At the 2025 USC Libraries Scripter Awards, Edward Berger’s Conclave took home the award for outstanding film adaptation. The award was given to Peter Straughan for his screenplay adaptation of the novel. In the television category, Say Nothing won for best episodic series, with Joshua Zetumer honored for adapting Patrick Radden Keefe’s nonfiction book Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland.
Zetumer accepted his award for the episode “The People in the Dirt,” expressing gratitude for his fellow nominees. “It’s a limited series without big American stars, and like many of the shows tonight—Shōgun, Baby Reindeer, Ripley, and Slow Horses—we did everything you’re told not to do,” he said. He recalled his first reaction to reading Keefe’s book, describing it as “exhilarating, insightful, dense, and complicated” to the point where he thought it would never be adapted into a series. Zetumer reflected on his dilemma of choosing between mainstream Hollywood projects or taking a risk on a project he loved.
Straughan, accepting his award for Conclave, commented on the challenges of adaptation. He described the process as “an act of betrayal of one master for the other,” as screenwriters must serve both the source material and the demands of filmmaking. He also praised the author of the original book, Robert Harris, for being “so kind, so generous, and so open” throughout the process.
This year’s nominations for film included A Complete Unknown, Conclave, Nickel Boys, Sing Sing, and The Wild Robot, while Baby Reindeer, Ripley, Say Nothing, Shōgun, and Slow Horses were nominated in the TV category.
The USC Scripter Awards have become a key indicator for the best adapted screenplay category at the Oscars. Past winners who went on to win the Academy Award include 12 Years a Slave (2013), The Imitation Game (2014), The Big Short (2015), Moonlight (2016), Call Me by Your Name (2017), Nomadland (2020), Women Talking (2022), and American Fiction (2023). Notably, BlacKkKlansman (2019) and CODA (2022) are the only Oscar-winning films to have won the adapted screenplay award without receiving a Scripter nomination.
Conclave also won Golden Globe and BAFTA awards for Straughan’s screenplay, while Nickel Boys received the WGA award for best adapted screenplay. The films A Complete Unknown, Conclave, Nickel Boys, and Sing Sing all earned Oscar nominations for adapted screenplay. However, The Wild Robot was not nominated, with Jacques Audiard’s Emilia Pérez receiving the nod instead. The USC Scripter Awards have special eligibility rules for musicals and international films, which meant that Oscar Best Picture nominees Emilia Pérez and I’m Still Here were ineligible for the award.
Founded in 1988, the USC Scripter Awards celebrate the best adaptations in both film and television. The awards were selected by a committee chaired by USC professor and Academy Vice President Howard Rodman, with other members including USC Libraries System Dean Melissa Just and co-founder Glenn Sonnenberg. This year, 42 films and 66 episodic series were submitted for consideration.
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