36th USC Scripter Awards: ‘American Fiction’ and ‘Slow Horses’ Take Adapted Screenplay Wins

Cord Jefferson’s American Fiction, based on the novel “Erasure” by Percival Everett has been named the best adapted screenplay for film of 2023.

The USC Libraries Scripter Award honors the writers of the year’s most accomplished film and episodic series adaptations, as well as the writers of the works on which they are based.

Jefferson told the audience that he read Everett’s book in December 2020.

“It felt like I was reading a book written specifically for me,” he said. “It felt like I understood what was going on in these characters with the story at a molecular level.”

Everett’s win marks another Scripter milestone, as he is the first USC professor honored with the prize.

American Fiction, Oppenheimer, Poor Things and The Zone of Interest are Oscar-nominated in Adapted Screenplay, joined by Barbie, which was originally campaigned for and competed in original screenplay – where it’s nominated by the Writers Guild of America (WGA) – but was officially designated as adapted for the Oscars. American Fiction enters the Adapted Screenplay Oscar race with the BAFTA and Critics Choice.

In episodic television, AppleTV+’s Slow Horses was the winner for the episode “Negotiating with Tigers.” The series is based on the novel “Real Tigers” by Mick Herron and the series episode was written by creator Will Smith.

Smith could not attend due to work on the next season of “Slow Horses” but relayed his sentiments through Herron.

“This award is very important to me,” Smith said, “because it also celebrates the author, without whom the show would not exist.”

Earlier in the evening, Linda Cassady accepted the Ex Libris Award, which honors exceptional commitment to the USC Libraries, on behalf of her late husband, George Cassady. Cassady was a longtime USC Board of Councilors member and in 2000 donated the G. Edward, M.D. and Margaret Elizabeth, R.N. Lewis Carroll collection, one of the world’s most significant collections of works by and related to the “Alice in Wonderland” author.

The USC Libraries announced the winners at a black-tie ceremony tonight in the historic Edward L. Doheny Jr. Memorial Library at the University of Southern California. 

The finalist writers and winner for film adaptation are, in alphabetical order by film title: 

• Cord Jefferson for “American Fiction” based on the novel “Erasure” by Percival Everett – WINNER
• Eric Roth and Martin Scorsese for “Killers of the Flower Moon” based on the nonfiction book “Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI” by David Grann
• Christopher Nolan for “Oppenheimer” based on the nonfiction book “American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer” by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin
• Ava DuVernay for “Origin” based on the nonfiction book “Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents” by Isabel Wilkerson
• Screenwriter Tony McNamara and novelist Alasdair Gray for “Poor Things”

The finalist writers for episodic series and winner are, in alphabetical order by series title: 

• Peter Morgan, for the episode “Sleep, Dearie Sleep,” from “The Crown,” based on his stage play “The Audience”
• Scott Neustadter for the episode “Fire,” from “Daisy Jones and the Six,” based on the novel by Taylor Jenkins Reid
• Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann for the episode “Long, Long Time” from “The Last of Us,” based on the video game by Neil Druckmann and Naughty Dog
• Will Smith for the episode “Negotiating with Tigers,” from “Slow Horses,” based on the novel “Real Tigers” by Mick Herron – WINNER
• Max Borenstein, Rodney Barnes and Jim Hecht for the episode “The New World,” from “Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty” based on the nonfiction work “Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley, and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s” by Jeff Pearlman