Whereas the Writers Guild of America has its peculiarities, so too does the USC Libraries Scripter award. Although, films are seldom outright declared ineligible, USC prefers to select titles that are adaptations of literary works. The reason for this is that they also award the author of the original work. Winners here have a good shot at the Oscar as well, especially if they match up with the Adapted Screenplay prize at the WGA.

USC SCRIPTER AWARDS

Best Adapted Screenplay

Call Me by Your Name (Wesley, Peter, Tripp, Thomas)
The Disaster Artist
Logan
The Lost City of Z
Molly’s Game (RU:Wesley, RU:Thomas)
Mudbound (RU:Peter, RU:Tripp)
Wonder Woman

Wesley Lovell: The acclaimed novel by André Aciman sounds like the perfect source for a USC Scripter winner. The screenplay, by famed legendary screenwriter James Ivory, is sure to be celebrated at these awards. There aren’t many options for runner-up wins, so I’m going with Aaron Sorkin, though if there’s one group that could dismiss his work, its the voters at the USC Libraries.
Peter J. Patrick: Even though director Luca Guadagnino purportedly dropped whole chunks of James Ivory’s dialogue from the screenplay, Call Me by Your Name should take this easily.
Tripp Burton: Call Me by Your Name is the most literate of these adaptations, as well as the most awarded, and should win here easily.
Thomas LaTourette: James Ivory’s adaptation of Call Me by Your Name has received most of the awards so far this year. If he wins both this and the Writers Guild award, he will be a shoo in for the Oscar. That is probably not a given, especially in a year when there are seven nominees. The Disaster Artist had won the second most precursor awards, but I think the backlash against the film’s director and star James Franco will carry over to it not winning nor even being close to doing that. It is difficult to imagine a superhero film winning, which would discount both Logan and Wonder Woman, even though the latter captured the country last summer. The Lost City of Z disappeared from theaters so quickly that it would shocking to see it win. That leaves Mudbound and Molly’s Game as serious contenders. If anyone were to upset Ivory, it might be previous winner Aaron Sorkin and his work on Molly’s Game.