Scripter News
UP IN THE AIR SOARS WITH SCRIPTER WIN
USC Libraries Scripter Award goes to Up in the Air author Walter Kirn and screenwriters Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner.
The author and screenwriters of Up in the Air took top honors at the 2010 USC Libraries Scripter Award ceremony. The film is based on Kirn’s 2001 tale about what he called “the spiritual distortions forced upon people by techno-capitalism.” Crazy Heart, District 9, An Education and Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire rounded out the five Scripter finalists, which are also contending for Oscars in multiple categories. This year, four of the five Scripter finalists are competing for best picture and best adapted screenplay honors at the Academy Awards.
The ceremony drew an audience of more than 300 to the University of Southern California’s Doheny Library on Saturday, February 6. Dean of the USC Libraries Catherine Quinlan served as emcee for the evening, as the literary, film and academic communities gathered to honor the winning writers.
Dean Quinlan thanked the Friends of the USC Libraries and all attendees, saying that Scripter supports the development of the USC Libraries’ collections and the library’s role as a place of discovery. Just as screenwriters adapt literary works for the screen, she said, “A great library invites exploration, encourages invention, and reveals a universe of knowledge that enriches us while broadening our perspectives on the world at large.”
“This year’s field of 68 eligible adaptations was the largest in the history of Scripter,” said Quinlan. “Our authors and screenwriters have created written work and films that are diverse in subject matter and form…and bold in their imaginative destinations. Our five finalists embody many creative mysteries, explore broad intellectual and emotional territory, and invite us into worlds that are all the more entrancing for being so foreign to our everyday experience.”
Selection committee chair Naomi Foner spoke of the craft of film adaptation. “When done best,” she said. “It is more than a translation, but a new form. For film tells its stories in different ways. It engages its audience in a different kind of relationship.”
Kirn, Reitman and Turner accepted the award from Quinlan, Foner, and Glenn Sonnenberg, president of the Friends of the USC Libraries.
Joking that writers usually only receive awards over the Internet, Kirn thanked Reitman and Turner for introducing his novel to new audiences. Reitman said, “Adaptation is an inherently collaborative act,” thanking Kirn for trusting him and Turner with his novel. “I’m thrilled that the USC Libraries have this award, since it speaks to how many writers work on films.”
Turner added that the Scripter ceremony encouraged conversations among Eric Roth, Steven Zaillian and other distinguished practitioners of his craft. “It’s so wonderful to be here with people who inspired me to be a screenwriter.”
Directed by Reitman, Up in the Air tells the story of Ryan Bingham—played by George Clooney—a “career transition counselor” who travels the country firing employees during corporate downsizings. Bingham’s quest to accumulate 10 million frequent-flier miles—seemingly the only thing of value in the anonymous landscapes of airports and business hotels—explores the moral and practical consequences of a life without ties. The film so far has garnered a Golden Globe Award for best screenplay, six Oscar nominations and six BAFTA nominations. Reitman and Turner are in contention for best adapted screenplay honors at the Oscar, BAFTA and Writers Guild ceremonies.
Kirn’s novel, written at the peak of the dot-com bubble, found new audiences with Reitman and Turner’s successful adaptation. In a recent article for The Daily Beast, “George Clooney Saved My Novel,” Kirn describes the unlikely series of events that led Reitman and Turner—and later Clooney—to “breathe big-screen life into Ryan Bingham’s cadaver.” Completing Up in the Air’s transition from page to screen, Kirn made a brief cameo in one of the film’s many airplane scenes.
Eric Roth received the 2010 Scripter Literary Achievement Award from screenwriter Steve Zaillian. The Oscar-winning screenwriter has earned critical acclaim for his adaptations of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Insider, Forrest Gump and Munich.
“The idea that words matter is what brings us all together here tonight,” said Roth, before recognizing the achievements of every finalist for this year’s Scripter Award. He spoke in particular about the inspiration he draws from Herman Melville’s Moby Dick. “Not only is it the greatest novel in our language, but it’s a philosophy book, a book of sorrow…and a cinematic book, the movie inside Melville’s head. I discovered Moby Dick in the library, which was my home away from home when I was a pimply teen…Every day I discovered another treasure.”
Glenn Sonnenberg, president of the Friends of the USC Libraries and a former USC trustee, co-founded the Scripter Award with Marjorie Lord Volk in 1988. Past Scripter winners include the authors and screenwriters of Slumdog Millionaire, No Country for Old Men, Million Dollar Baby, The Hours, A Beautiful Mind, L.A. Confidential, The English Patient and Schindler’s List.
The USC Libraries welcomed Audi of America as the transportation sponsor for Scripter 2010. Audi made available a fleet of Q7 TDI clean-diesel vehicles to transport special guests to the black-tie gala. The Audi Q7 TDI clean diesel is one of America’s first highly efficient, seven-passenger luxury SUVs, offering U.S. drivers improved fuel economy and cleaner emissions. Visit www.audiusa.com for more information about the Q7 TDI and other Audi vehicles.
Final Draft, Inc. also supported Scripter 2010 by providing copies of Final Draft 8 to USC students. The libraries will make the script writing software available through the Leavey Library Multimedia Commons. Final Draft will complement the suite of authoring software the Multimedia Commons offers students and will provide a valuable tool for storytelling and completing coursework while drawing on the riches of the libraries’ collections.
ERIC ROTH WINS USC LIBRARIES SCRIPTER LITERARY ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
USC Libraries to honor Oscar winner at the Feb. 6, 2010, ceremony.
The USC Libraries have announced that screenwriter Eric Roth has won the 2010 Scripter Literary Achievement Award for his sustained contributions to the art of film adaptation. Roth previously won an Oscar for his adaptation of Winston Groom’s novel Forrest Gump and earned Oscar nominations for his work on Munich, The Insider and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, also a 2009 Scripter finalist.
Dean Catherine Quinlan and the Friends of the USC Libraries introduced the Scripter Literary Achievement Award in 2007 and presented the award for the first time in 2008. The libraries now present the award annually alongside the Scripter Award for each year’s best adaptation of the printed word into a feature film.
“I love the sound of literary and script in the same breath,” said Roth. “I'm proud to be considered part of a tradition of literature, film literature.This award will make me stay up writing even later to try and get it right.”
Screenwriter Steven Zaillian will present the Literary Achievement Award to Roth at the February 6 gala at Doheny Memorial Library.
Roth launched his screenwriting career soon after graduating from film school. He gravitated towards literary adaptations, helping to craft film versions of the novels The Drowning Pool and The Onion Field. He emerged as one of Hollywood’s leading screenwriters during the 1990s, writing the original screenplay for Mr. Jones and drawing inspiration from novels and journalism for Forrest Gump, The Horse Whisperer and The Insider.
Most recently, he wrote the screenplay and shared the story credit with Robin Swicord for the Oscar- and Scripter-nominated The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, based on the F. Scott Fitzgerald short story. His other recent screenplays include the critically acclaimed Muhammad Ali biopic Ali and The Good Shepherd.
Roth is the third recipient of the Literary Achievement Award, following honorees Steven Zaillian in 2008 and Michael Chabon in 2009. Zaillian’s screenwriting credits include Awakenings, Schindler’s List, A Civil Action and Gangs of New York. Chabon took the honor last year in recognition of a growing body of adapted works that includes The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay and Wonder Boys.
The libraries also will announce the winners of the 2010 Scripter Award for the year’s best cinematic adaptation of the written word at the February 6 event. The writers of Crazy Heart, District 9, An Education, Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire, and Up in the Air are vying for top honors at the 22nd-annual Scripter ceremony.
The USC Libraries welcome Audi of America as the transportation sponsor for Scripter 2010. Audi has generously made available a fleet of Q7 TDI clean-diesel vehicles to transport special guests to the black-tie gala. The Audi Q7 TDI clean diesel is one of America’s first highly efficient, seven-passenger luxury SUVs, offering U.S. drivers improved fuel economy and cleaner emissions. Visit www.audiusa.com for more information about the Q7 TDI and other Audi vehicles.
Final Draft, Inc. also has supported Scripter 2010 by providing copies of Final Draft 8 to USC students. The libraries will make the scriptwriting software available through the Leavey Library Multimedia Commons. Final Draft will complement the suite of authoring software the Multimedia Commons offers students and will provide a valuable tool for storytelling and completing coursework while drawing on the riches of the libraries’ collections.
For tickets to the 21st annual Scripter award ceremony, call (213) 740-2328 or e-mail scripter@usc.edu.
USC LIBRARIES ANNOUNCE SCRIPTER 2010 FINALISTS
Writers behind five outstanding cinematic adaptations vie for 22nd-annual Scripter Award.
The University of Southern California Libraries have named the writers of Crazy Heart, District 9, An Education, Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire, and Up in the Air as finalists for the 22nd-annual USC Libraries Scripter Award. Established by the Friends of the USC Libraries in 1988, the Scripter Award honors the screenwriter or writers of the year’s most accomplished cinematic adaptation as well as the author of the work upon which the screenplay is based.
The Scripter 2010 finalists, in alphabetical order by film title, are: screenwriter Scott Cooper and author Thomas Cobb for Crazy Heart; screenwriters Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell for District 9, adapted from Blomkamp’s screenplay for the short film Alive in Joburg; screenwriter Nick Hornby and author Lynn Barber for An Education; for Precious, screenwriter Geoffrey Fletcher and Sapphire, author of Push, upon which the screenplay for Precious is based; and screenwriters Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner and author Walter Kirn for Up in the Air.
All of this year’s Scripter finalists are first-time nominees. The winning writers will be announced at the black-tie gala on Feb. 6 at USC’s Doheny Memorial Library.
Chaired for the third year by Academy Award-nominated and Golden Globe-winning screenwriter Naomi Foner, the Scripter selection committee selected the five finalists from the field of eligible adaptations.
“The five works selected were culled from 68 eligible films and cover many genres, including drama, comedy and science fiction, sometimes combining several at once,” said Foner. “We congratulate all five selected writers and the authors of the work from which they were drawn. It has been a privilege to be their audience.”
The 55-member selection committee includes novelist Russell Banks; Grammy Award-winning composer T-Bone Burnett; film critic Leonard Maltin; Catherine Quinlan, dean of the USC Libraries; Fox Filmed Entertainment CEO Tom Rothman; Jennifer and Suzanne Todd, producers of Tim Burton’s upcoming adaptation of Alice in Wonderland; and Oscar-winning screenwriter Steven Zaillian, a multiple Scripter winner and recipient of the inaugural Scripter Literary Achievement Award in 2008.
“We are grateful to our distinguished industry selection committee for choosing five unique screenplays, which illustrate how original and moving films can be adapted from the written word into new and striking visual literature,” Foner added.
The studios distributing the Scripter finalist films and the publishing houses—for those screenplays based on books—are: Fox Searchlight Pictures for Crazy Heart, published by HarperCollins; Tri-Star Pictures for District 9; Sony Pictures Classics for An Education, originally appearing in the literary magazine Granta and subsequently published by Penguin UK; Lionsgate for Precious, published by Vintage Books; and Paramount Pictures for Up in the Air, published by Anchor Books.
Previous Scripter winners include the screenwriters and authors of Slumdog Millionaire, No Country for Old Men, Million Dollar Baby, The Hours, L.A. Confidential, The English Patient, and Schindler’s List.
The USC Libraries will announce the winner of the 2010 Scripter Literary Achievement Award on Jan. 19.
