As the Oscars draw closer, more and more category winners seem to be locking into place. One of those categories that took another step to being pretty much over is Adapted Screenplay. “American Fiction’s” Cord Jefferson has taken the BAFTA Award, the Independent Spirit Award, and, tonight, won the prestigious USC Scripter Award for Film alongside the original novel’s author, Percival Everett.
READ MORE: “Barbie,” “American Fiction” and “Star Trek: Picard” earn 2024 WGA Awards nominations
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Oh, and Jefferson also has a WGA Award nomination but due to the strike last year, those honors won’t be handed out until over a month after the Oscars.
The television winner this year was something of a surprise as Will Smith and “Real Tigers” author Mick Herron won for the Apple TV+ series “Slow Horses.” Smith and Herron overcame strong competition from both “The Last of Us” and “The Crown.” Jefferson and Everett won their category over fellow Oscar nominees for “Oppenheimer” and “Poor Things.”
And in case you haven’t figured it out, the Scripter Awards differentiate themselves by honoring both the screenwriter and the author of the original source material.
This year’s nominees and winners are as follows:
FILM
Cord Jefferson for American Fiction – ***WINNER***
Based on the novel Erasure by Percival Everett
Amazon MGM Studios / Graywolf Press
Eric Roth and Martin Scorsese for Killers of the Flower Moon
Based on the nonfiction book Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann
Apple Original Films / Vintage Books
Christopher Nolan for Oppenheimer
Based on the nonfiction book American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin
Universal Pictures / Vintage Books
Ava DuVernay for Origin
Based on the nonfiction book Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson
Neon / Random House
Tony McNamara and novelist Alasdair Gray for Poor Things
Searchlight Pictures / Bloomsbury
EPISODIC SERIES
Peter Morgan, for the episode “Sleep, Dearie Sleep” from The Crown
Based on his stage play The Audience
Netflix / Dramatists Play Service Inc.
Scott Neustadter for the episode “Fire,” from Daisy Jones & The Six
Based on the novel by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Prime Video / Random House
Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann for the episode “Long, Long Time” from The Last of Us
Based on the video game by Neil Druckmann and Naughty Dog
HBO | Max / Sony Computer Entertainment
Will Smith for the episode “Negotiating with Tigers” from Slow Horses – ***WINNER***
Based on the novel Real Tigers by Mick Herron
Apple TV+ / Soho Crime
Max Borenstein, Rodney Barnes and Jim Hecht for the episode “The New World,” from Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty
Based on the nonfiction work Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley, and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s by Jeff Pearlman
HBO | Max / Avery