The Scripter Awards, a juried award created by USC Libraries to honor film adaptations of literary works, has nominated "The Ghost Writer," "127 Hours," "The Social Network," "True Grit" and "Winter's Bone" for its 2010 honor.
The award honors both the screenwriter and the author of the original work. Although in recent years the field has been expanded to allow adaptations of newspaper and magazine articles, comic books and other screenplays, this year's lineup consists entirely of book adaptations, three from novels and two from non-fiction works.
Aaron Sorkin and Ben Mezrich have to be considered frontrunners for "The Social Network." Last year's winner, "Up in the Air," was upset at the Oscars by another Scripter nominee, "Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire."
Other films in contention for the 2010 award included "Shutter Island, "Rabbit Hole," "Never Let Me Go," "Barney's Version" and "The Way Back."
The selection committee consists of nearly 60 filmmakers, writers, actors, journalists and academics, including Michael Chabon, Dave Eggers, Ed Harris, Lawrence Kasdan, Callie Khouri, Peter Sarsgaard, Kenneth Turan and Steven Zaillian.
The winner will be announced at the Scripter Awards ceremony on February 4.
The nominees:
“The Ghost Writer”
Roman Polanski, screenwriter
Robert Harris, author (novel, “The Ghost”)
“127 Hours”
Danny Boyle, Simon Beaufoy, screenwriters
Aron Ralston, author (book, “Between a Rock and a Hard Place”)
“The Social Network”
Aaron Sorkin, screenwriter
Ben Mezrich, author (book, “The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook, A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius and Betrayal”)
“True Grit”
Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, screenwriters
Charles Portis, author (novel, “True Grit”)
“Winter’s Bone”
Debra Granik, Anne Rosellini, screenwriters
Daniel Woodrell, author (novel, “Winter’s Bone”)
