NBC More Tales of the City Nicholas Wright Showtime 1999(51st) A Lesson Before Dying Ann Peacock HBO The Baby Dance Jane Anderson Showtime Dash and Lilly Jerrold L. Ludwig A&E Pirates of Silicon Valley Martyn Burke TNT The Rat Pack Kario Salem HBO

2000s