USC Libraries Scripter Honors “Call Me by Your Name” and “Handmaid’s Tale”
February 11 2018 - 3:48AM
Business Wire
Francis Ford Coppola received the libraries’ Literary
Achievement Award at the 30th-annual celebration
The authors and screenwriters behind the film “Call Me by Your
Name,” and the television series “The Handmaid’s Tale” received the
30th-annual USC Libraries Scripter Award in the Feb. 10 ceremony at
USC’s Doheny Memorial Library.
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USC Libraries Dean Catherine Quinlan,
Scripter winners Bruce Miller and James Ivory, Selection Committee
Chair Howard Rodman (Photo: Business Wire)
The Scripter Award recognizes the year’s best cinematic
adaptation of the written word, and includes feature film and
television adaptations.
In her welcoming remarks, USC Libraries Dean Catherine Quinlan
paid tribute to the legacy of the Scripter Awards, “Scripter is
celebrating its 30th birthday, and whether it’s your first Scripter
or your thirtieth, I am grateful to everyone who has supported this
fine, enduring Trojan tradition.”
USC Provost Michael Quick hailed the importance of libraries.
“More than places where students have a space to learn and faculty
have collections from which to launch their scholarship, libraries
are the core for what we stand for in higher education,” he
said.
In the television category, the selection committee chose
“Offred,” the first episode of the “The Handmaid’s Tale,” written
for the screen by creator and executive producer Bruce Miller. The
series, streaming on Hulu, is based on the 1985 novel by Margaret
Atwood.
Miller acknowledged Doheny Library, which hosted the ceremony.
“The Handmaid’s Tale has been very wonderfully and generously feted
over the last few months, but there’s something about getting an
award in a library that is particularly wonderful.”
The other finalists were the writers behind episodes of “Alias
Grace” (distributed by Netflix), “Big Little Lies” (HBO), “Genius”
(National Geographic), “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks”
(HBO), and “Mindhunter” (Netflix).
In the film category, the winners were writer André Aciman,
author of “Call Me by Your Name,” and screenwriter-director James
Ivory, who adapted Aciman’s work for the screen.
Ivory, a USC alumnus, noted that he had been to Doheny Library
before. “I left this building exactly 60 years ago when I graduated
from the USC film school and they had the ceremony out in front of
the library, and I haven’t been back since—not to this building.
It’s amazing to come back,” Ivory said. “I’m glad to be back for an
adaptation of a very good book. As you know, I’ve made my career
and name through adaptations.”
Due to a three-way tie in the nominating round, seven films were
eligible this year. The other finalist films were “The Disaster
Artist” (distributed by A24), “Logan” (20th Century Fox), “The Lost
City of Z” (Amazon Studios), “Molly’s Game” (STX Entertainment),
“Mudbound” (Netflix), and “Wonder Woman” (Warner Bros.).
Earlier in the evening, Quinlan honored USC trustees and
longtime USC Libraries supporters Ronald and Valerie Sugar as the
2018 Ex Libris Award winners. In receiving the award, Ronald Sugar
said, “The libraries are an essential underpinning of the mission
of this university. And as the university grows and evolves to meet
a world of social and technological change, so must its libraries.
Catherine, you and your team have provided more than a decade of
innovative leadership to advance and expand the reach of this
precious academic resource.”
Legendary writer-director-producer Francis Ford Coppola received
the 2018 Literary Achievement Award. Coppola noted that his films
based on earlier written works gave possessive credit to the
original author. The 1972 classic “The Godfather,” for
example, which Coppola directed and adapted for the screen, was
marketed as “Mario Puzo’s ‘The Godfather’”—not “Francis Ford
Coppola’s ‘The Godfather.’” “Anyone who’s adapted screenplays,”
Coppola explained, “knows the author did the heavy lifting.”
In-kind donors to the event included A24 Films, Amazon Studios,
Hulu, Netflix, Picador USA, and Urth Caffé.
Scripter began in 1988, co-founded by USC Libraries board
members Glenn Sonnenberg and Marjorie Lord. For more information
about Scripter—including additional images from the ceremony—visit
scripter.usc.edu.
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USC LibrariesHugh McHargAssociate Dean for Programs and
Planning(213) 740-1405hmcharg@usc.eduorUSC LibrariesTyson
GaskillExecutive Director, Communications and Events(213)
740-2070gaskill@usc.edu