37th USC Scripter Awards: ‘Conclave’ and ‘Say Nothing’ Take Top Adapted Honors

Conclave has won the USC Libraries Scripter prize for adapted works, following its wins at the Golden Globes, Critics Choice and BAFTA for adapted screenplay The Scripter nominates both the writers of adaptations and the authors of the original works.

Conclave, written by Peter Straughan and based on the novel by Robert Harris, details the behind the scenes look at picking the new Pope when the current one dies, is Oscar-nominated alongside its Scripter competition A Complete Unknown, Nickel Boys and Sing Sing, with the non-Scripter eligible Emilia Pérez.

The USC Scripter remains strong bellwether for the Oscars’ adapted screenplay category, previous Scripter winners that have matched the Academy in the last decade include The Imitation Game (2014), The Big Short (2015), Moonlight (2016), Call Me by Your Name (2017), Nomadland (2020), Women Talking (2022) and American Fiction (2023). Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman (2018) and Sian Heder’s CODA (2022) are the only Scripter-eligible films to win the Academy Award without being nominated by the org.

In a bit of a surprise, Say Nothing won in the episodic series category, with Joshua Zetumer honored for adapting Patrick Radden Keefe’s nonfiction book “Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland.” The series was up against Baby Reindeer, Ripley and Shōgun as well as Slow Horses.

This year, the selection committee, chaired by USC professor and Academy Vice President Howard Rodman, reviewed 42 films and 66 episodic series adaptations to determine the nominees. Winners were revealed in a ceremony at the University of Southern California’s Town & Gown ballroom.

FEATURE FILM

James Mangold and Jay Cocks for A Complete Unknown, adapted from Elijah Wald’s nonfiction book “Dylan Goes Electric! Newport, Seeger, Dylan, and the Night That Split the Sixties”

Peter Straughan for Conclave, based on the novel by Robert Harris – WINNER

RaMell Ross and Joslyn Barnes for Nickel Boys, an adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel “The Nickel Boys”

Clint Bentley and Greg Kwedar (screenplay and story) and Clarence Maclin and John “Divine G” Whitfield (story) for Sing Sing, drawn from John H. Richardson’s Esquire article “The Sing Sing Follies”

Chris Sanders and Peter Brown for The Wild Robot, based on Peter Brown’s beloved children’s book of the same name

TELEVISION

Richard Gadd for the sixth episode of Baby Reindeer, adapted from his stage play

Steven Zaillian for the fifth episode of Ripley, based on Patricia Highsmith’s “The Talented Mr. Ripley”

Joshua Zetumer for “The People in the Dirt” from Say Nothing, inspired by Patrick Radden Keefe’s nonfiction book “Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland” – WINNER

Rachel Kondo and Justin Marks for “Anjin,” the premiere episode of Shōgun, based on James Clavell’s novel.

Will Smith for “Hello Goodbye” from Slow Horses, adapted from Mick Herron’s novel “Spook Street”

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Erik Anderson

Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013.

He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Critics Choice Association (CCA), San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle (SFBAFCC) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.

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