Facebook Film ‘The Social Network’ Writers Win Award
Author Ben Mezrich and screenwriter Aaron Sorkin were feted with the 23rd-annual USC Libraries Scripter Award for the film The Social Network and the book The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook, A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius and Betrayal upon which it was based.
Film critic and historian Leonard Maltin announced the winners at the black-tie banquet on Friday, Feb. 4.
“When you get that phone call that Aaron Sorkin is interested in adapting your book, it’s like getting hit by lightning,” Mezrich said.
“I sat down in the movie there and the movie opens. There is that line, ‘dating you is like dating a stairmaster.’ At that moment, I thought, this is the best movie I’ve ever seen,” added Mezrich.
[ Also Read: Why Do We Need a Movie on Facebook? ]Sorkin, who won multiple Emmy Awards for his work on the NBC program “The West Wing” and is nominated for an Academy Award for his Social Network screenplay, related an incident from early in his career that put entertainment award in perspective.
“Early one morning a few years ago, my father came over to my apartment in New York City where I was living at the time because the Academy Award nominations were being announced and there was some hope that a movie that I wrote that year would be nominated” explained Sorkin.
“When it wasn’t, my father turned to me and said ‘Aaron, how many people in the world do you think woke up this morning with even reasonable expectation that something like this might happen.’ That’s when I discovered that for most people it’s an honor just to be nominated…in my family, it’s an honor just to be overlooked.”
[ Also Read: Sony Casting Call for Lead Role in Mortal Instruments ]“You can imagine how they and I feel about getting recognition like this, from a group of people like this,” said Sorkin.
The Social Network’s Scripter win adds to its slew of accolades. The film has been named best film by the Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, and Toronto film critics associations, among others, as well as by the Golden Globes and the National Board of Review. The film is nominated for eight Academy Awards and six BAFTA awards.
[ Also Read: Indian Actor Abhay Deol to Work with AVATAR Star ]The Scripter awards gala, presented by the Friends of the USC Libraries, honors the year’s best cinematic adaptation of the printed word.
The other finalists for the 2011 Scripter, in alphabetical order by film title, were: screenwriters Danny Boyle and Simon Beaufoy for 127 Hours, adapted from Aron Ralston’s autobiography Between a Rock and a Hard Place; screenwriters Robert Harris and Roman Polanski for The Ghost Writer, adapted from Harris’ novel The Ghost; screenwriters Joel and Ethan Coen for True Grit, based on Charles Portis’ classic Western novel; and screenwriters Debra Granik and Anne Rosellini and author Daniel Woodrell for Winter’s Bone.
Academy Award-nominated and Golden Globe-winning screenwriter Naomi Foner chaired the Scripter selection committee for the fourth consecutive year.
Author Dennis Lehane was named the 4th-annual USC Libraries Scripter Literary Achievement Award recipient for his body of work. Lehane is the author of such books as Gone, Baby, Gone; Moonlight Mile; Shutter Island; The Given Day; and Mystic River for which he received a Scripter Award in 2004.
The USC Libraries welcomed Audi of America as the transportation sponsor for Scripter 2011. A fleet of Audi A8 sedans chauffeured nominees and special guests to the black-tie event.
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Final Draft Inc. also has supported Scripter 2011 by providing copies of Final Draft 8 to USC students. The libraries will make the scriptwriting software available through the USC Thomas and Dorothy Leavey Library Multimedia Commons.
Final Draft will complement the suite of authoring software the Multimedia Commons offers students and will provide a tool for storytelling and completing coursework while drawing on the riches of the libraries’ collections.
Proceeds from the Scripter gala support the USC Libraries’ Endowed Collections program. For more information about Scripter, visit http://scripter.usc.edu.
In the picture above: Screenwriter Aaron Sorkin, USC Libraries Dean Catherine Quinlan, and author Ben Mezrich celebrate “The Social Network’s” Scripter win.
