..Gary Dretzka
..Noah Forrest
..Leonard Klady
..R.J. Matson
..David Poland
..Douglas Pratt
..Ray Pride
..Michael Wilmington

January 10, 2006

For Immediate Release

Capote and Syriana Tie in 18th Annual USC Scripter® Balloting

LOS ANGELES – In a year when there were only a few votes separating all of the finalists for the USC Scripter® Award, two films have tied for the best film adaptation of a book or novella. The writers of Capote and Syriana received an equal number of votes in the Scripter selection committee balloting. A runoff vote will determine this year’s winning film, with the final results to be announced on Wednesday, Jan. 18.

Capote is based on the biography of Truman Capote by Gerald Clarke and the screenplay by Dan Futterman. Syriana is based on journalist Robert Baer’s book See No Evil and the script by 2000 Academy Award-winning screenwriter Stephen Gaghan (Traffic), who also directed the film.

The other finalists for this year’s award were: Brokeback Mountain, Annie Proulx, author, and Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana, screenwriters; The Constant Gardener, John le Carré, author, and Jeffrey Caine, screenwriter; and A History of Violence, John Wagner and Vince Locke, authors, and Josh Olson, screenwriter.

The annual black-tie dinner honoring the winning collaboration will be held on Saturday, Feb. 11, in the Edward L. Doheny Jr. Memorial Library on the USC campus. Comedy writer Hal Kanter will serve as grand emcee at this year’s ceremony, while producer and actor Henry Winkler will serve as master of ceremonies.

The Scripter Award is given annually to honor the best adaptation among English-language films — based on books, novellas or short stories — that were released the previous year. Past Scripter winners include the authors and screenwriters of Million Dollar Baby, The Hours, A Beautiful Mind, L.A. Confidential, The English Patient and Schindler’s List.

For additional information, visit http://scripter.usc.edu.

#####