The authors and screenwriters behind the film “One Battle After Another” and the series “Death by Lightning” are the recipients of the 38th-annual USC Libraries Scripter Awards.
The annual award honors the year’s most accomplished adaptation of the written word for the screen, including both film and television. This year’s winners were announced at the black-tie Scripter Awards ceremony at USC’s Town and Gown ballroom last night (1/24).
In the film category, writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson and author Thomas Pynchon won the Scripter for “One Battle After Another,” inspired by Pynchon’s novel “Vineland.” The film reimagines Pynchon’s darkly comic vision of American paranoia, political disillusionment, and generational reckoning through a contemporary cinematic lens.
Anderson accepted his award by video message. “I’m very honored to have this award,” he said, “and extremely honored to share it with Thomas Pynchon, which—it’s a great sentence to say.”
Anderson is one of the most acclaimed filmmakers of his generation, known for his distinctive authorial voice and ambitious literary adaptations. His previous films, including “Boogie Nights,” “Magnolia,” and “There Will Be Blood,” have garnered multiple Academy Award nominations.
Pynchon, the author of “Gravity’s Rainbow” and “The Crying of Lot 49,” among other modern classics, is one of the most influential American novelists living today. “Vineland” was published by Little, Brown and Company in 1990.
The two were previously Scripter finalists for the 2014 film “Inherent Vice,” written and directed by Anderson, based on Pynchon’s novel of the same name.
In the episodic series category, screenwriter Mike Makowsky and author Candice Millard took home Scripters for “Death by Lightning,” based on Millard’s nonfiction book “Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine, and the Murder of a President.” The series revolves around the 20th president of the United States, James A. Garfield, and his eventual assassin, Charles Guiteau, dramatizing the political and social forces that shaped Garfield’s brief presidency.
In accepting his award, Makowsky recounted how he became acquainted with Millard’s book.
“It was about eight years ago now that I was at the Grove Barnes & Noble and I picked up this book ‘Destiny of the Republic’ by Candice Millard about the assassination of our 20th president, James Garfield. I’m pleased to say I read it all in one sitting. I was absolutely floored by it, just blown away by the way Candice made history feel electric and immediate and vital.”
Makowsky has written for film and television across genres. He previously adapted a “New York” magazine article into the screenplay for the 2019 HBO film “Bad Education,” which won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Television Movie.
Millard is the author of several bestselling works of narrative nonfiction, including “River of Doubt” and “Hero of the Empire.” Her books have earned widespread acclaim for their rigorous research and cinematic storytelling. “Destiny of the Republic,” which was first published by Doubleday in 2011, won the Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime in 2012.
USC Libraries dean Melissa Just served as emcee for the evening. In her welcoming remarks, she noted what sets the Scripters apart from other adapted-screenplay honors. “The USC Libraries Scripter Awards,” she said, “are unique for focusing solely on uplifting writers—creators of fiction and nonfiction books, and the screenwriters who translate these original works to film and episodic series.”
Beyond honoring the art of adaptation, the annual Scripter ceremony also celebrates the role of libraries, both on the USC campus and in society at large—a theme echoed by USC president Beong-Soo Kim in his remarks.
“The beauty of a library,” President Kim said, “lies in its power to both welcome everyone into its confines and challenge them to broaden and deepen their perspectives and beliefs.”
President Kim, an accomplished cellist, was also part of the evening’s musical entertainment. He accompanied USC Thornton School of Music students Eric Cheng, Chloe Hong, Logan Nelson, Matthew Pakola, and Dylan Tyree on a performance of “On the Nature of Daylight,” from Scripter finalist film “Hamnet.”
Earlier in the evening, acclaimed crime writer Michael Connelly accepted the USC Libraries Scripter Literary Achievement Award.
“I’m at a loss for words, even though that’s my business,” Connelly said. “I write these stories, we make TV shows, they’re entertainments but at the same time you’re trying to explain this place, this place we all love. And sometimes we get it right, and sometimes we’re close. To get acknowledged for this is really beyond the pale.”
Actor Titus Welliver, who portrayed one of Connelly’s most iconic characters for 10 seasons on the series “Bosch” and “Bosch: Legacy,” presented the award.
“I had the incredible privilege to portray Harry Bosch for a decade and for one reason: Michael Connelly,” Welliver said. “I thank you, Mike, for the gift that is Harry. Thank you for entrusting me with the responsibility of depicting your beloved character who has moved so many on the page and on the screen.”
