BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay

The BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay is a film award presented annually at the British Academy Film Awards to a screenwriter for a specific film. It is awarded by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), a British organisation that hosts annual awards shows for film, television, and video games (and formerly also for children's film and television). Since 1983, selected films have been awarded with the BAFTA award for Best Adapted Screenplay at an annual ceremony.

BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay
Awarded for	Best Adapted Screenplay
Location	United Kingdom
Presented by	British Academy of Film and Television Arts
Currently held by	Peter Straughan for Conclave (2024)
Website	http://www.bafta.org/

In the following lists, the titles and names in bold with a gold background are the winners and recipients respectively; those not in bold are the remaining nominees. The winner is also the first name listed in each category.

History

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) award for Best Adapted Screenplay has been presented to its winners since 1968, when the original category (BAFTA Award for Best Screenplay) was split into two awards, the other being the BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay.^{[citation needed]}

Christopher Hampton and Peter Straughan hold the record for the most wins in this category, with two each. Ronald Harwood, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, Eric Roth and Aaron Sorkin tie for the most nominations in this category, with four each.

Winners and nominees

Ruth Prawer Jhabvala won for Heat and Dust (1983)

  indicates the winner

Philip Kaufman won The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988)

Christopher Hampton won twice for Dangerous Liaisons (1987) and The Father (2020)

Martin Scorsese won for Goodfellas (1990)

Nicholas Pileggi won for Goodfellas (1990)

Michael Tolkin won for The Player (1992)

Baz Luhrmann won for Romeo + Juliet (1997)

Elaine May won for Primary Colors (1998)

Neil Jordan won for The End of the Affair (1999)

Charlie Kaufman won for Adaptation (2002)

Peter Jackson won for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)

Alexander Payne won for Sideways (2004)

Peter Morgan won for The Last King of Scotland (2005)

Jason Reitman won for Up in the Air (2009)

Aaron Sorkin won for The Social Network (2010)

David O. Russell won for Silver Linings Playbook (2012)

Steve Coogan won for Philomena (2013)

Adam McKay won for The Big Short (2015)

James Ivory won for Call Me by Your Name (2017)

Spike Lee won for BlacKkKlansman (2018)

Taika Waititi won for Jojo Rabbit (2018)

Sian Heder won for Coda (2021)

Edward Berger won for All Quiet on the Western Front (2022)

Cord Jefferson won for American Fiction (2023)

1980s

Year	Film	Nominee
1983 (37th) [1]	Heat and Dust	Ruth Prawer Jhabvala
	Betrayal	Harold Pinter
	Educating Rita	Willy Russell
	Tootsie	Larry Gelbart and Murray Schisgal
1984 (38th) [2]	The Killing Fields	Bruce Robinson
	Another Country	Julian Mitchell
	The Dresser	Ronald Harwood
	Paris, Texas	Sam Shepard
1985 (39th)	Prizzi's Honor	Richard Condon and Janet Roach
	Amadeus	Peter Shaffer
	A Passage to India	David Lean
	The Shooting Party	Julian Bond
1986 (40th)	Out of Africa	Kurt Luedtke
	Children of a Lesser God	Hesper Anderson and Mark Medoff
	The Color Purple	Menno Meyjes
	Ran	Masato Ide, Akira Kurosawa, and Hideo Oguni
	A Room with a View	Ruth Prawer Jhabvala
1987 (41st)	Jean de Florette	Claude Berri and Gérard Brach
	84 Charing Cross Road	Hugh Whitemore
	Little Dorrit	Christine Edzard
	Prick Up Your Ears	Alan Bennett
1988 (42nd)	The Unbearable Lightness of Being	Jean-Claude Carrière and Philip Kaufman
	Babettes gæstebud	Gabriel Axel
	Empire of the Sun	Tom Stoppard
	Who Framed Roger Rabbit	Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman
1989 (43rd)	Dangerous Liaisons	Christopher Hampton
	The Accidental Tourist	Frank Galati and Lawrence Kasdan
	My Left Foot	Shane Connaughton and Jim Sheridan
	Shirley Valentine	Willy Russell

1990s

Year	Film	Nominee
1990 (44th)	Goodfellas	Nicholas Pileggi and Martin Scorsese
	Born on the Fourth of July	Ron Kovic and Oliver Stone
	Driving Miss Daisy	Alfred Uhry
	Postcards from the Edge	Carrie Fisher
	The War of the Roses	Michael J. Leeson
1991 (45th)	The Commitments	Dick Clement, Roddy Doyle, and Ian La Frenais
	Cyrano de Bergerac	Jean-Claude Carrière and Jean-Paul Rappeneau
	Dances with Wolves	Michael Blake
	The Silence of the Lambs	Ted Tally
1992 (46th)	The Player	Michael Tolkin
	Howards End	Ruth Prawer Jhabvala
	JFK	Zachary Sklar and Oliver Stone
	Strictly Ballroom	Baz Luhrmann and Craig Pearce
1993 (47th)	Schindler's List	Steven Zaillian
	In the Name of the Father	Terry George and Jim Sheridan
	The Remains of the Day	Ruth Prawer Jhabvala
	Shadowlands	William Nicholson
	Scent of a Woman	Bo Goldman
1994 (48th)	Quiz Show	Paul Attanasio
	The Browning Version	Ronald Harwood
	Forrest Gump	Eric Roth
	The Joy Luck Club	Ronald Bass and Amy Tan
	Three Colours: Red	Krzysztof Kieślowski and Krzysztof Piesiewicz
1995 (49th)	Trainspotting	John Hodge
	Babe	George Miller, Chris Noonan
	Leaving Las Vegas	Mike Figgis
	The Madness of King George	Alan Bennett
	Il Postino: The Postman	Anna Pavignano, Michael Radford, Furio Scarpelli, Giacomo Scarpelli, and Massimo Troisi
	Sense and Sensibility	Emma Thompson
1996 (50th)	The English Patient	Anthony Minghella
	The Crucible	Arthur Miller
	Evita	Alan Parker and Oliver Stone
	Richard III	Richard Loncraine and Ian McKellen
1997 (51st)	Romeo + Juliet	Baz Luhrmann and Craig Pearce
	The Ice Storm	James Schamus
	L.A. Confidential	Curtis Hanson and Brian Helgeland
	The Wings of the Dove	Hossein Amini
1998 (52nd)	Primary Colors	Elaine May
	Hilary and Jackie	Frank Cottrell Boyce
	Little Voice	Mark Herman
	Wag the Dog	Hilary Henkin and David Mamet
1999 (53rd) [3]	The End of the Affair	Neil Jordan
	East Is East	Ayub Khan-Din
	An Ideal Husband	Oliver Parker
	The Talented Mr. Ripley	Anthony Minghella

2000s

Year	Film	Nominee
2000 (54th) [4][5]	Traffic	Stephen Gaghan
	Chocolat	Robert Nelson Jacobs
	Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon	James Schamus, Wang Hui-ling, and Kuo Jung Tsai
	High Fidelity	John Cusack, D. V. DeVincentis, Steve Pink, and Scott Rosenberg
	Wonder Boys	Steve Kloves
2001 (55th) [6]	Shrek	Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio, Roger S. H. Schulman, and Joe Stillman
	A Beautiful Mind	Akiva Goldsman
	Bridget Jones's Diary	Richard Curtis, Andrew Davies, and Helen Fielding
	Iris	Richard Eyre and Charles Wood
	The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring	Philippa Boyens, Peter Jackson, and Fran Walsh
2002 (56th) [7]	Adaptation.	Charlie Kaufman and Donald Kaufman
	About a Boy	Peter Hedges, Chris Weitz, and Paul Weitz
	Catch Me If You Can	Jeff Nathanson
	The Hours	David Hare
	The Pianist	Ronald Harwood
2003 (57th) [8]	The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King	Philippa Boyens, Peter Jackson, and Fran Walsh
	Big Fish	John August
	Cold Mountain	Anthony Minghella
	Girl with a Pearl Earring	Olivia Hetreed
	Mystic River	Brian Helgeland
2004 (58th) [9]	Sideways	Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor
	The Chorus	Christophe Barratier and Philippe Lopes-Curval
	Closer	Patrick Marber
	Finding Neverland	David Magee
	The Motorcycle Diaries	José Rivera
2005 (59th) [10]	Brokeback Mountain	Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana
	Capote	Dan Futterman
	The Constant Gardener	Jeffrey Caine
	A History of Violence	Josh Olson
	Pride & Prejudice	Deborah Moggach
2006 (60th) [11]	The Last King of Scotland	Jeremy Brock and Peter Morgan
	Casino Royale	Paul Haggis, Neal Purvis, and Robert Wade
	The Departed	William Monahan
	The Devil Wears Prada	Aline Brosh McKenna
	Notes on a Scandal	Patrick Marber
2007 (61st) [12]	The Diving Bell and the Butterfly	Ronald Harwood
	Atonement	Christopher Hampton
	The Kite Runner	David Benioff
	No Country for Old Men	Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
	There Will Be Blood	Paul Thomas Anderson
2008 (62nd) [13]	Slumdog Millionaire	Simon Beaufoy
	The Curious Case of Benjamin Button	Eric Roth
	Frost/Nixon	Peter Morgan
	The Reader	David Hare
	Revolutionary Road	Justin Haythe
2009 (63rd) [14]	Up in the Air	Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner
	District 9	Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell
	An Education	Nick Hornby
	In the Loop	Simon Blackwell, Jesse Armstrong, Armando Iannucci, and Tony Roche
	Precious	Geoffrey Fletcher

2010s

Year	Film	Nominee
2010 (64th) [15]	The Social Network	Aaron Sorkin
	127 Hours	Danny Boyle and Simon Beaufoy
	The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo	Rasmus Heisterberg and Nikolaj Arcel
	Toy Story 3	Michael Arndt
	True Grit	Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
2011 (65th) [16]	Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy	Bridget O'Connor and Peter Straughan
	The Descendants	Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, and Jim Rash
	The Help	Tate Taylor
	The Ides of March	George Clooney, Beau Willimon, and Grant Heslov
	Moneyball	Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin
2012 (66th) [17]	Silver Linings Playbook	David O. Russell
	Argo	Chris Terrio
	Beasts of the Southern Wild	Lucy Alibar and Benh Zeitlin
	Life of Pi	David Magee
	Lincoln	Tony Kushner
2013 (67th) [18]	Philomena	Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope
	12 Years a Slave	John Ridley
	Behind the Candelabra	Richard LaGravenese
	Captain Phillips	Billy Ray
	The Wolf of Wall Street	Terence Winter
2014 (68th) [19]	The Theory of Everything	Anthony McCarten
	American Sniper	Jason Hall
	Gone Girl	Gillian Flynn
	The Imitation Game	Graham Moore
	Paddington	Paul King
2015 (69th) [20]	The Big Short	Adam McKay and Charles Randolph
	Brooklyn	Nick Hornby
	Carol	Phyllis Nagy
	Room	Emma Donoghue
	Steve Jobs	Aaron Sorkin
2016 (70th) [21]	Lion	Luke Davies
	Arrival	Eric Heisserer
	Hacksaw Ridge	Andrew Knight and Robert Schenkkan
	Hidden Figures	Allison Schroeder and Theodore Melfi
	Nocturnal Animals	Tom Ford
2017 (71st) [22][23]	Call Me by Your Name	James Ivory
	The Death of Stalin	Armando Iannucci, Ian Martin, and David Schneider
	Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool	Matt Greenhalgh
	Molly's Game	Aaron Sorkin
	Paddington 2	Simon Farnaby and Paul King
2018 (72nd) [24][25]	BlacKkKlansman	Charlie Wachtel, David Rabinowitz, Kevin Willmott, and Spike Lee
	Can You Ever Forgive Me?	Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty
	First Man	Josh Singer
	If Beale Street Could Talk	Barry Jenkins
	A Star Is Born	Eric Roth, Bradley Cooper, and Will Fetters
2019 (73rd) [26][27]	Jojo Rabbit	Taika Waititi
	The Irishman	Steven Zaillian
	Joker	Todd Phillips and Scott Silver
	Little Women	Greta Gerwig
	The Two Popes	Anthony McCarten

2020s

Year	Film	Nominee
2020 (74th) [28]	The Father	Christopher Hampton and Florian Zeller
	The Dig	Moira Buffini
	The Mauritanian	Rory Haines, Sohrab Noshirvani, and M.B. Traven
	Nomadland	Chloé Zhao
	The White Tiger	Ramin Bahrani
2021 (75th) [29]	CODA	Sian Heder
	Drive My Car	Ryusuke Hamaguchi and Takamasa Oe
	Dune	Eric Roth, Jon Spaihts, and Denis Villeneuve
	The Lost Daughter	Maggie Gyllenhaal
	The Power of the Dog	Jane Campion
2022 (76th) [30]	All Quiet on the Western Front	Edward Berger, Lesley Paterson, and Ian Stokell
	Living	Kazuo Ishiguro
	The Quiet Girl	Colm Bairéad
	She Said	Rebecca Lenkiewicz
	The Whale	Samuel D. Hunter
2023 (77th) [31]	American Fiction	Cord Jefferson
	All of Us Strangers	Andrew Haigh
	Oppenheimer	Christopher Nolan
	Poor Things	Tony McNamara
	The Zone of Interest	Jonathan Glazer
2024 (78th) [32]	Conclave	Peter Straughan
	A Complete Unknown	James Mangold and Jay Cocks
	Emilia Pérez	Jacques Audiard
	Nickel Boys	RaMell Ross and Joslyn Barnes
	Sing Sing	Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar, Clarence 'Divine Eye' Maclin, and John 'Divine G' Whitfield

Multiple wins and nominations

Multiple wins Wins Screenwriter 2 Christopher Hampton Peter Straughan

Multiple nominations Nominations Screenwriter 4 Ronald Harwood Ruth Prawer Jhabvala Eric Roth Aaron Sorkin 3 Christopher Hampton Anthony Minghella Oliver Stone Steven Zaillian 2 Simon Beaufoy Alan Bennett Philippa Boyens Jean-Claude Carrière Joel Coen and Ethan Coen David Hare Brian Helgeland Nick Hornby Armando Iannucci Peter Jackson Paul King Baz Luhrmann David Magee Anthony McCarten Patrick Marber Peter Morgan Alexander Payne Craig Pearce Willy Russell James Schamus Jim Sheridan Peter Straughan Fran Walsh

See also

• Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay
• Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay
• AACTA International Award for Best Screenplay
• Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Adapted Screenplay
• Writers Guild of America Award for Best Adapted Screenplay