“Women Talking,” screenwriter Sarah Polley’s adaptation of Miriam Toews’ novel took home the Scripter Award Saturday evening, beating out “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” and “Top Gun: Maverick,” among other films.
The 35th annual USC Libraries Scripter Award was held Saturday, honoring writers of adapted screenplays and the original works on which they are based. Also nominated on the film side were the writers of “Living” “She Said.”
On the small screen, Will Smith won for the episode “Failure’s Contagious” from “Slow Horses,” adapted from Mick Herron’s novel.
The other nominees were the writers of “The Crown,” “Fleishman is in Trouble,” “Tokyo Vice” and “Under the Banner of Heaven.”
Finalists for the awards were chosen from a field of 101 film and 67 television adaptations, according to USC Libraries. The finalists were chosen by a selection committee chaired by Howard Rodman, USC professor and past president of the Writers Guild of America, West.
Among those serving on the committee are film critics Leonard Maltin and Anne Thompson; authors Walter Mosley and Michael Ondaatje; and screenwriters Eric Roth and Erin Cressida Wilson.
The winners were announced during a ceremony at USC’s Edward L. Doheny Jr. Memorial Library. The event marked a return to an in-person ceremony, following two years of virtual presentations due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Here is the formal list of winners:
FILM
— Screenwriter Sarah Polley and novelist Miriam Toews for “Women Talking.”
TELEVISION
— Will Smith for the episode “Failure’s Contagious,” from “Slow Horses,” based on the novel by Mick Herron.