USC Scripter Awards Shockers: Which Script Battled Lightning to Snag Hollywood’s Crown?
Added on January 25, 2026 inMovie News Cards
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Ever wonder if Mercury’s latest cosmic tango had anything to do with all the splendid wordsmith wizardry celebrated at the 38th USC Scripter Awards? Because, folks, when the stars align just right, they seem to sprinkle a little extra magic dust on genius adaptations like Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another” — a cinematic gem spun from Thomas Pynchon’s 1990 novel Vineland — and Mike Makowsky’s gripping TV series “Death by Lightning,” drawn from Candice Millard’s chilling nonfiction. These masterminds, along with the original authors whose works they so lovingly reimagined, snagged the top honors at a star-studded black-tie gala at USC’s Town & Gown ballroom. And it’s not just about the awards — it’s about how storytelling transforms, evolves, and sometimes even shakes off a little cosmic lightning to leave us breathless. So, is this celestial boost just coincidence, or is the universe nudging us to pay a bit more attention to the power behind the pen (and screenplay)? Dive deeper into this literary and cinematic celebration to find out what made these adaptations shine brighter than a full moon on opening night! LEARN MORE
The writers of the feature film One Battle After Another and the TV series Death by Lightning, as well as the authors of the written works from which they were adapted, were recognized with the top prizes at the 38th USC Scripter Awards, a black-tie affair held in the Town & Gown ballroom on the campus of USC, on Saturday night.
One Battle After Another was adapted by Paul Thomas Anderson from the 1990 novel Vineland by Thomas Pynchon. Death by Lightning, a limited series that was adapted from the 2011 nonfiction book Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine, and the Murder of a President by Candice Millard, was written by Mike Makowsky.
Anderson previously was Scripter-nominated for 2007’s There Will Be Blood and 2014’s Inherent Vice, the latter of which also was adapted from a Pynchon novel. Makowsky previously was nominated for the film adaptation Scripter Award for 2020’s Bad Education.
The Scripter winners, like the nominees from which they were chosen, were determined by a jury chaired by USC professor and Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences vp Howard Rodman. Other jurors included critics/journalists Justin Chang and Leonard Maltin (as well as, full disclosure, yours truly); authors Janet Fitch and Jonathan Lethem; screenwriters Eric Roth and Tyger Williams; producers Gail Mutrux and Jennifer Todd; and Elizabeth Daley, dean of the USC School of Cinematic Arts.
In addition to One Battle After Another, this year’s other film adaptation nominees — selected from a field of 43 options — were:
Frankenstein, Hamnet, One Battle After Another and Train Dreams are also nominated for the best adapted screenplay Oscar; Bugonia claimed the fifth slot. The Scripter and the best adapted screenplay Oscar have gone to the same project on 17 occasions: Schindler’s List, Sense and Sensibility, L.A. Confidential, A Beautiful Mind, No Country for Old Men, Slumdog Millionaire, The Social Network, The Descendants, Argo, 12 Years a Slave, The Imitation Game, The Big Short, Moonlight, Call Me by Your Name, Women Talking, American Fiction and, last year, Conclave.
Hamnet nominee Zhao was previously nominated for — and won — the best film adaptation Scripter Award for 2020’s Nomadland. Train Dreams nominees Bentley and Kwedar were nominated for it at the most recept Scripter Awards, for Sing Sing. And Frankenstein nominee del Toro was previously nominated for it for 2022’s Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, which was the first-ever animated nominee.
And in addition to Death by Lightning, this year’s other TV adaptation nominees — selected from a field of 64 options — were:
Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light nominee Straughan was a winner of the most recent film adaptation Scripter Award, for Conclave, and was also nominated for it for 2011’s Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy; he would have become the first person to win Scripter awards for both a film adaptation and a TV adaptation. Slow Horses — and specifically, its writer Smith — has received Scripter nominations in each of the past three years, winning in the first two of those. (No other TV program has won more than once.) And Dept. Q nominee Frank won this award for 2000’s The Queen’s Gambit, and was also nominated for the film adaptation Scripter Award for 1995’s Get Shorty and 2017’s Logan.
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