The USC Libraries have named the writers of Crazy Heart, District 9, An Education, Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire and Up in the Air as finalists for the 22nd annual USC Libraries Scripter Award. Be sure to check out articles in the Los Angeles Times, Variety, and the Hollywood Reporter--as well as recent posts on Sasha Stone's Awards Daily and Kris Tapley's In Contention.
Here's Dan Knapp's article for the USC News Web site:
USC LIBRARIES ANNOUNCE SCRIPTER 2010 FINALISTS
Writers behind five outstanding cinematic adaptations vie for 22nd-annual Scripter Award.
The University of Southern California Libraries have named the writers of Crazy Heart, District 9, An Education, Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire, and Up in the Air as finalists for the 22nd-annual USC Libraries Scripter Award. Established by the Friends of the USC Libraries in 1988, the Scripter Award honors the screenwriter or writers of the year’s most accomplished cinematic adaptation as well as the author of the work upon which the screenplay is based.
The Scripter 2010 finalists, in alphabetical order by film title, are: screenwriter Scott Cooper and author Thomas Cobb for Crazy Heart; screenwriters Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell for District 9, adapted from Blomkamp’s screenplay for the short film Alive in Joburg; screenwriter Nick Hornby and author Lynn Barber for An Education; for Precious, screenwriter Geoffrey Fletcher and Sapphire, author of Push, upon which the screenplay for Precious is based; and screenwriters Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner and author Walter Kirn for Up in the Air.
All of this year’s Scripter finalists are first-time nominees. The winning writers will be announced at the black-tie gala on Feb. 6 at USC’s Doheny Memorial Library.
Chaired for the third year by Academy Award-nominated and Golden Globe-winning screenwriter Naomi Foner, the Scripter selection committee selected the five finalists from the field of eligible adaptations.
“The five works selected were culled from 68 eligible films and cover many genres, including drama, comedy and science fiction, sometimes combining several at once,” said Foner. “We congratulate all five selected writers and the authors of the work from which they were drawn. It has been a privilege to be their audience.”
The 55-member selection committee includes novelist Russell Banks; Grammy Award-winning composer T-Bone Burnett; film critic Leonard Maltin; Catherine Quinlan, dean of the USC Libraries; Fox Filmed Entertainment CEO Tom Rothman; Jennifer and Suzanne Todd, producers of Tim Burton’s upcoming adaptation of Alice in Wonderland; and Oscar-winning screenwriter Steven Zaillian, a multiple Scripter winner and recipient of the inaugural Scripter Literary Achievement Award in 2008.
“We are grateful to our distinguished industry selection committee for choosing five unique screenplays, which illustrate how original and moving films can be adapted from the written word into new and striking visual literature,” Foner added.
The studios distributing the Scripter finalist films and the publishing houses—for those screenplays based on books—are: Fox Searchlight Pictures for Crazy Heart, published by HarperCollins; Tri-Star Pictures for District 9; Sony Pictures Classics for An Education, originally appearing in the literary magazine Granta and subsequently published by Penguin UK; Lionsgate for Precious, published by Vintage Books; and Paramount Pictures for Up in the Air, published by Anchor Books.
Previous Scripter winners include the screenwriters and authors of Slumdog Millionaire, No Country for Old Men, Million Dollar Baby, The Hours, L.A. Confidential, The English Patient, and Schindler’s List.
The USC Libraries will announce the winner of the 2010 Scripter Literary Achievement Award on Jan. 19.