Women win the night at USC Libraries Scripter Awards
January 26 2020 - 03:26AM
Business Wire
The writers behind the film “Little Women” and the television
series “Fleabag” received the 32nd-annual USC Libraries Scripter
Awards at the Jan. 25 ceremony at USC’s Doheny Memorial Library.
Susan Orlean took the 2020 Literary Achievement Award.
This press release features multimedia. View
the full release here:
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200126005025/en/
Dean Catherine Quinlan, writer/director
Greta Gerwig, producer Amy Pascal, author Susan Orlean, USC
President Carol Folt (Photo: Sarah Golonka)
The Scripter Awards recognize the year’s most accomplished
adaptation of the written word for the screen, including feature
film and television adaptations.
In her welcoming remarks, USC Libraries Dean Catherine Quinlan
noted that the Scripter Awards uniquely honor both the adapting
screenwriters and the authors of the original source material. “Our
celebrating both sets of writers speaks to what great libraries
do,” she said. “We honor the past, make it accessible and relevant,
even as we make possible the creativity and discoveries that will
define the future.”
In the television category, Phoebe Waller-Bridge earned the
award for “Fleabag,” written for the streaming network Amazon
Prime. It is based on her one-woman play of the same name, which
debuted at the 2013 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, winning the Fringe
First Prize.
The other finalists were the writers behind episodes of
“Fosse/Verdon” (distributed by FX), “Killing Eve” (BBC America),
“Unbelievable” (Netflix), and “Watchmen” (HBO).
In the film category, the winners were 19th-century author
Louisa May Alcott and screenwriter Greta Gerwig, who adapted
Alcott’s novel “Little Women” for the screen. Sony Pictures
released “Little Women,” which Gerwig also directed.
In accepting the award, Gerwig said: “Who I am today would be
totally unimaginable without Louisa May Alcott . . . because
‘Little Women’ is the book of my life. Rereading and rereading this
book throughout my childhood made me the woman I am today. Because
without Louisa I never would have listened to the voice inside of
myself that whispered ‘Write.’”
Producer Amy Pascal, in accepting on behalf of Louisa May
Alcott, said “Both Greta and I wish that the actual Louisa May
Alcott could be here tonight to accept this award to see how
legendary her words are and the women she created are.”
The other finalist films were “Dark Waters” (distributed by
Focus Features), “The Irishman” (Netflix), “Jojo Rabbit” (Fox
Searchlight), and “The Two Popes” (Netflix).
Earlier in the evening, USC President Carol Folt presented the
Literary Achievement Award to author Susan Orlean, a 2003 Scripter
Award finalist for her book “The Orchid Thief,” which served as the
basis for the film “Adaptation.” Folt praised Orlean’s most recent
publication, “The Library Book,” which recounts the 1986 fire that
devastated L.A.’s Central Library.
Orlean dedicated the award to librarians around the world,
saying “It’s librarians who do great things every day and they are
the patron saints of knowledge, freedom, and learning.”
Quinlan honored Glenn Sonnenberg as the 2020 Ex Libris Award
winner for his extraordinary support of the USC Libraries, and for
co-founding the Scripter Awards with actress and fellow USC
Libraries board member Marjorie Lord in 1988. “It is hardly an
accident that college libraries are placed at the center of campus
— not at the periphery,” said Sonnenberg. “Nor is it an accident
that many libraries — think the Vatican, the Library of Congress,
or this room, are edifices of great beauty. People recognize the
centrality of their contents and of their role.”
In-kind donors to the event included Andrew Murray Vineyards,
OPI Inc., and Urth Caffé.
The caterer was Pasadena-based Kitchen for Exploring Foods.
For more information about Scripter, visit scripter.usc.edu.
View source
version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200126005025/en/
Hugh McHarg Associate Dean for Strategic Initiatives USC
Libraries hmcharg@usc.edu
Tyson Gaskill Executive Director, Communications and Events USC
Libraries gaskill@usc.edu (213) 740-2070