USC Scripter Awards: ‘Women Talking’ & ‘Slow Horses’ Take Prizes For Adapted Screenplay

Sarah Polley and Miriam Toews won the USC Libraries’ Scripter Award on Saturday for their adaptation of Orion/MGM’s Women Talking, based on Toews’ novel.

The Scripter for best episodic TV adaptation went to Will Smith – the writer, not the actor – for his adaption of the “Failure’s Contagious” episode of Apple TV+’s Slow Horses, based on the novel by Mick Herron.

The 35th annual awards show, which honors the authors of printed works alongside the screenwriters who adapt their stories, was held in-person at the school’s palatial Doheny Memorial Library for the first time since 2020 due to the Covid pandemic. The previous two events were held virtually.

Beginning in 2011, the Scripters had proven to be a remarkable bellwether for the Academy Awards in the category, syncing up eight years in a row. They diverged in each of the past four awards cycles, however.

The three other Scripter nominees this year were Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, She Said and Living. A fifth nominee – Top Gun: Maverick – was withdrawn by Paramount due to a mix-up in identifying the original source writers, though the film remains a nominee at both the Oscars and at tomorrow night’s WGA Awards.

Women Talking, Top Gun: Maverick and Living will face off for the Adapted Screenplay Oscar on March 12 against All Quiet on the Western Front and Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery.