Best screenplay not based upon previously published material
The Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay is the Academy Award (also known as an Oscar) for the best screenplay not based upon previously published material. It was created in 1940 as a separate writing award from the Academy Award for Best Story . Beginning with the Oscars for 1957, the two categories were combined to honor only the screenplay.
See also the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay , a similar award for screenplays that are adaptations of pre-existing material.
Eligibility Screenplays are eligible if they are not based on "previously published material". The Writer's Branch of the academy determines if a screenplay is adapted or original, based on possible sources in question, interviews given about the film and the film's publicity materials, and sometimes places screenplays in a different category than the Writers Guild of America . For the 75th Academy Awards , Gangs of New York was nominated as an original screenplay despite being based on the book The Gangs of New York because the writers based the film on the book's historical research but largely invented the characters and plot.[1] For the 89th Academy Awards , Moonlight was campaigned as an original screenplay, being based on an unpublished play, but was ultimately placed in the adapted screenplay category, which it won.[2] Similarly, Whiplash was considered an adapted screenplay at the 87th Academy Awards despite being written as an original screenplay because a scene from the script was produced as a proof-of-concept short film . However, 2008's Frozen River , which similarly had a proof-of-concept short film screened at film festivals, was nominated as an original screenplay.[3]
Superlatives Woody Allen has received the most Oscar nominations in this category with 16, winning three times: for Annie Hall , Hannah and Her Sisters and Midnight in Paris Woody Allen has the most nominations in this category with 16, and the most awards with 3 (for Annie Hall (1977), Hannah and Her Sisters (1986), and Midnight in Paris (2011)). Paddy Chayefsky and Billy Wilder have also won three screenwriting Oscars: Chayefsky won two for Original Screenplay (The Hospital and Network ) and one for Adapted Screenplay (Marty ), while Wilder won one for Adapted Screenplay (The Lost Weekend , shared with Charles Brackett ), and two for Original Screenplay (Sunset Boulevard , shared with Brackett and D. M. Marshman Jr. , and The Apartment , shared with I. A. L. Diamond )
Woody Allen also holds the record as the oldest winner (76) for Midnight in Paris .[4] Ben Affleck is the youngest winner (25) for Good Will Hunting , co-written with Matt Damon (27).
Richard Schweizer was the first to win for a foreign-language film, Marie-Louise . Other winners for a non-English screenplay include Albert Lamorisse , Pietro Germi , Claude Lelouch , Pedro Almodóvar , Bong Joon-ho , Han Jin-won , Justine Triet and Arthur Harari . Lamorisse is additionally the only person to win or even be nominated for Best Original Screenplay for a short film (The Red Balloon , 1956).[5]
Frances Marion (The Big House ) was the first woman to win for her original script, although she won Best Writing, which then included both original and adapted screenplays before a separate award for Best Original Screenplay was introduced. Muriel Box (The Seventh Veil ) was the first woman to win in this category; she shared the award with her husband, Sydney Box . They are also the first of two married couples to win in this category; Earl W. Wallace and Pamela Wallace (Witness ) are the others.
In 1996, Joel Coen and Ethan Coen became the only siblings to win in this category (for Fargo ).[6] Francis Ford Coppola (Patton , 1970) [7] and Sofia Coppola (Lost in Translation , 2003) are the only father-daughter pair to win.[8] The Lucas Bros are the only African-American siblings to receive a nomination in this category.[9]
Preston Sturges was nominated for two different films in the same year (1944): Hail the Conquering Hero and The Miracle of Morgan's Creek . Oliver Stone achieved the same distinction in 1986, for Platoon and Salvador . Maurice Richlin and Stanley Shapiro were nominated in 1959 for both Operation Petticoat and Pillow Talk and won for the latter.
Jordan Peele became the first and only African-American to win in this category for 2017's Get Out .[10]
Bong Joon-ho and Han Jin-won became the first Asian writers to win either Screenplay award, for 2019's Parasite .[11] [12] This was also the most recent of 10 occasions when Oscars in this category have been awarded to writers for both screenplay AND story on one film (sometimes they have been completely different, and sometimes the credited screenplay author also contributed to the story alongside at least one other credited scribe).
Winners and nominees Winners are listed first in the colored row and denoted by double dagger (‡), followed by the other nominees.
1940s Orson Welles co-won the award for Citizen Kane in 1942.Herman J. Mankiewicz , co-winner of the second award in this category (for Citizen Kane ).Year Film Nominee 1940 (13th) [13] The Great McGinty Preston Sturges ‡Angels Over Broadway Ben Hecht Dr. Ehrlich's Magic Bullet Norman Burnside , Heinz Herald & John Huston Foreign Correspondent Charles Bennett & Joan Harrison The Great Dictator Charlie Chaplin 1941 (14th) [14] Citizen Kane Herman J. Mankiewicz & Orson Welles ‡The Devil and Miss Jones Norman Krasna Sergeant York Harry Chandlee , Abem Finkel , John Huston & Howard Koch Tall, Dark and Handsome Karl Tunberg & Darrell Ware Tom, Dick and Harry Paul Jarrico 1942 (15th) [15] Woman of the Year Ring Lardner Jr. & Michael Kanin ‡One of Our Aircraft Is Missing Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger Road to Morocco Frank Butler & Don Hartman Wake Island W. R. Burnett & Frank Butler The War Against Mrs. Hadley George Oppenheimer 1943 (16th) [16] Princess O'Rourke Norman Krasna ‡Air Force Dudley Nichols In Which We Serve Noël Coward The North Star Lillian Hellman So Proudly We Hail! Allan Scott 1944 (17th) [17] Wilson Lamar Trotti ‡Hail the Conquering Hero Preston Sturges The Miracle of Morgan's Creek Two Girls and a Sailor Richard Connell & Gladys Lehman Wing and a Prayer Jerome Cady 1945 (18th) [18] Marie-Louise Richard Schweizer ‡Dillinger Philip Yordan Music for Millions Myles Connolly Salty O'Rourke Milton Holmes What Next, Corporal Hargrove? Harry Kurnitz 1946 (19th) [19] The Seventh Veil Muriel & Sydney Box ‡The Blue Dahlia Raymond Chandler Children of Paradise Jacques Prévert Notorious Ben Hecht Road to Utopia Melvin Frank & Norman Panama 1947 (20th) [20] The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer Sidney Sheldon ‡Body and Soul Abraham Polonsky A Double Life Ruth Gordon & Garson Kanin Monsieur Verdoux Charlie Chaplin Shoeshine Sergio Amidei , Adolfo Franci , Cesare Giulio Viola & Cesare Zavattini 1948 (21st) N/A [note 1] [21] — 1949 (22nd) [22] Battleground Robert Pirosh ‡Jolson Sings Again Sidney Buchman Paisan Sergio Amidei , Federico Fellini , Alfred Hayes , Marcello Pagliero & Roberto Rossellini Passport to Pimlico T. E. B. Clarke The Quiet One Helen Levitt , Janice Loeb & Sidney Meyers
1950s Screenwriter and director Billy Wilder received two awards in this category in collaboration with others—one for Sunset Boulevard and one for The Apartment . Budd Schulberg won for On the Waterfront (1954)William Inge earned this award in 1961 for Splendor in the Grass .1960s Claude Lelouch won for A Man and a Woman (1966)William Rose (center right ) won for Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1968)Mel Brooks won in 1969 for 1968's The Producers .William Goldman , winner in 1969 for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid .Year Film Nominees 1960 (33rd) [33] The Apartment I. A. L. Diamond & Billy Wilder ‡The Angry Silence Screenplay: Bryan Forbes ; Story: Michael Craig & Richard Gregson The Facts of Life Melvin Frank & Norman Panama Hiroshima, Mon Amour Marguerite Duras Never on Sunday Jules Dassin 1961 (34th) [34] Splendor in the Grass William Inge ‡Ballad of a Soldier Grigory Chukhray & Valentin Yezhov General Della Rovere Sergio Amidei , Diego Fabbi & Indro Montanelli La Dolce Vita Federico Fellini , Ennio Flaiano , Tullio Pinelli & Brunello Rondi Lover Come Back Paul Henning & Stanley Shapiro 1962 (35th) [35] Divorce Italian Style Ennio de Concini , Pietro Germi & Alfredo Giannetti ‡Freud Screenplay: Charles Kaufman & Wolfgang Reinhardt ; Story: Kaufman Last Year at Marienbad Alain Robbe-Grillet That Touch of Mink Nate Monaster & Stanley Shapiro Through a Glass Darkly Ingmar Bergman 1963 (36th) [36] How the West Was Won James R. Webb ‡America America Elia Kazan 8½ Federico Fellini , Ennio Flaiano , Tullio Pinelli & Brunello Rondi The Four Days of Naples Screenplay: Carlo Bernari , Pasquale Festa Campanile , Massimo Franciosa & Nanni Loy ; Story: Campanile, Franciosa, Loy & Vasco Pratolini Love with the Proper Stranger Arnold Schulman 1964 (37th) [37] Father Goose Screenplay: Peter Stone & Frank Tarloff ; Story: S. H. Barnett ‡ A Hard Day's Night Alun Owen One Potato, Two Potato Screenplay: Orville H. Hampton ; Story: Raphael Hayes The Organizer Age , Mario Monicelli & Furio Scarpelli That Man from Rio Daniel Boulanger , Philippe de Broca , Ariane Mnouchkine & Jean-Paul Rappeneau 1965 (38th) [38] Darling Frederic Raphael ‡Casanova 70 Age , Suso Cecchi d'Amico , Tonino Guerra , Mario Monicelli , Giorgio Salvioni & Furio Scarpelli Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines Ken Annakin & Jack Davies The Train Franklin Coen & Frank Davis The Umbrellas of Cherbourg Jacques Demy 1966 (39th) [39] A Man and a Woman Screenplay: Claude Lelouch & Pierre Uytterhoeven ; Story: Lelouch ‡ Blowup Screenplay: Michelangelo Antonioni , Edward Bond & Tonino Guerra ; Story: Antonioni The Fortune Cookie I. A. L. Diamond & Billy Wilder Khartoum Robert Ardrey The Naked Prey Clint Johnston & Don Peters 1967 (40th) [40] Guess Who's Coming to Dinner William Rose ‡Bonnie and Clyde Robert Benton & David Newman Divorce American Style Screenplay: Norman Lear ; Story: Robert Kaufman La Guerre Est Finie Jorge Semprún Two for the Road Frederic Raphael 1968 (41st) [41] The Producers Mel Brooks ‡The Battle of Algiers Gillo Pontecorvo & Franco Solinas Faces John Cassavetes Hot Millions Peter Ustinov & Ira Wallach 2001: A Space Odyssey Arthur C. Clarke & Stanley Kubrick 1969 (42nd) [42] Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid William Goldman ‡Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice Paul Mazursky & Larry Tucker The Damned Screenplay: Nicola Badalucco , Enrico Medioli & Luchino Visconti ; Story: Badalucco Easy Rider Peter Fonda , Dennis Hopper & Terry Southern The Wild Bunch Screenplay: Walon Green & Sam Peckinpah ; Story: Green & Roy N. Sickner
1970s Francis Ford Coppola , co-winner of the 1970 award for Patton .Paddy Chayefsky garnered two solo wins The Hospital (1971) and Network (1976)The screenwriter of Chinatown , Robert Towne , received this award. Woody Allen earned three Original Screenplay Oscars, for Annie Hall (along with Marshall Brickman ), Hannah and Her Sisters , and Midnight in Paris . He has received sixteen nominations total, the most of any writer.Steve Tesich received the award in 1979 for Breaking Away .1980s Bo Goldman won for Melvin and Howard (1980).John Patrick Shanley won for Moonstruck (1987).1990s Jane Campion won for The Piano in 1993.Quentin Tarantino won twice for Pulp Fiction (1994), and Django Unchained (2012)Writer-director pair the Coen brothers won for Fargo (1996) Ben Affleck , co-winner for Good Will Hunting (1997)Matt Damon also received the award for Good Will Hunting .2000s Pedro Almodóvar won for Talk to Her (2002)Sofia Coppola won for 2003's Lost in Translation .Charlie Kaufman won for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)Diablo Cody won for 2007's Juno .Dustin Lance Black won for 2008's Milk .Mark Boal won for 2009's The Hurt Locker .2010s Spike Jonze won for 2013's Her .Tom McCarthy won for Spotlight (2015)Kenneth Lonergan won for Manchester by the Sea (2016).Jordan Peele became the first African-American to win with Get Out (2017)Bong Joon-ho won for Parasite (2019), co-written with Han Jin-won .2020s Emerald Fennell won for Promising Young Woman (2020).Kenneth Branagh won for Belfast (2021).Multiple wins and nominations Age superlatives See also Notes References
1940–1975 Preston Sturges (1940)Herman J. Mankiewicz and Orson Welles (1941)Michael Kanin and Ring Lardner Jr. (1942)Norman Krasna (1943)Lamar Trotti (1944)Richard Schweizer (1945)Muriel Box and Sydney Box (1946)Sidney Sheldon (1947)No award (1948) Robert Pirosh (1949)Charles Brackett , D. M. Marshman Jr. , and Billy Wilder (1950)Alan Jay Lerner (1951)T. E. B. Clarke (1952)Charles Brackett , Richard L. Breen , and Walter Reisch (1953)Budd Schulberg (1954)Sonya Levien and William Ludwig (1955)Albert Lamorisse (1956)George Wells (1957)Nathan E. Douglas and Harold Jacob Smith (1958)Clarence Greene , Maurice Richlin , Russell Rouse , and Stanley Shapiro (1959)I. A. L. Diamond and Billy Wilder (1960)William Inge (1961)Ennio de Concini , Pietro Germi , and Alfredo Giannetti (1962)James Webb (1963)S. H. Barnett, Peter Stone and Frank Tarloff (1964) Frederic Raphael (1965)Claude Lelouch and Pierre Uytterhoeven (1966)William Rose (1967)Mel Brooks (1968)William Goldman (1969)Francis Ford Coppola and Edmund H. North (1970)Paddy Chayefsky (1971)Jeremy Larner (1972)David S. Ward (1973)Robert Towne (1974)Frank Pierson (1975)1976–2000 2001–present