USC Libraries Name Finalists for 32nd-Annual Scripter Awards

The USC Libraries named the finalists for the 32nd-annual USC Libraries Scripter Award, which honors the year's most accomplished film and television adaptations, as well as the works on which they are based.

• Matthew Carnahan and Mario Correa for "Dark Waters" based on the New York Times Magazine article "The Lawyer Who Became DuPont's Worst Nightmare" by Nathaniel Rich
• Steven Zaillian for "The Irishman" based on the nonfiction work "I Heard You Paint Houses" by Charles Brandt
• Taika Waititi for "JoJo Rabbit" based on the novel "Caging Skies" by Christine Leunens
• Author Louisa May Alcott and screenwriter Greta Gerwig for "Little Women"
• Anthony McCarten for "The Two Popes" based on his play "The Pope"

The finalist writers for television are, in alphabetical order by series title:

• Phoebe Waller-Bridge, for the first episode of "Fleabag" based on her one-woman play of the same name
• Joel Fields and Steven Levenson for the episode "Nowadays," from "Fosse/Verdon," based on the biography "Fosse" by Sam Wasson
• Emerald Fennell for the episode "Nice and Neat," from "Killing Eve," based on the novel "Codename Villanelle" by Luke Jennings
• Susannah Grant, Michael Chabon and Ayelet Waldman for the first episode of "Unbelievable," based on the article "An Unbelievable Story of Rape," by T. Christian Miller and Ken Armstrong
• Damon Lindelof and Cord Jefferson for the episode "This Extraordinary Being," from "Watchmen" based on the comic book series by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons

Chaired by USC professor and past president of the Writers Guild of America, West, Howard Rodman, the 2020 Scripter selection committee selected the finalists from a field of 61 film and 58 television adaptations.

Serving on the selection committee, among many others, are film critics Leonard Maltin, Anne Thompson and Kenneth Turan; authors Lisa Belkin, Steve Erickson and Michael Ondaatje; screenwriters Larry Karaszewski and Erin Cressida Wilson; producers Mike Medavoy and Suzanne Todd; and USC deans Elizabeth Daley of the School of Cinematic Arts and Catherine Quinlan of the USC Libraries.

The studios distributing the finalist films and current publishers of the printed works are:

• "Dark Waters"-Focus Features and New York Times Magazine
• "The Irishman"-Netflix and Steerforth Press
• "JoJo Rabbit"-Fox Searchlight and Harry N. Abrams
• "Little Women"-Sony Pictures and Signet Classics
• "The Two Popes"-Netflix and Flatiron Books

The networks and streaming platforms broadcasting the finalist television series and current publishers of the works are:

• "Fleabag"-Amazon and Nick Hern Books
• "Fosse/Verdon"-FX and Mariner Books
• "Killing Eve"-BBC America and Mulholland Books
• "Unbelievable"-Netflix and ProPublica & The Marshall Project
• "Watchmen"-HBO and DC Comics

The USC Libraries will announce the winning authors and screenwriters at a black-tie ceremony on Saturday, Jan. 25, 2020 in the historic Edward L. Doheny Jr. Memorial Library on the University Park campus of the University of Southern California. Since 1988, Scripter has honored the authors of printed works alongside the screenwriters who adapt their stories. In 2016, the USC Libraries inaugurated a new Scripter award, for television adaptation. Television and film finalists compete in separate categories.

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