After directing the raucous comedies “Road Trip,” “Old School” and “Starsky & Hutch,” Todd Phillips made “The Hangover,” which became the highest-grossing R-rated film of all time ($480 million worldwide) last summer. For his encore, he reteams with “Hangover” co-star and fellow ShoWest honoree Zach Galifianakis for the November Warner Bros. release “Due Date,” which also stars Robert Downey Jr.

THR: Would you say your movies have a common theme?

Phillips: They’re about holding on to your youth or putting off responsibility as long as possible. There’s a point in your life where you have to choose responsibility, and the characters are putting off that choice.

I’ve been wanting to get this up since Thursday night, when the Writers Guild held its annual star-studded Beyond Words panel, but too many events piled up. The WGA’s awards-season closer turned out to be a bizarre laugh-riot that managed to skirt almost completely any discussion of the craft of writing.

In attendance were James Cameron (”Avatar”), Jon Lucas & Scott Moore (”The Hangover”), Scott Neustadter (”(500) Days of Summer”), Mark Boal (”The Hurt Locker”), Alex Kurtzman (”Star Trek”), Geoffrey Fletcher (”Precious”), Scott Cooper (”Crazy Heart”) and Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner (”Up in the Air”). Missing were Nora Ephron (”Julie & Julia”), Roberto Orci (”Star Trek”), Michael H. Weber (”(500) Days of Summer”) and Joel and Ethan Coen (”A Serious Man”).

Since it was introduced 70 years ago, the Academy Awards’ original screenplay category has been a breeding ground for fresh new voices, launching careers and solidifying the legacy of writers as diverse as Orson Welles, Billy Wilder and Paddy Chayefsky.

But this year the category looks as thin as a supermodel on a crash diet. The Coen brothers’ “A Serious Man,” Quentin Tarantino’s “Inglourious Basterds” and Bob Peterson’s and Tom McCarthy’s “Up” are likely near-locks for noms. That leaves two slots, one of which could go to Scott Neustadter and Michael Weber for their quirky breakup story “(500) Days of Summer,” an admirable choice.

Beyond that, it gets dicey. Vying for attention, for instance, are the duo behind the “Star Trek” update, Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, who also count cinematic tour de force “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” among their 2009 credits (though the Academy could qualify “Trek”  as adapted — the writers branch will meet in the coming weeks to make rule determinations that could affect pics like that one, writers branch governor Phil Robinson said in an interview.)

The field has changed pretty dramatically over the past several decades. The last time Tarantino was nominated back in 1994 he went up against Woody Allen, Richard Curtis and Peter Jackson; this go-round he could end up pitted against “The Hangover” scribes Scott Moore and Jon Lucas (most recent credit: “Ghosts of Girlfriends Past”), who also are jockeying for a spot.