But what are the criteria by which members choose a winner — what's on the page, or what's on the screen? The reply, in total: "They vote on the film. This line of inquiry presupposes that the Oscars actually do acknowledge superior filmmaking and not just whichever way the wind is gusting through Hollywood.
But, like most movie fans, I need to put my faith in something. Back in the previous century, I rode that fandom all the way to film school, initially with designs, like my entire male cohort, on writing the next Pulp Fiction. In our classes, we were humbled to discover that the main job of the screenwriter is to get the hell out of the way of everyone else: A screenplay isn't a primary text so much as a blueprint, at once specific and capacious, precise but not prescriptive, which offers a map toward what the movie will be.
I was as bad at screenwriting as I've been at anything in my life, but I learned enough to recognize that scripts aren't literature: They're not meant to be read so much as envisioned — essentially a typewritten means to a cinematic end — and as such, few films are well written in a linguistic sense.
But even if adjudicators "vote on the film," rather than the script itself, a glance through previous winners of not just the Oscars, but the BAFTA, Writers Guild, Cannes and Golden Globe Awards leaves me mostly baffled. Dog Day Afternoon and Fargo , yes. But Little Miss Sunshine? Among this year's crop of nominees, only Ex Machina struck me as a particularly interesting piece of storytelling — at least from what I saw on screen.
But what about the script itself? Reading screenplays involves a lot of visual projection, and the lengths to which one can imagine words as pictures depends on the level of detail and description.
Inside Out , for example, is a smart, funny, moving and visually striking film, but its script reads like point-form notes that would have made little sense if I hadn't already seen the end results. But if the Oscar is, as the category claims, for writing, it's a little confusing as to how such a skeletal screenplay might qualify it for a prize.
Oscars for best original screenplay are often awarded for novelty; the past three winners, Django Unchained , Her and Birdman , were all heavily stylized, original pieces of storytelling that subverted or reinterpreted old themes. Funny enough, the previous youngest winner was Orson Welles, who was 26 when he was given the award for Citizen Kane. Affleck and Damon turned their hometown of Boston into the backdrop for an emotional story of two lost souls who help each other move past their own trauma.
For more on the film, check out our Good Will Hunting script teardown. Sunset Boulevard was a film that changed the course of Hollywood at a pivotal time in its history. In many ways, Sunset Boulevard exposed the darkness that laid beneath the glitz and glamour of the Golden Age. Sunset Boulevard really is a brilliant script, both technically and narratively.
Federico Fellini takes second place with six nominations, a whopping ten spots below Allen. Annie Hall is widely considered to be one of the greatest screenplays of all-time, original or adapted. To say that Citizen Kane is a masterpiece would be an understatement. Orson Welles became an overnight sensation for his work writing, directing, and starring in Citizen Kane , a film widely regarded as the greatest ever made. The Citizen Kane screenplay has been subject to controversy over the years.
In recent years, those reports have been proven false — Welles and Mankiewicz share credit for the script and the Oscar. Chinatown is a masterfully constructed story that leaves no threads loose. Many of the greatest screenplays of all-time were adapted from other works. In this next article, we look at some of the best adapted screenplays ever made, and how they were able to capture the hearts and minds of the Academy.
Write and collaborate on your scripts FREE. Create script breakdowns, sides, schedules, storyboards, call sheets and more. As much as I appreciate the placement of this entries, I don't feel you've fully justified you're reasoning for them. For instance, for Almost Famous, you don't really explain why it's a great script. It's not that I disagree with it being here but i don't the reasoning for it being one of the best all that convincing.
I suppose a little deconstruction of what makes it great would have sufficed, like you did with the 'Usual Suspects' entry you explained what makes it exceptional in regards to screenwriting principles. Otherwise this is an exceptional list of screenplays that stand head and shoulders above others. Previous Post. Next Post. A visual medium requires visual methods. Master the art of visual storytelling with our FREE video series on directing and filmmaking techniques.
More and more people are flocking to the small screen to find daily entertainment. So how can you break put from the pack and get your idea onto the small screen? Skip to content. Marshman Jr. Wallace, based on a story by Kelley, E. Best Screenplay Oscar Winners Get Out Best Original Screenplay WInners Divorce Italian Style Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay Only the titles of the nominated films were announced. Collings and Gibney are the only screenwriters to win two Oscars each for their work on a single film.
Best Original Story was intended to give credit to the authors of performance works not novels that films were based on. Therefore, oftentimes, the source and its adaptation would earn nominations - and Oscars.
But in these other three cases, the script authors were different people from the writers credited with the screenplay. Top Screenwriting Oscar Winners: Overall. Woody Allen 16 nominations 3 wins. Billy Wilder 12 nominations 3 wins. Charles Brackett 7 nominations 3 wins. John Huston 8 nominations 1 win.
Federico Fellini 8 nominations 0 wins.
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