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Just as the holiday season was going into full-blown commercial overdrive last month, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters launched a nationwide strike against Amazon, primarily among its delivery drivers, that ended on Christmas Eve. Arguably, the roots of this labor dispute against the multi-trillion-dollar goliath can be traced back to 2021, when workers at the Amazon Fulfillment Center in Staten Island, New York, waged a union campaign. Led by Chris Smalls, who had been fired earlier for protesting working conditions amid the Covid pandemic, the movement faced considerable headwinds – from Amazon, of course, which, through its anti-organizing efforts, had thwarted a similar effort in Alabama, but also from the national unions, including the Teamsters, who were slow to throw their support behind the nascent Amazon Workers Union (Awu).

Amazon Workers Union leader Chris Smalls

As the Amazon Workers Union began to take shape, documentary producers Mars Verrone (Golden Voice) and Samantha Curley...

The USC Libraries revealed the winners for the 34th annual USC Libraries Scripter Award on Saturday as a virtual event, which honors the year’s best film and television adaptations (along with the works on which they are based). This group of academics, industry professionals, and critics is often predictive of the Adapted Screenplay Oscar race. Maggie Gyllenhaal’s adaptation of Elena Ferrante’s “The Lost Daughter” (Netflix) won the film award, while the television prize went to author Beth Macy and screenwriter Danny Strong for the Hulu series “Dopesick.”

Of the five finalist writers for film adaptation, three are also Oscar nominees. Rebecca Hall (Nella Larsen’s “Passing”) and Joel Coen (William Shakespeare’s “The Tragedy of Macbeth”) did not make that cut. “The Lost Daughter,” therefore, advances in the Oscar race ahead of “Dune” (Warner Bros. Pictures/Legendary Pictures and Ace) screenwriters Eric Roth, Jon Spaihts, and Denis Villeneuve,...

The USC Libraries revealed the winners for the 34th annual USC Libraries Scripter Award on Saturday as a virtual event, which honors the year’s best film and television adaptations (along with the works on which they are based). This group of academics, industry professionals, and critics is often predictive of the Adapted Screenplay Oscar race. Maggie Gyllenhaal’s adaptation of Elena Ferrante’s “The Lost Daughter” (Netflix) won the film award, while the television prize went to author Beth Macy and screenwriter Danny Strong for the Hulu series “Dopesick.”

Of the five finalist writers for film adaptation, three are also Oscar nominees. Rebecca Hall (Nella Larsen’s “Passing”) and Joel Coen (William Shakespeare’s “The Tragedy of Macbeth”) did not make that cut. “The Lost Daughter,” therefore, advances in the Oscar race ahead of “Dune” (Warner Bros. Pictures/Legendary Pictures and Ace) screenwriters Eric Roth, Jon Spaihts, and Denis Villeneuve,...

The top prizes at the 2022 USC Scripter Awards went to screenwriter Maggie Gyllenhaal and novelist Elena Ferrante for Netflix’s “The Lost Daughter” and scripter Danny Strong and author Beth Macy for Netflix’s “Dopesick” during Saturday’s virtual ceremony.

As in past years, the awards go to both the scriptwriters and the writers of the original source material.

“The Lost Daughter” is based on Ferrante’s 2006 novel. Gyllenhaal happily toasted the win with a glass of champagne, noting that this award “means so much to me particularly because it is chosen and voted for by writers.” The director and writer of the Oscar-nominated film described Ferrante as her “north star” for the project, adding that the author has been “a truly wise and generous guide.”

The “Dopesick” duo won for the episode “The People vs. Purdue Pharma.” Macy gave thanks to all families who helped her as well as...

There are many different types of existing works from which a film’s screenplay can be adapted, and Oscar voters have honored scripts built from just about every source material imaginable. Voters typically reveal their preferences by consistently choosing scripts based on certain source materials over others. Examining the most recent Best Adapted Screenplay lineups is the most effective way of predicting the next one. Here is a list of the category’s nominees and winners, as well as their sources of origin, from the last five years:

2021:

Winner: “The Father” – Play

“Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” – Existing film

“Nomadland” – Nonfiction book

“One Night in Miami” – Play

“The White Tiger” – Novel

2020:

Winner: “Jojo Rabbit” – Novel

“The Irishman” – Nonfiction book

“Joker” – Comic books

“Little Women” – Novel

“The Two Popes” – Play

2019:

Winner: “BlacKkKlansman” – Memoir

“The Ballad of Buster Scruggs” – Short stories

“Can You Ever Forgive Me?” – Memoir

“If Beale Street Could Talk...

The USC Libraries has revealed the finalists for the 34th annual USC Libraries Scripter Award, which honors the year’s best film and television adaptations, as well as the works on which they are based. This group of academics, industry professionals, and critics (for which I vote) is often predictive of the Adapted Screenplay Oscar race.

Last year’s Scripter film winners were “Nomadland” screenwriter Chloé Zhao and author Jessica Bruder (non-Scripter nominee “The Father” took home the Oscar); past winners include “Call Me By Your Name,” “Moonlight,” “The Big Short,” and “The Imitation Game,” which all won Oscars. In fact, before 2019, eight Scripter Award winners went on to win Oscars.

The finalist writers for film adaptation are, in alphabetical order by film title:

Screenwriters Eric Roth, Jon Spaihts, and Denis Villeneuve for “Dune” (Warner Bros. Pictures/Legendary Pictures and Ace), based on the novel by Frank Herbert

Maggie Gyllenhaal...

On Monday morning, the day after making history with her two Oscar wins, Chloé Zhao is beaming. Her happiness is detectable even over Zoom. “It was just so, so beautiful to be in the room with people, and to be able to actually talk to them and to celebrate with my peers,” she says.

Not everything went as planned at the 93rd Academy Awards on Sunday night; witness the show not ending with the usual best picture category, instead unexpectedly honoring an actor, Anthony Hopkins, who wasn’t even there, as its climax. But at least one thing went very right: Zhao landed the trophy for best director for “Nomadland,” and also received the top prize for picture. She’s only the second woman to win an Oscar for director — after Kathryn Bigelow (for 2009’s “The Hurt Locker”) — and Zhao, who was born in Beijing, is the first woman of color to receive the prize.

McDormand Academy award for her role in Chloé Zhao’s Nomadland, second only to Katharine Hepburn in number of best actress Oscars

Oscars 2021: the dresses, the winners, and the speeches – live!Oscar winners 2021: the full list – updating live!Oscars 2021 red carpet in pictures

Frances McDormand has won the best actress Oscar for Nomadland at the 93rd Academy Awards, which are taking place in Los Angeles.

McDormand plays one of a group of retirees struggling to make ends meet, alongside a cast largely made up of non-professional actors. Written and directed by Chloé Zhao, the film was inspired by Jessica Bruder’s non-fiction book Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century.

Frances McDormand has won the Best Actress Academy Award at the 2021 Oscars Sunday night for her celebrated performance in “Nomadland.” It’s a historic win: In taking home her third Best Actress statuette, McDormand has now won the prize more times than anyone else besides Katharine Hepburn.

McDormand beat out Viola Davis in “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” Carey Mulligan in “Promising Young Woman,” Vanessa Kirby in “Pieces of a Woman,” and Andra Day in “The United States vs. Billie Holiday.”

“Nomadland” won Best Picture right before the presentation of Best Actress, the first time the top award hadn’t been issued at the very end of the ceremony since the 1972 show.

Despite the BAFTA win and Golden Globe, Independent Spirit, SAG, and Critics Choice nods for her performance, McDormand was not widely viewed as the frontrunner in this year’s race. Instead, many prognosticators saw the Oscar going to Davis...

Film about retirees struggling to make ends meet takes the top prize at the Academy Awards, while Chloé Zhao becomes first woman of colour to take the directing prize

Oscars 2021: the dresses, the winners, and the speeches – live!Oscar winners 2021: the full list – updating live!Oscars 2021 red carpet in pictures

Nomadland has won the best picture Oscar at the 93rd Academy Awards. A study of retirees struggling to make ends meet, Nomadland stars Frances McDormand alongside a group of non-professional actors, and is directed by Chinese-American film-maker Chloé Zhao. The film was inspired by Jessica Bruder’s non-fiction book Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century.

Unusually, the best picture award was not the last of the night, being announced before the awards for best actor and best actress.

“Nomadland” took home a historic big win Sunday night at the Academy Awards when it received the Best Picture Oscar: it’s only the second film directed by a woman in Oscars history to achieve a Best Picture victory. Director Kathryn Bigelow’s “The Hurt Locker” (for which Bigelow also became the first female Oscar winner for Best Director) was previously the only female-directed movie to do so. The prize for “Nomadland” at the Academy Awards on Sunday went to producer/director Chloé Zhao, producer/star Frances McDormand, and producers Peter Spears, Mollye Asher, and Dan Janvey. “Nomadland” marks Zhao’s third feature directorial effort following “Songs My Brother Taught Me” and “The Rider.” Zhao also won the Best Director prize earlier in the evening.

In the Best Picture category, “Nomadland” beat out “The Father,” “Judas and the Black Messiah,” “Mank,” “Minari,” “Promising Young Woman,” “Sound of Metal,” and “The Trial of the Chicago 7.

Chloé Zhao made history tonight by becoming the first woman of color to win a Best Director Oscar, as well as only the second female filmmaker to take that prize. Recognized for her work writing and directing Nomadland, a meditative drama about an older woman named Fern (Frances McDormand) who travels the American West in a van she also lives in, Zhao made history when she took the stage. And, fittingly, Zhao used her acceptance speech to talk about a shared goodness she’s seen from people in all walks of life and in all corners of the earth.

“Even though it sometimes might seem like the opposite is true, I have always found goodness in the people I’ve met everywhere I went in the world,” Zhao said. “So this is for anyone who had the faith and the courage to hold onto the goodness in themselves and to...

Linda May and Swankie, two of the featured performers in “Nomadland,” are attending the Oscars. The two nonprofessional actors are the plus-ones of Chloé Zhao (nominated for four Academy Awards) and the movie’s nominated cinematographer, Joshua James Richards (who is also Zhao’s partner). “Nomadland,” based on Jessica Bruder’s 2017 nonfiction book of the same name, hired some of the real people Bruder had interviewed during her reporting journey, including May, Swankie, van-dwelling guru Bob Wells and many others.

In an interview with Variety, during which she was at a Walmart preparing for her trip to Los Angeles, May talked about her experience making “Nomadland” — and the idea of going to the Academy Awards.

“I can’t believe it!” May exclaimed. “I got the schedule yesterday.”

She continued with a gush. “And Josh — I get to ride to the Oscars with Josh. I love Josh, and I flirted with...

On Thursday night, Nomadland‘s Oscars push was further bolstered by four wins at the virtually held 2021 Film Independent Spirit Awards, in the categories of Best Picture, Director, Editing and Cinematography.

The former award went to producers Mollye Asher, Dan Janvey, Frances McDormand, Peter Spears and Chloé Zhao, with Zhao also claiming prizes for Director and Editing, and Joshua James Richards taking home the statuette for Cinematography.

“In our film, Bob Wells says to [McDormand’s] Fern that you’ve come to the right place to connect with your tribe, your community,” said Asher, in her Best Picture acceptance speech, “and Independent Film, you are our community.”

“We couldn’t have done it without all the hearts and hands of our fellow collaborators, our fellow filmmakers, who were the Nomadland company,” added Janvey, “so to all of you, we accept this on your behalf.”

While the Indie Spirits aren’t a perfect bellwether for the Oscars,...

Chloé Zhao’s Oscar frontrunner “Nomadland” won best film and “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” was named best LGBTQ Film at the Dorian Awards (Galeca: The Society Of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics) during a virtual ceremony.

“Nomadland” was also named most visually striking film, and Zhao took home the award for best director.

The three-hour Dorians Film Toast was broadcast on LGBTQ+ streaming platform Revry. Karel served as the ceremony’s host.

The late Chadwick Boseman continued with his posthumous honors, winning best actor for his role as Levee in “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.” Co-star Colman Domingo accepted on his behalf, saying: “[He was] such an incredible human, scholar, humanitarian and a really wonderful actor. Creating complex roles about the African American experience, and about people who are marginalized in society and trying to stand up and have a strong voice, fighting for representation—that is Chadwick Boseman’s legacy.”

Carey Mulligan won best actress.

Filmmaker Chloè Zhao, as any Oscar fan probably knows, has set a record this year, becoming the first woman ever to be nominated for four individual Oscars in a single year, with her work on “Nomadland” being cited for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Film Editing and Best Adapted Screenplay. Though “Nomadland” is considered by many to be the front-runner in several Oscar categories, one contest that is proving to be particularly hot this year is the writing race.

Having already won the Critics Choice and the USC Scripter Awards, Zhao’s screenplay is locked in an extremely competitive contest against two other award-winning screenplays — Christopher Hampton and Florian Zeller‘s “The Father” which triumphed at the BAFTAs and the writing team behind “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm,” which won this year’s Writers Guild Award (where “Nomadland” and “The Father” were ineligible). Add to that two other highly-regarded screenplay adaptations — Kemp Powers...

From cowboys to ‘van-dwellers’, itinerant Americans are often portrayed as heroic lone wolves. Chloé Zhao’s film shows that the truth is more complicated and less glamorous

It has been a wild ride for Nomadland, Chloé Zhao’s roving portrait of the US’s rootless modern migrants. Shot for $5m and largely featuring amateur actors, it is the little movie that could: this year’s rags-to-riches story, beloved by the critics and odds-setters alike. The road has been cleared, the gold rush is on, but the Hollywood happy ending feels at odds with the film. As Nomadland steers its westerly course – from the Baftas in London to the Oscars in Los Angeles – it is living a dream that it knows is a lie.

Condé Nast Traveler called it “a love letter to America’s wide open spaces”, which is true up to a point, but this ignores the pathos, poverty and desperation at its core.

Every year Hollywood looks to the Producers Guild Awards winner to forecast the Best Picture Oscar. That’s because in the 12 years since both groups expanded their top award list and adopted the preferential ballot, only three times have the winners not aligned — PGA winners “1917,” “La La Land” and “The Big Short” did not land Best Picture.

Those differences made sense, as in each case a smaller, lower-budget movie took home the Oscar over a movie of scale and scope. And as expected, this year’s Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of a Motion Picture went to Chloé Zhao’s magic-hour road trip “Nomadland,” as voted on by the guild’s 8,000 members. Searchlight’s frontrunner looms large in a field of small movies, as it keeps racking up wins on its way to multiple Oscars come April 25.

“We’re proud to have produced a film about community and what connects us,...

Every year Hollywood looks to the Producers Guild Awards winner to forecast the Best Picture Oscar. That’s because in the 12 years since both groups expanded their top award list and adopted the preferential ballot, only three times have the winners not aligned — PGA winners “1917,” “La La Land” and “The Big Short” did not land Best Picture.

Those differences made sense, as in each case a smaller, lower-budget movie took home the Oscar over a movie of scale and scope. And as expected, this year’s Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of a Motion Picture went to Chloé Zhao’s magic-hour road trip “Nomadland,” as voted on by the guild’s 8,000 members. Searchlight’s frontrunner looms large in a field of small movies, as it keeps racking up wins on its way to multiple Oscars come April 25.

“We’re proud to have produced a film about community and what connects us,...

As the awards calendar hurtles toward the delayed Oscars on April 25, we have a clear frontrunner for Best Picture. Last year, Bong Joon Ho’s dark drama “Parasite” rode the Palme d’Or from May through to a Best Picture win. But it was, finally, a global blockbuster that appealed to the mainstream.

That wasn’t an option this pandemic award season. Even if the list of 2021 Oscar contenders is smaller-scale and more independent than usual, the film that boasts wide appeal across the Academy’s 23 branches will finally take home the Best Picture Oscar. With six nominations including Best Picture, Actress, Director, Editor, Adapted Screenplay, and Cinematography, Chloé Zhao’s hybrid cinéma vérité “Nomadland” (Searchlight/Hulu) is the film that hits the lonely pandemic zeitgeist in this weird year — even if the film didn’t score the SAG Ensemble nomination that “Parasite” did in 2020. “Nomadland” did win the Venice...

As the awards calendar hurtles toward the delayed Oscars on April 25, we have a clear frontrunner for Best Picture. Last year, Bong Joon Ho’s dark drama “Parasite” rode the Palme d’Or from May through to a Best Picture win. But it was, finally, a global blockbuster that appealed to the mainstream.

That wasn’t an option this pandemic award season. Even if the list of 2021 Oscar contenders is smaller-scale and more independent than usual, the film that boasts wide appeal across the Academy’s 23 branches will finally take home the Best Picture Oscar. With six nominations including Best Picture, Actress, Director, Editor, Adapted Screenplay, and Cinematography, Chloé Zhao’s hybrid cinéma vérité “Nomadland” (Searchlight/Hulu) is the film that hits the lonely pandemic zeitgeist in this weird year — even if the film didn’t score the SAG Ensemble nomination that “Parasite” did in 2020. “Nomadland” did win the Venice...

With the awards calendar constantly readjusting over the past year, awards frontrunners were not only at the mercy of the new Oscar date but to the ever-shifting availability of theaters. In hopes of easing that worry, Academy rules got flexible for the 2020 season: If a theatrical release was planned, movies that premiered online or at an online film festival were indeed Oscar eligible.

And while many bigger films pushed back to post-Oscar 2021 and the slimmer fall festivals didn’t serve as the usual awards launchpads, they did brand smaller titles, including four of the films whose directors will compete for the Best Director brass this year. Two of them came straight from Sundance 2020, which yielded two mighty Oscar contenders, Lee Isaac Chung’s jury and audience-award winning farmland family drama “Minari” (A24), starring nominees Steven Yeun and Youn Yuh-jung, and rookie writer-director Emerald Fennell’s stylized revenge fantasy “Promising Young Woman...

With the awards calendar constantly readjusting over the past year, awards frontrunners were not only at the mercy of the new Oscar date but to the ever-shifting availability of theaters. In hopes of easing that worry, Academy rules got flexible for the 2020 season: If a theatrical release was planned, movies that premiered online or at an online film festival were indeed Oscar eligible.

And while many bigger films pushed back to post-Oscar 2021 and the slimmer fall festivals didn’t serve as the usual awards launchpads, they did brand smaller titles, including four of the films whose directors will compete for the Best Director brass this year. Two of them came straight from Sundance 2020, which yielded two mighty Oscar contenders, Lee Isaac Chung’s jury and audience-award winning farmland family drama “Minari” (A24), starring nominees Steven Yeun and Youn Yuh-jung, and rookie writer-director Emerald Fennell’s stylized revenge fantasy “Promising Young Woman...

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The Academy Award nominations are out, marking the end of one phase of aggressive campaigning and speculation, while simultaneously launching a second one. If the massive amount of great movies released in 2020 overwhelmed you, the nominations provide a concise list of films worth watching before your Zoom Oscar party.

While many of these films are starting to play in select theaters again (and others debuted in theaters and on streaming platforms simultaneously), nobody could blame you for not wanting to leave the house. Fortunately, almost all of the nominees for Best Picture are available to stream while you wait for the Oscars (and your second vaccine).

The multitude of streaming services, and the...

Winning accolades from all major award organizations and being seen as a major Oscar frontrunner, Chloé Zhao's third feature film, Nomadland, is on the road to becoming a modern classic. Based on the non-fiction book by journalist Jessica Bruder, the film stars Frances McDormand who balances her seasonal job with a nomadic lifestyle.

Related: AFI Awards: Top 10 Movies Of 2020, Ranked (According To Rotten Tomatoes)

As she's constantly on the road, she encounters many other nomads and tries to discover the purpose of her life while coping with the loss of her husband. Nomadland benefits greatly from Zhao's minimalistic direction coupled with her expansive vision, along with performances by McDormand and a real-life nomad ensemble cast. All in all, it's a worthy addition and a realistic update to the road movie of cinema.

As usual, contenders in the Adapted Screenplay category are a varied bunch, with movies of all shapes and sizes adapted from plays, novels, memoirs, and a prior film.

Among the theater adaptations, auteurs have the advantage with Academy voters. Debuting at Sundance and relaunching at the fall festivals was “The Father” (Sony Pictures Classics), which French playwright-turned-director Florian Zeller adapted with Christopher Hampton from his popular stage play (“La Pere”). Anthony Hopkins plays an imperious old man who tussles with his daughter (Olivia Colman) as he struggles to keep track of his changing surroundings. The script landed a BAFTA nomination.

Regina King makes her feature film directing debut with “One Night in Miami” (Amazon Studios), adapted by Kemp Powers from his Olivier Award-nominated play. Right after Cassius Clay (Eli Goree) defeats heavyweight champion Sonny Liston in 1964, the boxer meets with Malcolm X (Kingsley Ben-Adir), Sam Cooke and Jim Brown (Aldis Hodge...

As usual, contenders in the Adapted Screenplay category are a varied bunch, with movies of all shapes and sizes adapted from plays, novels, memoirs, and a prior film.

Among the theater adaptations, auteurs have the advantage with Academy voters. Debuting at Sundance and relaunching at the fall festivals was “The Father” (Sony Pictures Classics), which French playwright-turned-director Florian Zeller adapted with Christopher Hampton from his popular stage play (“La Pere”). Anthony Hopkins plays an imperious old man who tussles with his daughter (Olivia Colman) as he struggles to keep track of his changing surroundings. The script landed a BAFTA nomination.

Regina King makes her feature film directing debut with “One Night in Miami” (Amazon Studios), adapted by Kemp Powers from his Olivier Award-nominated play. Right after Cassius Clay (Eli Goree) defeats heavyweight champion Sonny Liston in 1964, the boxer meets with Malcolm X (Kingsley Ben-Adir), Sam Cooke and Jim Brown (Aldis Hodge...

All products and services featured by IndieWire are independently selected by IndieWire editors. However, IndieWire may receive a commission on orders placed through its retail links, and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes.

Book-to-film adaptation is a complex, and often misunderstood, art form. On the surface, it might seem like making a movie based on a story that already exists is somehow easier than starting from scratch. But taking someone else’s work of art, which already stands on its own, and making it into something new is a daunting task. For those who are up for the challenge though, it can also be exhilarating. In addition to cinematography, music, acting, and production design, filmmakers get to use text itself as a tool for expression when working on an adaptation. They have to respect the spirit of the original work (or make a very conscious choice...

Last night, the 33rd Annual USC Libraries Scripter Awards were held. There, the film Nomadland and the limited series The Queen’s Gambit were honored. Movie-wise, Nomadland taking this prize, given to screenwriter Chloé Zhao and author Jessica Bruder, sets the flick up as likely the one to beat in Best Adapted Screenplay. Based on the book “Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century,” it has proven too be the adapted work of choice this year, to say the least. So, this is yet another prize for Zhao… Here’s the USC Scripter press release: The writers behind the feature film “Nomadland” and limited series “The Queen’s Gambit” won the 33rd-annual USC Libraries Scripter Awards at an online ceremony on the evening of March 13, 2021. The Scripter Awards honor each year’s most accomplished adaptations of the written word for the screen and, uniquely, recognize the screenwriters and the authors of the source material.

“Nomadland” was named the best screen adaptation of a printed work at the 33rd annual USC Libraries Scripter Awards, which took place in an online ceremony on Saturday night in lieu of the usual black-tie ceremony on the USC campus.

“The Queen’s Gambit” won the award for best TV adaptation.

The Scripter Award goes to the author of the original work on which a film or television show is based, and the screenwriter responsible for the adaptation. For “Nomadland,” writer-director Chloe Zhao won the award along with Jessica Bruder, who wrote the nonfiction book “Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century.” For “The Queen’s Gambit,” screenwriter and director Scott Frank won the award along with the late novelist Will Tevis, who wrote the novel on which the limited series was based.

The winners (and nominees) were selected by a committee of 52 writers, producers, journalists and other industry professionals and academics chaired by screenwriter Howard Rodman.

Traditionally mounted by the USC Libraries as an elegant black-tie, sit-down dinner at the historic Edward L. Doheny Jr. Memorial Library at the University of Southern California, this year the Scripter Awards went global. On Saturday, March 13, the USC Libraries opened up their exclusive awards show to honor the year’s best film and television adaptations, as well as the works on which they are based, as a virtual event.

This diverse group of academics, industry professionals, and critics (for which I vote) is often predictive of the Adapted Screenplay Oscar race. Last year’s Scripter winners on the film and TV side were Oscar and Emmy nominees Greta Gerwig (“Little Women”) and Phoebe Waller-Bridge (“Fleabag”), respectively. Past winners of both the Scripter and the Oscar include “Call Me by Your Name,” “Moonlight,” “The Big Short,” and “The Imitation Game.” In fact, before 2019, eight Scripter Award winners went on to win Oscars.

Traditionally mounted by the USC Libraries as an elegant black-tie, sit-down dinner at the historic Edward L. Doheny Jr. Memorial Library at the University of Southern California, this year the Scripter Awards went global. On Saturday, March 13, the USC Libraries opened up their exclusive awards show to honor the year’s best film and television adaptations, as well as the works on which they are based, as a virtual event.

This diverse group of academics, industry professionals, and critics (for which I vote) is often predictive of the Adapted Screenplay Oscar race. Last year’s Scripter winners on the film and TV side were Oscar and Emmy nominees Greta Gerwig (“Little Women”) and Phoebe Waller-Bridge (“Fleabag”), respectively. Past winners of both the Scripter and the Oscar include “Call Me by Your Name,” “Moonlight,” “The Big Short,” and “The Imitation Game.” In fact, before 2019, eight Scripter Award winners went on to win Oscars.

Chloé Zhao won top honors Saturday night at the 33rd annual USC Libraries Scripter Awards for Nomadland, her adaptation of Jessica Bruder’s nonfiction book, Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century. “This is so beautiful,” Zhao said, holding up the trophy, and thanking Bruder for her book and for her “love of the road and the American people.” Then she said, “I feel so lucky to be able to tell stories for a living.”

The win makes Zhao a top contender for an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay, but not a sure bet. The Scripters – which honor the year’s best film and TV adaptations and the works on which they’re based – have, over the past decade, been one of the most reliable bellwethers of Oscar gold – until recently. Scripter winners went on to win eight consecutive Academy Awards, but finished out of the money at the last two Academy Awards.

Top prizes at the USC Scripter event Saturday went to screenwriter Chloé Zhao and author Jessica Bruder for “Nomadland” as well as scripter Scott Frank and novelist Walter Tevis for Netflix’s “The Queen’s Gambit.”

As in past years, the award goes to both the scriptwriter(s) as well as the writer(s) of the original material.

Searchlight Pictures’ “Nomadland” is based on the nonfiction book “Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century.” Zhao thanked Bruder, the cast and crew of the film and Searchlight, concluding, “I feel so lucky to be able to tell stories for a living.” Bruder added that she had been reporting in 2014 for a magazine article that turned into the book and “It has been one hell of a ride.”

The “Queen’s Gambit” duo won for the episode “Openings.” Frank thanked Tevis for “the gift of that novel … This novel was beautiful and my mission was to protect it.

There are many different types of existing works from which a film’s screenplay can be adapted, and the academy has honored scripts built from just about every source material imaginable. Voters typically reveal their preferences by consistently choosing scripts based on certain source materials over others. Examining the most recent Best Adapted Screenplay lineups is the most effective way of predicting the next one. Here is a list of the category’s nominees and winners, as well as their sources of origin, from the last five years:

2020:

Winner: “Jojo Rabbit” – Novel

“The Irishman” – Non-fiction book

“Joker” – Comic books

“Little Women” – Novel

“The Two Popes” – Play

2019:

Winner: “BlacKkKlansman” – Memoir

“The Ballad of Buster Scruggs” – Short stories

“Can You Ever Forgive Me?” – Memoir

“If Beale Street Could Talk” – Novel

“A Star Is Born” – Existing films

2018:

Winner: “Call Me By Your Name” – Novel

“The Disaster Artist” – Non-fiction book

“Logan...

Female-led stories across film and television dominated the Aacta International Awards, with Promising Young Woman, Nomadland, and The Queen’s Gambit leading the winners.

There was also some joy for Australia in the television categories, with three-time AFI Aacta Award nominee Aaron Pedersen marking his first Aacta Award win for his role as detective Jay Swan in Australian outback drama, Mystery Road.

Emerald Fennell’s Promising Young Woman – produced by Margot Robbie and her production house, LuckyChap Entertainment – took out the Award for Best Film, beating out The Father, Minari, The Trial of the Chicago 7, and Nomadland.

The story, which tackles the dismantling of toxic masculinity, also received a Best Lead Actress in Film award for Carey Mulligan’s performance.

Robbie considered playing the lead herself as she has done with other LuckyChap projects but realised there was a less obvious choice for the protagonist.

Nomadland director Chloe Zhao followed...

Every film presents unique production problems, and Searchlight’s “Nomadland” had a high degree of difficulty. Writer-director Chloé Zhao and her team wanted total authenticity as they filmed nomads who travel from job to job in the U.S. Southwest.

Production challenges included multiple locations, changeable weather, a small crew, a limited budget — and accommodating the nomads, who were playing versions of themselves, with no acting experience.

“We were there to follow them, and let them lead their lives,” says Peter Spears, one of the producers. “They didn’t all move together. Everyone had a different schedule. Some had family obligations or medical things to attend to; sometimes people would suddenly peel off to a job.”

Zhao — another of the film’s five producers — had written a tight narrative script, inspired by the nonfiction book by Jessica Bruder. The director and her team followed her script but with room for spontaneity.

Cinemas will be able to programme it when they open.

Chloe Zhao’s awards favourite Nomadland will be released directly on the Disney+ streaming platform in the UK and Ireland on April 30. Disney said it would then be available to cinemas to programme when they open but that is not expected to be before May 17.

The film will be made available on the Star strand of Disney+, which launched on February 23 to host adult-focused productions from Disney content arms. These include the film divisions it acquired in its takeover of 20th Century Fox, now known as 20th Century Studios and Searchlight Pictures.

Cinemas will be able to programme it when they open.

Chloe Zhao’s awards favourite Nomadland will be released directly on the Disney+ streaming platform in the UK on April 30. Disney said it would then be available to cinemas to programme when they open but that is not expected to be before May 17.

Nomadland, starring Frances McDormand, won the best drama and best director prizes at last Sunday’s Golden Globes awards and is likely to feature heavily in the Bafta and Oscar nominations. Those ceremonies take place on April 11 and April 26 respectively.

It premiered at the Venice Film Festival...

Variety's Awards Circuit is home to the official predictions for the upcoming Oscars from Film Awards Editor Clayton Davis. Following Academy Awards history, buzz, news, reviews and sources, the Oscar predictions are updated regularly with the current year's contenders in all categories. Variety's Awards Circuit Prediction schedule consists of four phases, running all year long: Draft, Pre-Season, Regular Season and Post Season. Eligibility calendar and dates of awards will determine how long each phase lasts and will be displayed next to revision date.

To see all the latest predictions, of all the categories, in one place, visit The Collective

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2021 Oscars Predictions:

Best Adapted Screenplay

Updated: Mar. 4, 2021

Awards Prediction Commentary: The WGA weighed in and gave some gas for the campaigns for “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm,” which will have the largest amount of screenwriters ever nominated at nine, surpassing “Toy Story,” which had seven. “The White Tiger...

Currently streaming on Hulu, Chloé Zhao's Nomadland has been an award season darling so far, already picking up best director and best drama motion picture accolades at the 78th Golden Globes Awards. The film follows Frances McDormand as a woman named Fern who takes seasonal jobs to make ends meet as she travels across the country after her husband dies. Zhao's movie captures lush and realistic views of the American West, and at times, it even looks like a documentary with tight close-ups of actual nomads. But is Nomadland actually based on a true story? In part, yes.

While Fern's story is fictional, Zhao's script and film are based on Jessica Bruder's 2017 nonfiction book Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century. So, which parts of the movie are based on reality? Here's what you need to know.

What Is the Nomadland Book About?

In her book, Bruder closely follows nomads,...

Chloé Zhao became the first director of Asian descent and only the second women ever to win the Golden Globe for Best Director, when she took the prize Sunday. Her night would end with an exclamation point as her film Nomadland went on to take the Best Motion Picture – Drama prize.

Zhao had been a favorite in the Director category that included three women for the first time – Zhao, Emerald Fennell for Promising Young Woman and Regina King for One Night in Miami — along with David Fincher for Mank and Aaron Sorkin for The Trial of the Chicago 7. The only other woman to win the category was Barbra Streisand for Yentl in 1983.

During her virtual acceptance speech she thanked her partner Josh and her family for “keeping her sane all these years,” and after reading a quote from one of the real-life “nomads” in the film about compassion, she added,...

“Nomadland” has won the Golden Globe for best picture drama, making history for the Globes, as well as for director Chloé Zhao and for the “Nomadland” producing team.

The win is the first time a film directed by a woman has ever won the top prize in the Globes’ 78 ceremonies. And since Zhao produced “Nomadland” as well, she’s also the first Asian woman to win best picture drama as a producer. Star Frances McDormand, who also produced “Nomadland,” is the second woman to be nominated for a Golden Globe both for producing and acting, and the first to win as a producer.

The victory solidifies the frontrunner status of the Searchlight film as Oscar season begins in earnest. And because Zhao directed, wrote, produced and edited the lauded “Nomadland,” she has become the most-awarded filmmaker in a single awards season.

Zhao accepted the award for best picture drama on behalf of “Nomadland,...

At the 2020 Academy Awards, “Jojo Rabbit” director Taika Waititi won Best Adapted Screenplay for bringing Christine Leunens novel “Caging Skies” to the big screen. This award, which dates back to the first Oscars in 1928, has gone to the adapters of 47 novels over the year. The most recent of these prior to 2020 was in 2018 when James Ivory won his first Oscar for his adaptation of André Aciman‘s novel “Call Me by Your Name.” (Scroll down for the most up-to-date 2021 Oscars predictions for Best Adapted Screenplay and be sure to check out our predictions for Best Original Screenplay.)

In between those two years, “BlacKkKlansman” director Spike Lee shared in the win for Best Adapted Screenplay for his written work on Ron Stallworth‘s memoir of the same name. In the 92-year history of this category, only a dozen adaptations of such books have prevailed. Five of those non-fiction books adaptations were...

We’ve already written more generally about how director and writer Chloé Zhao used documentary techniques to blur real life and fiction in her neo-western drama Nomadland, which is now available to stream on Hulu. One of the chief filmmaking choices Zhao made was to utilize non-actors to play fictionalized versions of themselves. Characters like Linda May and Swankie are played by real-life nomads who live in their vans. Bob Wells, a vlogger and author who writes about life lived in his refurbished van, is the most famous of the actual nomads to appear in Nomadland. Wells is an older American in his 60s who runs a website and YouTube channel called CheapRVliving. Both platforms chronicle his life living in a van.

“Society told me that this was the worst possible thing that could happen to me, to live in a van,” Wells told PBS’ Independent Lens in January. “To be homeless,...

Chloé Zhao’s third feature, Nomadland, is a tale of restlessness and rootlessness set in the American West. It stars Frances McDormand as Fern, a sixty-something widow who’s lost her husband to cancer and her house to the recession, and now roams the country aboard an Rv, working all kinds of seasonal, menial odd-jobs to scrape together a living. Written by Zhao and based on Jessica Bruder’s non-fiction book Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century, it’s a richly textured account of life on America’s fringes, and an eye-opening portrait of the many modern nomads who, as per Slant’s Chris Barsanti, try “to carve out a place for [themselves] in a society that doesn’t leave space for people not defined by steady careers or well-rooted homes.”The citizens of Nomadland are no strangers to pain and sorrows, but as Stephanie Zacharek argues over at Time,...

On the day of the 2018 Indie Spirit Awards, Frances McDormand, Peter Spears and Chloé Zhao converged at McDormand’s Los Angeles apartment to discuss collaborating on a film. McDormand and producer Spears had recently optioned Jessica Bruder’s book Nomadland, a nonfiction ode to baby boomers forced to live in campers as a result of economic hardships, and Zhao was their first choice to direct. Later that day, McDormand would win a best actress Spirit Award for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, while Spears’ Call Me by Your Name was facing off against Zhao’s The Rider for best picture. But on ...

On the day of the 2018 Indie Spirit Awards, Frances McDormand, Peter Spears and Chloé Zhao converged at McDormand’s Los Angeles apartment to discuss collaborating on a film. McDormand and producer Spears had recently optioned Jessica Bruder’s book Nomadland, a nonfiction ode to baby boomers forced to live in campers as a result of economic hardships, and Zhao was their first choice to direct. Later that day, McDormand would win a best actress Spirit Award for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, while Spears’ Call Me by Your Name was facing off against Zhao’s The Rider for best picture. But on ...

Nomadland, the Oscar-tipped feature film from Chloé Zhao, debuted on Hulu Friday after getting a limited theatrical release in the U.S. The film stars Frances McDormand as Fern, an older woman and working class widow who travels the American west in a van, in which she also lives. Though Nomadland is not a true story or a documentary, the film often blurs the line between fiction and reality by centering real places and communities, as well as casting a number of real people who are playing fictionalized versions of themselves.

To further capture the feel of the nomadic experience, Zhao used a bare bones crew who traveled in vans and stayed in motels for the four-month production. Many critics and early reviewers, including our review out of TIFF last September, responded to a more authentic representation of America than we tend to get in mainstream cinema. When one considers...

A version of this story about Chloé Zhao and “Nomadland” first appeared in the Actors/Directors/Screenwriters issue of TheWrap’s awards magazine.

Anybody who’s tried to get in touch with Chloé Zhao over the last few years is probably familiar with the messages that come back from her reps. “She’s traveling.” “I’m not really sure where she is right now.” “She’s someplace where there’s no reception.”

“No reception? Yeah,” Zhao said with a laugh. “I sometimes feel there’s so much being put on us — our jobs, our relationships, bills and responsibilities — that I have no idea who I am and what I want to say. As a filmmaker, that’s a scary feeling. So when you pack up some stuff and go to a place where nobody knows who you are, and you have no reception, you hear yourself better, and it makes...