‘Black Panther,’ ‘If Beale Street Could Talk’ Snag Scripter Award Nominations

By Dave McNary

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – “Black Panther,” “Can You Ever Forgive Me?,” “The Death of Stalin,” “If Beale Street Could Talk,” and “Leave No Trace” have received nominations for the USC Libraries Scripter Award for best movie adaptation.

Due to a tie, six noms were announced on Tuesday in the television category for episodes of “The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story,” “The Handmaid’s Tale,” “The Looming Tower,” “Patrick Melrose,” “Sharp Objects,” and “A Very English Scandal.”

The Scripter Awards, now in their 31st year, honor the year’s best film and television adaptations, along with the works on which they are based. The USC Libraries will announce the winners on Feb. 9 at the Edward L. Doheny Jr. Memorial Library.

The scripts for “,” “” and “Can You Ever Forgive Me?” received nominations on Jan. 7 for the Writers Guild of America’s adapted screenplay award, along with “A Star Is Born” and “BlacKkKlansman.”

Barry Jenkins, who wrote the script for “If Beale Street Could Talk,” won the award two years ago for “Moonlight.” “Call Me by Your Name” and “The Handmaid’s Tale” took the Scripter prizes last year.

Chaired by USC professor and former Writers Guild of America West president Howard Rodman, the 2019 Scripter selection committee chose the finalists from a field of 90 movie and 55 TV adaptations.

The film finalists are, in alphabetical order by film title:

Screenwriters Ryan Coogler and Joe Robert Cole for “Black Panther,” based on the character created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Screenwriters Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty and author Lee Israel for “Can You Ever Forgive Me?”
Screenwriters Armando Iannucci, Ian Martin, and David Schneider for “The Death of Stalin,” based on the graphic novel by Fabien Nury and Thierry Robin
Screenwriter Barry Jenkins and author James Baldwin for “If Beale Street Could Talk”
Screenwriters Debra Granik and Anne Rosellini for “Leave No Trace” based on the novel “My Abandonment” by Peter Rock.

The television finalists are, in alphabetical order by series title:

Tom Rob Smith, for the episode “The Man Who Would Be Vogue” from “The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story,” and author Maureen Orth for the nonfiction book “Vulgar Favors: Andrew Cunanan, Gianni Versace, and the Largest Failed Manhunt in U.S. History”
Bruce Miller and Kira Snyder, for the episode “Holly” from “The Handmaid’s Tale,” and author Margaret Atwood
Dan Futterman and Ali Selim, for the episode “9/11” from “The Looming Tower,” and author Lawrence Wright
David Nicholls for the episode “Bad News,” from “Patrick Melrose,” based on the series of novels by Edward St. Aubyn
Marti Noxon for the episode “Vanish,” from “Sharp Objects,” and author Gillian Flynn
Russell T Davies, for “A Very English Scandal,” and author John Preston