The USC Scripter award, given to the year's best screenplay "adapted from a literary source," is seen as a good indicator of what of screenplay is likely to take the Oscar home in the adapted category (last year, for example, Million Dollar Baby won both). This year, however, nervous studios will have to wait just a little longer to find out who's in the lead: there was a tie. Dan Futterman's adaptation of Gerald Clarke's Truman Capote biography, and Stephen Gaghan's screenplay for Syriana - adapted from See No Evil, by Robert Baer - have the same number of votes; a winner will be determined in a runoff vote on Wednesday.

As the Guardian article linked below points out, whether it wins or not, this is more good news for Capote, which continues to gain ground on presumed Oscar front runner Brokeback Mountain. That said, of course, we'll know a whole lot more about who's really in the lead by this time tomorrow, after the Golden Globes have been handed out.