Photo courtesy: CNN

“Spotlight” remains a competitive force this awards season after winning a Screen Actors Guild Award for best ensemble cast. “Spotlight”—directed by Oscar nominated director and screenwriter Tom McCarthy out of Park Pictures—shone above a host of potential winners, including rival production “The Big Short.” Last Saturday’s SAG Awards honor film and television actors and often play a hand in “predicting” which production will take home an Oscar in parallel categories.

Park Pictures signed McCarthy in 2012, with Executive Producer Jackie Kelman Bisbee noting, ““Filmmakers of Tom’s caliber do not come along often, and we are excited to bring his storytelling abilities to the commercial arena.” McCarthy received the Oscar nomination for Best Director for “Spotlight,” after a successful career as an actor and screenwriter. McCarthy additionally entered the advertising foray with a commercial spot directed for Duracell.

Photo courtesy: THR

The SAG Award and potential Oscar are not McCarthy’s first round of accolades; past projects “The Visitor,” “Win Win” and “The Station Agent” swept award seasons, as well as films in which he starred, such as “All the King’s Men” and “The Lovely Bones.” The Academy previously nominated McCarthy for co-writing Disney’s “Up.”

Actor Mark Ruffalo praised McCarthy and co-writer Josh Singer upon receiving the SAG Award for the cast, saying, “They didn’t take any cheap way. It was always the truth.”