OSCAR HISTORY: Best Original Screenplay

One of the most important things to remember about motion pictures is that every single movie begins when a gifted writer sits down with an empty page and puts those two awesome words down ... "FADE IN." From there, they craft a screenplay from which every other element flows, eventually resulting in an audience sitting down to see the film unfold that started in the mind of a screenwriter, or sometimes even more daunting, a screenwriter taking an already published work to adapt it to the film medium. For either case, these were the wonderful and imaginative screenplays that the Academy selected as the best each year.


2023: ANATOMY OF A FALL by Justine Triet and Arthur Harari     (View Acceptance Speech)
2022: EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert     (View Acceptance Speech)
2021: BELFAST by Kenneth Branagh     (View Acceptance Speech)
2020: PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN by Emerald Fennell     (View Acceptance Speech)
2019: PARASITE by Bong Joon Ho & Jin Won Han     (View Acceptance Speech)
2018: GREEN BOOK by Nick Vallelonga, Brian Currie, & Peter Farrelly     (View Acceptance Speech)
2017: GET OUT by Jordan Peele     (View Acceptance Speech)
2016: MANCHESTER BY THE SEA by Kenneth Lonergan     (View Acceptance Speech)
2015: SPOTLIGHT by Josh Singer & Tom McCarthy     (View Acceptance Speech)
2014: BIRDMAN by Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Jr. & Armando Bo     (View Acceptance Speech)
2013: HER by Spike Jonze     (View Acceptance Speech)
2012: DJANGO UNCHAINED by Quentin Tarantino     (View Film Clip)
2011: MIDNIGHT IN PARIS by Woody Allen     (View Film Trailer)
2010: THE KING'S SPEECH by David Siedler     (View Acceptance Speech)
2009: THE HURT LOCKER by Mark Boal     (View Acceptance Speech)
2008: MILK by Dustin Lance Black     (View Acceptance Speech)
2007: JUNO by Diablo Cody     (View Acceptance Speech)
2006: LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE by Michael Arndt     (View Acceptance Speech)
2005: CRASH by Paul Haggis & Bobby Moresco     (View Acceptance Speech)
2004: ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND by Charlie Kaufman     (View Acceptance Speech)
2003: LOST IN TRANSLATION by Sofia Coppola     (View Acceptance Speech)
2002: TALK TO HER by Pedro Almodovar     (View Acceptance Speech)
2001: GOSFORD PARK by Julian Fellowes     (View Acceptance Speech)
2000: ALMOST FAMOUS by Cameron Crowe     (View Acceptance Speech)
1999: AMERICAN BEAUTY by Alan Ball     (View Acceptance Speech)
1998: SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE by Marc Norman & Tom Stoppard     (View Oscar Moment)
1997: GOOD WILL HUNTING by Ben Affleck & Matt Damon     (View Acceptance Speech)
1996: FARGO by Ethan Coen & Joel Coen     (View Oscar Moment)
1995: THE USUAL SUSPECTS by Christopher McQuarrie     (View Acceptance Speech)
1994: PULP FICTION by Roger Avary & Quentin Tarantino     (View Film Clip)
1993: THE PIANO by Jane Campion     (View Acceptance Speech)
1992: THE CRYING GAME by Neil Jordan     (View Oscar Moment)
1991: THELMA & LOUISE by Callie Khouri     (View Acceptance Speech)
1990: GHOST by Bruce Joel Rubin     (View Acceptance Speech)
1989: DEAD POETS SOCIETY by Tom Schulman     (View Acceptance Speech)
1988: RAIN MAN by Ronald Bass & Barry Morrow     (View Film Clip)
1987: MOONSTRUCK by John Patrick Shanley     (View Film Clip)
1986: HANNAH AND HER SISTERS by Woody Allen     (View Film Clip)
1985: WITNESS by William Kelley, Earl W. Wallace, & Pamela Wallace     (View Film Clip)
1984: PLACES IN THE HEART by Robert Benton     (View Film Trailer)
1983: TENDER MERCIES by Horton Foote     (View Film Clip)
1982: GANDHI by John Briley     (View Oscar Moment)
1981: CHARIOTS OF FIRE by Colin Welland     (View Acceptance Speech)
1980: MELVIN AND HOWARD by Bo Goldman     (View Film Clip)
1979: BREAKING AWAY by Steve Tesich     (View Film Clip)
1978: COMING HOME by Nancy Dowd, Robert C. Jones, & Waldo Salt     (View Acceptance Speech)
1977: ANNIE HALL by Woody Allen & Marshall Brickman     (View Film Clip)
1976: NETWORK by Paddy Chayefsky     (View Acceptance Speech)
1975: DOG DAY AFTERNOON by Frank Pierson     (View Screenwriting Masterclass)
1974: CHINATOWN by Robert Towne     (View Acceptance Speech)
1973: THE STING by David S. Ward     (View Acceptance Speech)
1972: THE CANDIDATE by Jeremy Larner     (View Film Clip)
1971: THE HOSPITAL by Paddy Chayefsky     (View Acceptance Speech)
1970: PATTON by Francis Ford Coppola & Edmund H. North     (View Acceptance Speech)
1969: BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID by William Goldman     (View Screenwriting Masterclass)
1968: THE PRODUCERS by Mel Brooks     (View Acceptance Speech)
1967: GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER by William Rose     (View Film Clip)
1966: A MAN AND A WOMAN by Claude Lelouch & Pierre Uytterhoeven     (View Film Trailer)
1965: DARLING by Frederic Raphael     (View Film Clip)
1964: FATHER GOOSE by S.H. Barnett, Peter Stone, & Frank Tarloff     (View Film Clip)
1963: HOW THE WEST WAS WON by James R. Webb     (View Film Clip)
1962: DIVORCE--ITALIAN STYLE by Ennio de Concini, Pietro Germi, & Alfredo Giannetti     (View Film Clip)
1961: SPLENDOR IN THE GRASS by William Inge     (View Film Clip)
1960: THE APARTMENT by I.A.L. Diamond & Billy Wilder     (View Screenwriting Masterclass)
1959: PILLOW TALK by Clarence Green, Maurice Richlin, Russell Rouse, & Stanley Shapiro     (View Film Trailer)
1958: THE DEFIANT ONES by Harold Jacob Smith & Nedrick Young     (View Film Clip)
1957: DESIGNING WOMAN by George Wells     (View Film Trailer)
1956: THE RED BALLOON by Albert Lamorisse     (View Film Clip)
1955: INTERRUPTED MELODY by Sonya Levien & William Ludwig     (View Film Trailer)
1953: ON THE WATERFRONT by Budd Schulberg     (View Film Clip)
1953: TITANIC by Charles Brackett, Richard Breen, & Walter Reisch     (View Film Trailer)
1952: THE LAVENDER HILL MOB by T.E.B. Clarke     (View Film Trailer)
1951: AN AMERICAN IN PARIS by Alan Jay Lerner     (View Film Clip)
1950: ALL ABOUT EVE by Joseph L. Mankiewicz     (View Film Clip)
1949: A LETTER TO THREE WIVES by Joseph L. Mankiewicz     (View Film Clip)
1948: ---NOT GIVEN---    
1947: THE BACHELOR AND THE BOBBY-SOXER by Sidney Sheldon     (View Film Clip)
1946: THE SEVENTH VEIL by Muriel Box & Sydney Box     (View Film Trailer)
1945: MARIE-LOUISE by Richard Schweizer     (View Film Trailer)
1944: WILSON by Lamar Trotti     (View Film Trailer)
1943: PRINCESS O'ROURKE by Norman Krasna     (View Film Trailer)
1942: WOMAN OF THE YEAR by Michael Kanin & Ring Lardner, Jr.     (View Film Trailer)
1941: CITIZEN KANE by Herman J. Mankiewicz & Orson Welles     (View Film Clip)
1940: THE GREAT MCGINTY by Preston Sturges     (View Film Trailer)
1939: MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON by Lewis R. Foster     (View Film Clip)
1938: BOYS TOWN by Eleanore Griffin & Dore Schary     (View Film Clip)
1937: A STAR IS BORN by Robert Carson & William A. Wellman     (Watch Full Movie)
1936: ---NOT GIVEN---    
1935: THE SCOUNDREL by Ben Hecht & Charles MacArthur     (Watch Full Movie)
1934: MANHATTAN MELODRAMA by Arthur Caesar     (View Film Clip)
1932 / 33: ONE WAY PASSAGE by Robert Lord     (View Film Clip)
1931 / 32: THE CHAMP by Frances Marion     (View Film Clip)
1930 / 31: THE DAWN PATROL by John Monk Saunders     (View Film Clip)
1929 / 30: THE BIG HOUSE by Frances Marion     (View Film Clip)
1928 / 29: THE PATRIOT by Hans Kraly     (View Film Trailer)
1927 / 28: UNDERWORLD by Ben Hecht     (View Film Clip)