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Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay Rankings
Celebration of original storytelling across cinema history, ranking every Academy Award winner for Best Original Screenplay. Discover, vote on, and compare the sharpest scripts, dialogue, and non-adapted narratives in film.
World Ranking
▲ Top 5
#1
Pulp Fiction (Tarantino/Avary, 1994)
Quentin Tarantino and Roger Avary revolutionized independent cinema with non-linear storytelling, pop-culture dialogue, and intersecting crime vignettes.
+53
#2
Parasite (Bong/Han, 2019)
Bong Joon-ho and Han Jin-won crafted a multi-genre South Korean masterpiece exploring modern economic inequality and class rage through architectural trickery.
+33
#3
Good Will Hunting (Damon/Affleck, 1997)
Matt Damon and Ben Affleck broke out with their touching drama about a brilliant South Boston janitor confronting deep psychological childhood trauma.
+31
#4
Django Unchained (Tarantino, 2012)
Quentin Tarantino's revisionist spaghetti Western tackled antebellum slavery through explosive revenge, sharp banter, and operatic violence.
+26
#5
Citizen Kane (Mankiewicz/Welles, 1941)
Herman J. Mankiewicz and Orson Welles constructed a non-linear biographical puzzle investigating the enigmatic dying word 'Rosebud' of a publishing tycoon.
+23
▼ Bottom 5
#1
Crash (Haggis/Moresco, 2005)
Paul Haggis and Bobby Moresco constructed an interwoven ensemble drama confronting racial tension, prejudice, and redemption in post-9/11 Los Angeles.
-80
#2
Shakespeare in Love (Norman/Stoppard, 1998)
Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard delivered a witty, literate romantic comedy playing on Elizabethan theatre conventions and the creation of Romeo and Juliet.
-62
#3
Belfast (Branagh, 2021)
Kenneth Branagh's warm autobiographical coming-of-age portrait saw the outbreak of The Troubles in late 1960s Northern Ireland through a young boy's eyes.
-42
#4
Chariots of Fire (Welland, 1981)
Colin Welland's inspirational British sports drama celebrating faith, heritage, and integrity through the parallel paths of two 1924 Olympic runners.
-35
#5
Promising Young Woman (Fennell, 2020)
Emerald Fennell's audacious, candy-colored revenge thriller interrogated rape culture, bystander complicity, and grief with razor-sharp feminist dialogue.
-13
You should check out
Story: Substance, Structure, Style and the Principles of Screenwriting by Robert McKee
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Save the Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need by Blake Snyder
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Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting by Syd Field
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Oscars.org
Official Academy Awards Database: Writing Categories
Writers Guild of America
WGA 101 Greatest Screenplays in Film History
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All Items (85)
Pulp Fiction (Tarantino/Avary, 1994)+53
Parasite (Bong/Han, 2019)+33
Good Will Hunting (Damon/Affleck, 1997)+31
Django Unchained (Tarantino, 2012)+26
Citizen Kane (Mankiewicz/Welles, 1941)+23
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Kaufman/Gondry/Bismuth, 2004)+17
Chinatown (Towne, 1974)+11
Sunset Boulevard (Brackett/Wilder/Marshman, 1950)+10
The Apartment (Wilder/Diamond, 1960)+9
The Usual Suspects (McQuarrie, 1995)+8
Dead Poets Society (Schulman, 1989)+7
Everything Everywhere All at Once (Kwan/Scheinert, 2022)+4
The Sting (Ward, 1973)+3
On the Waterfront (Schulberg, 1954)+2
Sinners (Coogler, 2025)+2
Network (Chayefsky, 1976)+1
The Great McGinty (Sturges, 1940)—
Woman of the Year (Kanin/Lardner, 1942)—
Princess O'Rourke (Krasna, 1943)—
Wilson (Trotti, 1944)—
Marie-Louise (Schweizer, 1945)—
The Seventh Veil (Box/Box, 1946)—
The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer (Sheldon, 1947)—
Battleground (Pirosh, 1949)—
An American in Paris (Lerner, 1951)—
The Lavender Hill Mob (Clarke, 1952)—
Titanic (Brackett/Reisch/Breen, 1953)—
The Red Balloon (Lamorisse, 1956)—
Designing Woman (Wells, 1957)—
The Defiant Ones (Young/Smith, 1958)—
Pillow Talk (Rouse/Greene/Shapiro/Richlin, 1959)—
Splendor in the Grass (Inge, 1961)—
Divorce Italian Style (De Concini/Giannetti/Germi, 1962)—
How the West Was Won (Webb, 1963)—
Father Goose (Stone/Tarloff/Barnett, 1964)—
Darling (Raphael, 1965)—
A Man and a Woman (Lelouch/Uytterhoeven, 1966)—
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (Rose, 1967)—
The Producers (Brooks, 1968)—
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (Goldman, 1969)—
Patton (Coppola/North, 1970)—
The Hospital (Chayefsky, 1971)—
The Candidate (Larner, 1972)—
Dog Day Afternoon (Pierson, 1975)—
Annie Hall (Allen/Brickman, 1977)—
Coming Home (Dowd/Salt/Jones, 1978)—
Breaking Away (Tesich, 1979)—
Melvin and Howard (Goldman, 1980)—
Gandhi (Briley, 1982)—
Tender Mercies (Foote, 1983)—
Places in the Heart (Benton, 1984)—
Witness (Kelley/Wallace/Wallace, 1985)—
Hannah and Her Sisters (Allen, 1986)—
Moonstruck (Shanley, 1987)—
Rain Man (Bass/Morrow, 1988)—
Ghost (Rubin, 1990)—
Thelma & Louise (Khouri, 1991)—
The Crying Game (Jordan, 1992)—
The Piano (Campion, 1993)—
Fargo (Coen/Coen, 1996)—
American Beauty (Ball, 1999)—
Almost Famous (Crowe, 2000)—
Gosford Park (Fellowes, 2001)—
Talk to Her (Almodóvar, 2002)—
Lost in Translation (Coppola, 2003)—
Little Miss Sunshine (Arndt, 2006)—
Juno (Cody, 2007)—
Milk (Black, 2008)—
The Hurt Locker (Boal, 2009)—
The King's Speech (Seidler, 2010)—
Midnight in Paris (Allen, 2011)—
Her (Jonze, 2013)—
Birdman (Iñárritu/Giacobone/Dinelaris/Bó, 2014)—
Spotlight (McCarthy/Singer, 2015)—
Manchester by the Sea (Lonergan, 2016)—
Get Out (Peele, 2017)—
Anatomy of a Fall (Triet/Harari, 2023)—
Anora (Baker, 2024)—
Interrupted Melody (Ludwig/Levien, 1955)-1
Green Book (Vallelonga/Currie/Farrelly, 2018)-7
Promising Young Woman (Fennell, 2020)-13
Chariots of Fire (Welland, 1981)-35
Belfast (Branagh, 2021)-42
Shakespeare in Love (Norman/Stoppard, 1998)-62
Crash (Haggis/Moresco, 2005)-80