Last week, the USC Libraries announced the finalists for their 34th-annual Scripter Awards, which honor the year's most accomplished film and episodic series adaptations, as well as the works on which they are based. Several entertainment news journalists covered the announcement, including Clayton Davis of Variety; Patrick Hipes of Deadline; Anne Thompson of IndieWire; and Scott Feinberg of The Hollywood Reporter.
Writing for The Wrap, Steve Pond seized on one surprising takeaway:
More than 400 years after writing “Macbeth,” William Shakespeare has been nominated for a Hollywood award for his early 17th-century classic. “The Tragedy of Macbeth,” director Joel Coen’s adaptation of the Bard’s tragedy, has been named a finalist at the 34th annual USC Libraries Scripter Awards, where the nominations go to both the screenwriter of an adaptation and the original author on which the adaptation is based.
In fact, past Scripter Awards have honored other long-deceased writers. In 1996, the Scripter Award went to Jane Austen (1775 – 1817) and screenwriter Emma Thompson for Sense and Sensibility, and in 2014 it went to Solomon Northup (1807 – c.1857) and screenwriter John Ridley for 12 Years a Slave.
Pond also noted that all five finalist films were directed by their writers or co-writers—a first in Scripter history.
The USC Libraries will announce the winning authors and screenwriters at a black-tie ceremony on Saturday, Feb. 26, 2022, in USC's historic Doheny Memorial Library.