The winners of the 38th USC Libraries Scripter Awards were announced on March 2, 2024, recognizing outstanding achievements in screenwriting and literature. The prestigious awards honored both the original authors and the screenwriters of adapted works, with significant accolades going to Paul Thomas Anderson and Mike Makowsky.
In the film category, Paul Thomas Anderson and original author Thomas Pynchon received the award for their collaboration on the crime drama One Battle After Another. The film, inspired by Pynchon’s 1990 novel, has garnered widespread acclaim, including wins at the Golden Globes and Critics Choice Awards. It was also nominated for an impressive total of 13 Academy Awards this season.
Anderson and Pynchon previously faced off at the USC Scripters in 2014 for their work on Inherent Vice, which was adapted from Pynchon’s 2009 novel. This year, their script for One Battle After Another triumphed over competitors including adaptations from Frankenstein, Hamnet, Peter Hujar’s Day, and Train Dreams.
In the episodic series category, Mike Makowsky and author Candice Millard were honored for their work on Death By Lightning, a limited series based on Millard’s nonfiction book, Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine, and the Murder of a President. The four-episode series, available on Netflix, focuses on the events leading to the assassination of President James Garfield by Charles Guiteau. This series outperformed nominees such as Dark Winds, Dept. Q, Slow Horses, and Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light.
The awards ceremony took place in the Town and Gown ballroom at the University of Southern California, featuring a black-tie dress code and hosted by Melissa Just, the dean of USC Libraries. During the event, acclaimed crime writer Michael Connelly was presented with the USC Libraries Scripter Literary Achievement Award by Titus Welliver, known for his role as Connelly’s iconic detective, Harry Bosch, in the Prime Video series.
The Scripter Awards continue to celebrate the vital contributions of both original authors and screenwriters, highlighting the collaborative nature of storytelling across mediums.
