The writers of the feature film One Battle After Another and the TV series Death by Lightning, as well as the authors of the written works from which they were adapted, were recognized with the top prizes at the 38th USC Scripter Awards, a black-tie affair held in the Town & Gown ballroom on the campus of USC, on Saturday night.
One Battle After Another was adapted by Paul Thomas Anderson from the 1990 novel Vineland by Thomas Pynchon. Death by Lightning, a limited series that was adapted from the 2011 nonfiction book Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine, and the Murder of a President by Candice Millard, was written by Mike Makowsky.
Anderson previously was Scripter-nominated for 2007’s There Will Be Blood and 2014’s Inherent Vice, the latter of which also was adapted from a Pynchon novel. Makowsky previously was nominated for the film adaptation Scripter Award for 2020’s Bad Education.
The Scripter winners, like the nominees from which they were chosen, were determined by a jury chaired by USC professor and Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences vp Howard Rodman. Other jurors included critics/journalists Justin Chang and Leonard Maltin (as well as, full disclosure, yours truly); authors Janet Fitch and Jonathan Lethem; screenwriters Eric Roth and Tyger Williams; producers Gail Mutrux and Jennifer Todd; and Elizabeth Daley, dean of the USC School of Cinematic Arts.
In addition to One Battle After Another, this year’s other film adaptation nominees — selected from a field of 43 options — were:
- Guillermo del Toro for Netflix’s Frankenstein based on the novel Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley
- Chloe Zhao and Maggie O’Farrell for Focus’ Hamnet based on O’Farrell’s novel of the same name
- Ira Sachs for Janus’ Peter Hujar’s Day based on the book of the same name by Linda Rosenkrantz
- Clint Bentley and Greg Kwedar for Netflix’s Train Dreams based on the novella of the same name by Denis Johnson
Frankenstein, Hamnet, One Battle After Another and Train Dreams are also nominated for the best adapted screenplay Oscar; Bugonia claimed the fifth slot. The Scripter and the best adapted screenplay Oscar have gone to the same project on 17 occasions: Schindler’s List, Sense and Sensibility, L.A. Confidential, A Beautiful Mind, No Country for Old Men, Slumdog Millionaire, The Social Network, The Descendants, Argo, 12 Years a Slave, The Imitation Game, The Big Short, Moonlight, Call Me by Your Name, Women Talking, American Fiction and, last year, Conclave.
Hamnet nominee Zhao was previously nominated for — and won — the best film adaptation Scripter Award for 2020’s Nomadland. Train Dreams nominees Bentley and Kwedar were nominated for it at the most recept Scripter Awards, for Sing Sing. And Frankenstein nominee del Toro was previously nominated for it for 2022’s Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, which was the first-ever animated nominee.
And in addition to Death by Lightning, this year’s other TV adaptation nominees — selected from a field of 64 options — were:
- Max Hurwitz and Billy Luther for the episode “Ábidoo’niidę́ę́ (What He Had Been Told),” from AMC’s Dark Winds, based on the novels Dancehall of the Dead and The Sinister Pig by Tony Hillerman
- Chandni Lakhani and Scott Frank for the untitled first episode of Netflix’s Dept. Q, based on the novel The Keeper of Lost Causes by Jussi Adler-Olsen
- Will Smith for the episode “Scars,” from Apple’s Slow Horses, based on the novel London Rules by Mick Herron
- Peter Straughan for the PBS series Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light, based on the novel The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel
Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light nominee Straughan was a winner of the most recent film adaptation Scripter Award, for Conclave, and was also nominated for it for 2011’s Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy; he would have become the first person to win Scripter awards for both a film adaptation and a TV adaptation. Slow Horses — and specifically, its writer Smith — has received Scripter nominations in each of the past three years, winning in the first two of those. (No other TV program has won more than once.) And Dept. Q nominee Frank won this award for 2000’s The Queen’s Gambit, and was also nominated for the film adaptation Scripter Award for 1995’s Get Shorty and 2017’s Logan.
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