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Every Emmys Writing for a Limited Series or Movie winner

26 ceremonies, 2000–2025. 26 different winners.

Writing for a Limited Series or Movie was previously known as Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries, Movie or Dramatic Special.

The award also covered dramatic specials until 2020. It became Outstanding Writing for a Limited Series, Movie or Dramatic Special in 2015 and Outstanding Writing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie in 2021.

One band per year, because no winner has gone back-to-back in the years on record. Colored by network; scroll sideways for the full run.
David Mills and David Simon'00
Loring Mandel'01
Larry Ramin and Hugh Whitemore'02
William H. Macy and Steven Schachter'03
Tony Kushner'04
Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely'05
Richard Curtis'06
Frank Deasy'07
Kirk Ellis'08
Andrew Davies'09
Adam Mazer'10
Julian Fellowes'11
Danny Strong'12
Abi Morgan'13
Steven Moffat'14
Jane Anderson'15
D. V. DeVincentis'16
Charlie Brooker'17
Charlie Brooker and William Bridges'18
Craig Mazin'19
Damon Lindelof and Cord Jefferson'20
Michaela Coel'21
Mike White'22
Lee Sung Jin'23
Richard Gadd'24
Jack Thorne and Stephen Graham'25
Wins by network
  1. HBO1454%
  2. Netflix519%
  3. PBS415%
  4. BBC America14%
  5. FX14%
  6. TNT14%

Who kept losing

Counting nominations in this category only, 2000–2025.

Most nominated, never won

  • Noah Hawley4 noms
  • Daniel Giat2 noms
  • Heidi Thomas2 noms
  • Hugh Whitemore2 noms
  • Neil Cross2 noms
  • Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant2 noms

Most losses

  • Noah Hawley4L · 0W
  • Daniel Giat2L · 0W
  • Danny Strong2L · 1W
  • Heidi Thomas2L · 0W
  • Hugh Whitemore2L · 0W
  • Jane Anderson2L · 1W

The full list

YearWinnerNetwork
2025Jack Thorne and Stephen Graham (Adolescence)
beat 4 others
  • Charlie Brooker and Bisha K. Ali (Black Mirror) — "Common People"
  • Kim Rosenstock and Elizabeth Meriwether (Dying for Sex) — "Good Value Diet Soda"
  • Lauren LeFranc (The Penguin) — "A Great or Little Thing"
  • Joshua Zetumer (Say Nothing) — "The People in the Dirt"
Netflix
2024Richard Gadd (Baby Reindeer)
beat 5 others
  • Charlie Brooker (Black Mirror) — "Joan Is Awful"
  • Noah Hawley (Fargo) — "The Tragedy of the Commons"
  • Ron Nyswaner (Fellow Travelers) — "You're Wonderful"
  • Steven Zaillian (Ripley)
  • Issa López (True Detective: Night Country) — "Part 6"
Netflix
2023Lee Sung Jin (Beef) — "The Birds Don't Sing, They Screech in Pain"
beat 5 others
  • Joel Kim Booster (Fire Island)
  • Taffy Brodesser-Akner (Fleishman Is in Trouble) — "Me-Time"
  • Patrick Aison and Dan Trachtenberg (Prey)
  • Janine Nabers and Donald Glover (Swarm) — "Stung"
  • Al Yankovic and Eric Appel (Weird: The Al Yankovic Story)
Netflix
2022Mike White (The White Lotus)
beat 5 others
  • Danny Strong (Dopesick) — "The People vs. Purdue Pharma"
  • Elizabeth Meriwether (The Dropout) — "I'm in a Hurry"
  • Sarah Burgess (Impeachment: American Crime Story) — "Man Handled"
  • Molly Smith Metzler (Maid) — "Snaps"
  • Patrick Somerville (Station Eleven) — "Unbroken Circle"
HBO
2021Michaela Coel (I May Destroy You)
beat 5 others
  • Brad Ingelsby (Mare of Easttown)
  • Scott Frank (The Queen's Gambit)
  • Chuck Hayward and Peter Cameron (WandaVision) — "All-New Halloween Spooktacular!"
  • Jac Schaeffer (WandaVision) — "Filmed Before a Live Studio Audience"
  • Laura Donney (WandaVision) — "Previously On"
HBO
2020Damon Lindelof and Cord Jefferson (Watchmen) — "This Extraordinary Being"
beat 4 others
  • Tanya Barfield (Mrs. America) — "Shirley"
  • Sally Rooney and Alice Birch (Normal People) — "Episode 3"
  • Susannah Grant, Michael Chabon and Ayelet Waldman (Unbelievable) — "Episode 1"
  • Anna Winger (Unorthodox) — "Part 1"
HBO
2019Craig Mazin (Chernobyl)
beat 5 others
  • Brett Johnson, Michael Tolkin and Jerry Stahl (Escape at Dannemora) — "Episode 6"
  • Brett Johnson and Michael Tolkin (Escape at Dannemora) — "Episode 7"
  • Steven Levenson and Joel Fields (Fosse/Verdon) — "Providence"
  • Russell T Davies (A Very English Scandal)
  • Ava DuVernay and Michael Starrbury (When They See Us) — "Part 4"
HBO
2018Charlie Brooker and William Bridges (Black Mirror) — "USS Callister"
beat 5 others
  • Kevin McManus and Matthew McManus (American Vandal) — "Clean Up"
  • Tom Rob Smith (The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story) — "House by the Lake"
  • Scott Frank (Godless)
  • David Nicholls (Patrick Melrose)
  • Mark Frost and David Lynch (Twin Peaks)
Netflix
2017Charlie Brooker (Black Mirror) — "San Junipero"
beat 5 others
  • David E. Kelley (Big Little Lies)
  • Noah Hawley (Fargo) — "The Law of Vacant Places"
  • Ryan Murphy (Feud: Bette and Joan) — "And the Winner Is... (The Oscars of 1963)"
  • Jaffe Cohen, Michael Zam and Ryan Murphy (Feud: Bette and Joan) — "Pilot"
  • Richard Price and Steven Zaillian (The Night Of) — "The Call of the Wild"
Netflix
2016D. V. DeVincentis (The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story) — "Marcia, Marcia, Marcia"
beat 5 others
  • Bob DeLaurentis (Fargo) — "Loplop"
  • Noah Hawley (Fargo) — "Palindrome"
  • David Farr (The Night Manager)
  • Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski (The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story) — "From the Ashes of Tragedy"
  • Joe Robert Cole (The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story) — "The Race Card"
FX
2015Jane Anderson (Olive Kitteridge)
beat 5 others
  • John Ridley (American Crime) — "Episode One"
  • Dee Rees, Christopher Cleveland, Bettina Gilois and Horton Foote (posthumous) (Bessie)
  • Stephen Merchant, Gene Stupnitsky and Lee Eisenberg (Hello Ladies: The Movie)
  • Hugo Blick (The Honorable Woman)
  • Peter Straughan (Wolf Hall)
HBO
2014Steven Moffat (Sherlock) — "His Last Vow"
beat 5 others
  • Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk (American Horror Story: Coven) — "Bitchcraft"
  • Noah Hawley (Fargo) — "The Crocodile's Dilemma"
  • Neil Cross (Luther)
  • Larry Kramer (The Normal Heart)
  • David Simon and Eric Overmyer (Treme) — "...To Miss New Orleans"
PBS
2013Abi Morgan (The Hour)
beat 4 others
  • Richard LaGravenese (Behind the Candelabra)
  • Tom Stoppard (Parade's End)
  • David Mamet (Phil Spector)
  • Jane Campion and Gerard Lee (Top of the Lake)
BBC America
2012Danny Strong (Game Change)
beat 4 others
  • Bill Kerby, Ted Mann and Ronald Parker (Hatfields & McCoys) — "Part 2"
  • Abi Morgan (The Hour)
  • Neil Cross (Luther)
  • Steven Moffat (Sherlock) — "A Scandal in Belgravia"
HBO
2011Julian Fellowes (Downton Abbey)
beat 4 others
  • Todd Haynes and Jonathan Raymond (Mildred Pierce)
  • Steven Moffat (Sherlock) — "A Study in Pink"
  • Peter Gould (Too Big to Fail)
  • Heidi Thomas (Upstairs, Downstairs)
PBS
2010Adam Mazer (You Don't Know Jack)
beat 4 others
  • Michelle Ashford and Robert Schenkkan (The Pacific) — "Part 8"
  • Bruce C. McKenna and Robert Schenkkan (The Pacific) — "Part 10"
  • Peter Morgan (The Special Relationship)
  • William Merritt Johnson and Christopher Monger (Temple Grandin)
HBO
2009Andrew Davies (Little Dorrit)
beat 4 others
  • Ed Burns and David Simon (Generation Kill) — "Bomb in the Garden"
  • Patricia Rozema and Michael Sucsy (Grey Gardens)
  • Hugh Whitemore (Into the Storm)
  • Ross Katz and Michael Strobl (Taking Chance)
PBS
2008Kirk Ellis (John Adams) — "Independence"
beat 4 others
  • Hugh Costello (Bernard and Doris)
  • Heidi Thomas (Cranford)
  • Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant (Extras) — "The Extra Special Series Finale"
  • Danny Strong (Recount)
HBO
2007Frank Deasy (Prime Suspect: The Final Act)
beat 4 others
  • Alan Geoffrion (Broken Trail)
  • Daniel Giat (Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee)
  • Sandy Welch (Jane Eyre)
  • Josann McGibbon and Sara Parriott (The Starter Wife)
PBS
2006Richard Curtis (The Girl in the Café)
beat 4 others
  • Andrew Davies (Bleak House)
  • Nigel Williams (Elizabeth I)
  • Nevin Schreiner (Flight 93)
  • Phyllis Nagy (Mrs. Harris)
HBO
2005Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely (The Life and Death of Peter Sellers)
beat 4 others
  • Richard Russo (Empire Falls)
  • René Echevarria and Scott Peters (The 4400) — "Pilot"
  • Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant (The Office Special)
  • Margaret Nagle (Warm Springs)
HBO
2004Tony Kushner (Angels in America)
beat 4 others
  • Larry Gelbart (And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself)
  • Eugenia Bostwick-Singer, Jennifer Friedes, Sally Robinson and Raymond Singer (Iron Jawed Angels)
  • Elizabeth Egloff, Jane Marchwood and Tom Rickman (The Reagans)
  • Robert Caswell and Peter Silverman (Something the Lord Made)
HBO
2003William H. Macy and Steven Schachter (Door to Door)
beat 4 others
  • Laura Cahill (Hysterical Blindness)
  • Richard Chapman, Timothy Sexton, John Patrick Shanley and Robert Wiener (Live from Baghdad)
  • Hugh Whitemore (My House in Umbria)
  • Jane Anderson (Normal)
TNT
2002Larry Ramin and Hugh Whitemore (The Gathering Storm)
beat 4 others
  • Erik Bork, E. Max Frye, Tom Hanks, Erik Jendresen, Bruce C. McKenna, John Orloff, and Graham Yost (Band of Brothers)
  • Stephen Belber, Leigh Fondakowski, Amanda Gronich, Moisés Kaufman, Jeffrey LaHoste, John McAdams, Andy Paris, Greg Pierotti, Barbara Pitts, Kelli Simpkins and Stephen Wangh (The Laramie Project)
  • Daniel Giat (Path to War)
  • Charles Sturridge (Shackleton)
HBO
2001Loring Mandel (Conspiracy)
beat 4 others
  • Hank Steinberg (61*)
  • Kirk Ellis (Anne Frank: The Whole Story)
  • Robert Freedman (Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows)
  • Mike Nichols and Emma Thompson (Wit)
HBO
2000David Mills and David Simon (The Corner)
beat 4 others
  • John Stockwell (Cheaters)
  • Tom Fontana, Eric Overmyer and James Yoshimura (Homicide: The Movie)
  • Jane Anderson (If These Walls Could Talk 2) — "1961"
  • John Logan (RKO 281)
HBO

More Emmys categories

Lead Actress (Drama)Lead Actor (Comedy)Lead Actress (Comedy)Made for TV MovieWriting (Comedy)Supp. Actor (Limited)Supp. Actress (Limited)Directing (Limited)Variety SpecialVariety Special (Pre-Recorded)Variety Special (Live)Animated ProgramAnimated (One Hour or Less)Animated (Over One Hour)Documentary SeriesSupp. Actor (Drama)All 34 categories

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