The USC Scripter Award (Scripter) is the name given to an award presented annually by the University of Southern California (USC) to honor both authors and screenwriters. Starting in 1988, the USC Libraries Board of Councilors award the year's best film adaptation of a printed work, recognizing the original author and the screenwriter.
In 2016, a second Scripter award, for episodic series adaption, was added. The Literary Achievement Award honors significant contributions to storytelling across form, genre, and medium. The Ex Libris Award recognizes long-time supporters of the USC Libraries. The latter two awards are presented on an occasional basis. Per the Scripter Awards website, "Scripter celebrates writers and writing, collaboration, and the profound results of transforming one artistic medium into another. It stands as an emblem of libraries’ ability to inspire creative and scholarly achievement."
Film 1980s Year Film Nominees Source Material 1988 84 Charing Cross Road Hugh Whitemore The memoir by Helene HanffThe DeadTony HustonThe short story by James JoyceHousekeepingBill ForsythThe novel by Marilynne RobinsonThe Lonely Passion of Judith HearnePeter NelsonThe novel Judith Hearne by Brian MooreThe Princess BrideWilliam GoldmanThe novel by Goldman 1989 The Accidental Tourist Frank Galati and Lawrence Kasdan The novel by Anne TylerEight Men OutJohn SaylesThe book Eight Men Out: The Black Sox and the 1919 World Series by Eliot AsinofEverybody's All-AmericanThomas RickmanThe book by Frank DefordMadame SousatzkaRuth Prawler Jhabvala and John SchlesingerThe book by Bernice Rubens
1990s Year Film Nominees Source Material 1990 Awakenings Steven Zaillian The memoir by Oliver SacksDances with WolvesMichael BlakeThe novel by BlakeGoodfellasNicholas Pileggi and Martin ScorseseThe book Wiseguy by PileggiMiseryWilliam GoldmanThe novel by Stephen KingPresumed InnocentFrank Pierson and Alan J. PakulaThe novel by Scott Turow 1991 Fried Green Tomatoes Fannie Flagg and Carol Sobieski The novel Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by FlaggAt Play in the Fields of the LordHector Babenco and Jean-Claude CarriereThe novel by Peter MatthiessenThe Prince of TidesPat Conroy and Becky JohnstonThe novel by ConroyRambling RoseCalder WillinghamThe novel by WillinghamThe Silence of the LambsTed TallyThe novel by Thomas Harris 1992 A River Runs Through It Richard Friedenberg The novella by Norman MacleanEnchanted AprilPeter BarnesThe novel by Elizabeth von ArnimHowards EndRuth Prawler JhabvalaThe novel by E.M. ForestorMalcolm XArnold Perl and Spike LeeThe book by Malcolm X and Alex HaleyThe PlayerMichael TolkinThe novel by Tolkin 1993 Schindler's List Steven Zaillian The novel Schindler's Ark by Thomas KeneallyThe Age of Innocence Jay Cocks and Martin ScorseseThe novel by Edith WhartonThe Joy Luck ClubAmy Tan and Ronald BassThe novel by TanThe Remains of the DayRuth Prawer JhabvalaThe novel by Kazuo IshiguroSearching for Bobby FischerSteve ZaillianThe novel Searching for Bobby Fischer: The Father of a Prodigy Observes the World of Chess by Fred Waitzkin 1994 The Shawshank Redemption Frank Darabont The short story Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption by Stephen KingForrest GumpEric RothThe novel by Winston GroomLittle WomenRobin SwicordThe novel by Louisa May AlcottNobody's FoolRobert BentonThe novel by Richard RussoQuiz ShowPaul AttanasioThe memoir Remembering America: A Voice From the Sixties by Richard Goodwin 1995 Sense and Sensibility Emma Thompson The novel by Jane AustenApollo 13William Broyles Jr. and Al ReinertThe book Lost Moon by Jim Lovell and Jeffry KlugerCarringtonChristopher HamptonThe book Lytton Strachey by Michael HolroydDevil in a Blue DressCarl FranklinThe book by Walter MosleyGet ShortyScott FrankThe novel by Elmore Leonard 1996 The English Patient Anthony Minghella The novel by Michael OndaatjeCold Comfort FarmMalcolm BradburyThe novel by Stella GibbonsDead Man WalkingTim RobbinsThe book by Helen PrejeanEmmaDouglas McGrathThe novel by Jane AustenThe Portrait of a LadyLaura JonesThe novel by Henry James 1997 L.A. Confidential Curtis Hanson and Brian Helgeland The novel by James Ellroy Donnie Brasco Paul Attanasio The book Donnie Brasco: My Undercover Life in the Mafia by Joseph D. Pistone and Richard Woodley The Rainmaker Francis Ford Coppola The novel by John Grisham The Sweet Hereafter Atom Egoyan The novel by Russell Banks The Wings of the Dove Hossein Amini The novel by Henry James 1998 A Civil Action Steven Zaillian The book by Jonathan Harr Gods and Monsters Bill Condon The novel Father of Frankenstein by Christopher Bram Primary Colors Elaine May The book Primary Colors: A Novel of Politics by Joe Klein A Simple Plan Scott B. Smith The novel by Smith The Thin Red Line Terrence Malick The novel by James Jones 1999 The Hurricane Armyan Bernstein and Dan Gordon The autobiography The Sixteenth Round: From Number 1 Contender To 45472 by Rubin Carter; the book Lazarus and the Hurricane: The Freeing of Rubin "The Hurricane" Carter by Sam Chaiton and Terry Swinton The Cider House Rules John Irving The novel by Irving The End of the Affair Neil Jordan The novel by Graham Greene The Green Mile Frank Darabont The novel by Stephen King The Talented Mr. Ripley Anthony Minghella The novel by Patricia Highsmith
2000s Year Film Nominees Source Material 2000 Wonder Boys Steve Kloves The book by Michael Chabon All the Pretty Horses Ted Tally The novel by Cormac McCarthy Chocolat Robert Nelson Jacobs The novel by Joanne Harris High Fidelity D. V. DeVincentis, Steve Pink, John Cusack, and Scott Rosenberg The novel by Nick Hornby The House of Mirth Terence Davies The novel by Edith Wharton 2001 A Beautiful Mind Akiva Goldsman The book by Sylvia Nasar Bridget Jones's Diary Andrew Davies, Helen Fielding, and Richard Curtis The novel by Fielding In the Bedroom Robert Festinger and Todd Field The short story Killings by Andre Dubus The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Fran Walsh, Peter Jackson, and Philippa Boyens The novel The Fellowship of the Ring by J. R. R. Tolkien The Shipping News Robert Nelson Jacobs The novel by E. Annie Proulx 2002 The Hours David Hare The novel by Michael Cunningham About Schmidt Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor The novel by Louis Begley Adaptation Charlie Kaufman The book The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Fran Walsh, Stephen Sinclair, Peter Jackson, and Philippa Boyens The novel The Two Towers by J. R. R. Tolkien The Pianist Ronald Harwood The memoir by Władysław Szpilman 2003 Mystic River Brian Helgeland The novel by Dennis Lehane Seabiscuit Gary Ross The book Seabiscuit: An American Legend by Laura Hillenbrand Cold Mountain Anthony Minghella The novel by Charles Frazier The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Fran Walsh, Peter Jackson, and Philippa Boyens The novel Return of the King by J. R. R. Tolkien Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World Peter Weir and John Collee The novel by Patrick O'Brian 2004 Million Dollar Baby Paul Haggis The book Rope Burns: Stories from the Corner by F.X. Toole The Bourne Supremacy Tony Gilroy The novel by Robert Ludlum The Door in the Floor Tod Williams The novel A Widow for One Year by John Irving Friday Night Lights Peter Berg, Buzz Bissinger, and David Aaron Cohen The book Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream by H. G. Bissinger Sideways Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor The novel by Rex Pickett 2005 Capote Dan Futterman The novel by Gerald Clarke Brokeback Mountain Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana The short story by E. Annie Proulx The Constant Gardener Jeffrey Caine The novel by John le Carré A History of Violence Josh Olson The graphic novel by John Wagner and Vince Locke Syriana Stephen Gaghan The memoir See No Evil by Robert Baer 2006 Children of Men David Arata, Alfonso Cuarón, Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby, and Timothy J. Sexton The novel The Children of Men by P. D. James The Devil Wears Prada Aline Brosh McKenna The novel by Lauren Weisberger The Illusionist Neil Burger The short story Eisenheim the Illusionist by Steven Millhauser The Last King of Scotland Jeremy Brock and Peter Morgan The novel by Giles Foden Notes on a Scandal Patrick Marber The novel by Zoë Heller 2007 No Country for Old Men Joel Coen and Ethan Coen The novel by Cormac McCarthy Atonement Christopher Hampton The novel by Ian McEwan Into the Wild Sean Penn The book by Jon Krakauer There Will Be Blood Paul Thomas Anderson The novel Oil! by Upton Sinclair Zodiac James Vanderbilt The book by Robert Graysmith 2008 Slumdog Millionaire Simon Beaufoy The novel Q & A by Vikas Swarup The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Eric Roth and Robin Swicord The short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald Iron Man Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby, Art Marcum and Matt Holloway The comic by Stan Lee, Larry Lieber, Don Heck, and Jack Kirby The Reader David Hare The novel by Bernhard Schlink Revolutionary Road Justin Haythe The novel by Richard Yates 2009 Up in the Air Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner The novel by Walter Kirn Crazy Heart Scott Cooper The novel by Thomas Cobb District 9 Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell The short film Alive in Joburg by Blomkamp An Education Nick Hornby The memoir by Lynn Barber Precious Geoffrey S. Fletcher The novel Push by Sapphire
2010s