“Moonlight” won the best screen adaptation award at Saturday evening’s USC Libraries Scripter Awards, presented at a ceremony at USC’s Edward L. Doheny Jr. Memorial Library.
Writer-director Barry Jenkins’ screenplay — based on the unproduced play “In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue” by Tarell Alvin McCraney — won the award over the films “Arrival,” “Fences,” “Hidden Figures” and “Lion.”
The Scripter for a television adaptation was a tie between “The Night Manager” and “The People v. O.J. Simpson.”
The other television nominees were writers behind individual episodes of “Game of Thrones,” “The Man in the High Castle” and “Orange is the New Black.”
Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, the writers of “O.J.,” met at USC, where they both graduated from its film school.
The Scripter Award — established in 1988 — honors authors of printed works and the screenwriters who adapt their stories.
Academy Award winners, actress Helen Mirren and director Taylor Hackford, served as honorary dinner chairs.
— City News Service