USC Scripter Award Finalists Announced
The Scripter is presented annually by USC Libraries to the writers of the most accomplished cinematic adaptation of a book, novella or short story. Tony Award-winning actor Jason Alexander will serve as master of ceremonies for the 2008 gala.
This year’s finalists, in alphabetical order by film title, are: screenwriter Christopher Hampton for Atonement, based on the novel by Ian McEwan; screenwriter Sean Penn and adventure writer Jon Krakauer for Into the Wild; screenwriters Joel and Ethan Coen and Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Cormac McCarthy for No Country for Old Men; screenwriter Paul Thomas Anderson for There Will Be Blood, based on the book Oil by Upton Sinclair; and true-crime author – and former San Francisco Chronicle cartoonist – Robert Graysmith for Zodiac, adapted by James Vanderbilt.
Penn, the Coen brothers and Anderson also directed the films that earned them a Scripter nomination.
The 39-member selection committee, helmed this year by Academy Award-nominated screenwriter Naomi Foner Gyllenhaal, determined the five finalists from a field of more than 50 eligible films – the most in Scripter history.
“This was a banner year for adaptations,” Gyllenhaal said. “Each of the fine nominated screenplays draws on significant published writing to provide us with a provocative film that examines where we are as a culture today. These screenplays are more than translations; they are each original in their own way, without losing the spirit of where they began. And they leave the audience with questions to answer as they walk out of the theatre. What could be better?”
The studios distributing the Scripter finalist films and the publishing houses currently publishing the books on which they are based are: Focus Features for Atonement, published by Anchor Books, an imprint of Random House; Paramount Vantage for Into the Wild, also published by Anchor; Miramax Films for No Country for Old Men, published by Knopf Publishing Group at Random House; Paramount Vantage for There Will Be Blood, based on Oil, published by Penguin Group; and Paramount Pictures for Zodiac, published by Penguin’s Berkley Books.
The Scripter is the only award of its kind that recognizes the authors and the screenwriters of a produced book-to-film adaptation. The selection committee includes Writers Guild of America members, Academy Award-winning and -nominated screenwriters, authors, film-industry executives, USC faculty, the dean of the USC Libraries and selected members of the Friends of the USC Libraries, who sponsor the award.
Past Scripter winners include the authors and screenwriters of Children of Men, Million Dollar Baby, The Hours, A Beautiful Mind, L.A. Confidential, The English Patient and Schindler’s List. The first Scripter was awarded to the writers of 84 Charing Cross Road in 1988.
On behalf of the selection committee, the USC Libraries will announce the winners of the platinum-anniversary Scripter Award Jan. 9. USC Libraries Dean Catherine Quinlan will host the black-tie ceremony at USC’s Doheny Memorial Library Feb. 2.
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The Chronicle of Higher Education mentioned USC’s $6 billion fundraising campaign. The story noted that USC had already raised $1 billion in a “quiet phase,” including the $200 million naming gift from USC Trustee and alumnus David Dornsife and wife Dana Dornsife to the USC Dornsife College.
The Guardian (U.K.) highlighted two major gifts to USC in a list of the 10 biggest philanthropic benefactors in America. The list included the $200 million naming gift from USC Trustee and alumnus David Dornsife and wife Dana Dornsife to the USC Dornsife College, and the $110 million gift from USC Trustee and USC Viterbi School alumnus John Mork and wife Julie to create the USC Mork Family Scholars Program.
The New York Times featured the USC U.S.-China Institute documentary “Assignment: China — The Week that Changed the World.” The documentary, part of a series, examines media coverage of the 1972 Nixon trip that reshaped U.S.-China relations after a quarter century of isolation and hostility. “People look back now and take it for granted that the outcome was preordained,” said the institute’s Mike Chinoy, who produced the documentary. Voice of America also featured the story.
Los Angeles Times featured the Oscar Senti-meter, a tool developed by the USC Annenberg School, Los Angeles Times and IBM that analyzes thousands of tweets about the Academy Awards nominees. The story noted that Mexican actor Demian Bechir received an enormous boost on Twitter the day of the nominations, with a total of 6,893 tweets mentioning him, a 47-fold increase from the day before. The story noted the tool uses language-recognition technology developed in collaboration with USC Viterbi School’s Signal Analysis and Interpretation Lab.
The Times of India (India) featured a three-day medical emergency training workshop organized in association with USC. At the workshop, held at GCS Medical College in India, 50 doctors and more than 100 paramedics learned how to improve emergency support systems. William Mallon of the Keck School of USC said that discussion topics included the use of portable ultrasonic devices to scan patients. “The ultrasound applications help physicians make accurate and timely decisions,” he noted. Daily News & Analysis (India) also featured the workshop.
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