The USC Scripter Awards are presented annually to honor the year’s best film and episodic series adaptations, as well as the original authors of the works on which they are based.
Traditionally, the award is presented at a black-tie gala in USC’s Doheny Memorial Library. However, this year, the event was streamed online due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19).
The Selection Committee
Each year, a selection committee of Writers Guild of America members, Academy Award-winning and -nominated screenwriters, authors, film and television industry executives, faculty and select members of the Friends of USC Libraries narrows down eligible films and episodic series to five finalists for each category.
The winners are announced at a black-tie ceremony on the USC campus, held in USC’s Doheny Memorial Library, each spring. This year’s event was streamed online in a virtual format amid the continuing coronavirus pandemic, but it’s expected to return to an in-person ceremony subject to COVID-19 safety protocols later this month.
Last year, Maggie Gyllenhaal won the Scripter Award for her adaptation of Elena Ferrante’s The Lost Daughter in the film category, while Danny Strong won in TV for an episode of Hulu’s limited series Dopesick, based on Bety Macy’s nonfiction book. This year, Miriam Toews’s novel “Women Talking” and Kazuo Ishiguro’s Tolstoy novella adaptation “Living” were among the Scripter Award finalists.
The Scripter Award
Since 1988, the USC Libraries have awarded the Scripter Award to the best adaptation of a book into a film or television episode. The prize, established by the Friends of the USC Libraries, honors the original author and the screenwriter(s) for their work.
The Scripter Awards Selection Committee, comprised of Writers Guild of America members, authors, screenwriters, filmmakers and other industry professionals, is responsible for reviewing all eligible films and episodes to narrow them down to five finalists each year. They choose the Scripter winner in each category, which is then announced at a black-tie ceremony on the USC campus.
This year’s Scripter finalists include Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, Living, She Said, Top Gun: Maverick and Women Talking. It’s worth noting that “Top Gun: Maverick” is a frontrunner for the Adapted Screenplay prize at the Oscars, with Sarah Polley’s “Women Talking” likely to be a frontrunner for the Writing Prize at the Academy Awards, too.
The Finalists
Every year, the USC Libraries honors the best adaptations of books into film and television at a black-tie gala. This event, which is hosted in the Los Angeles Times Reference Room of the Doheny Memorial Library, provides visibility and support for the USC Libraries.
The Scripter Awards Selection Committee includes Writers Guild of America members, screenwriters, authors, film and television industry executives and faculty. This committee reviews eligible films and episodic series and narrows them down to five nominees for each.
This year, Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, Living, She Said, Top Gun: Maverick and Women Talking are the finalists for the film category. Episodes from The Crown, Fleishman Is in Trouble, Slow Horses, Tokyo Vice and Under the Banner of Heaven are the TV finalists.
The Scripter Award is the only one of its kind that recognizes the author of the original work alongside the adapting screenwriter. In the last 34 years, the Scripter winner has matched the Oscar winner 14 times.
The Winner
In 1988, the USC Scripter Award was established to honor the author and screenwriter of the year’s best adapted screenplay. The award is unique in that it also recognizes the original work, whether it’s a novel, a short story, a play or a magazine article.
The Scripter Awards Selection Committee, chaired by Howard Rodman, a professor of film at USC and past president of the Writers Guild of America West, is made up of 52 writers, producers, journalists and other distinguished members, including several past winners.
They select finalists from a field of 101 film and 67 TV adaptations. Those eligible for the awards are live-action and animated English-language films, limited series, animated television episodes or episodes of a live-action series that have been released domestically during the prior calendar year.
Here’s how the award show looked last year.