Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original Screenplay

The Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original Screenplay is one of the three film writing awards given by the Writers Guild of America.

Writers Guild of America Award for Original Screenplay
Awarded for	Outstanding Writing for a Film Written Directly for the Screen
Country	United States
Presented by	Writers Guild of America
First award	1970
Currently held by	Sean Baker, Anora (2024)
Website	http://www.wga.org/

Woody Allen holds the record for most wins and nominations for the award, with five wins out of twenty nominations.

Winners and nominees

1960s

Year	Film	Writer(s)
1969 (22nd) [1]	Best Drama Written Directly for the Screen
	Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid	William Goldman
	Alice's Restaurant	Venable Herndon and Arthur Penn
	Downhill Racer	James Salter
	Easy Rider	Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, and Terry Southern
	Me, Natalie	A. Martin Zwelback
	Best Comedy Written Directly for the Screen
	Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice	Paul Mazursky and Larry Tucker
	If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium	David Shaw
	Popi	Tina Pine and Lester Pine
	Support Your Local Sheriff	William Bowers
	Take the Money and Run	Woody Allen and Mickey Rose

1970s

Year	Film	Writer(s)
1970 (23rd) [2]	Best Drama Written Directly for the Screen
	Patton	Francis Ford Coppola and Edmund H. North
	Five Easy Pieces	Carole Eastman (as Adrien Joyce)
	Love Story	Erich Segal
	Best Comedy Written Directly for the Screen
	The Out-of-Towners	Neil Simon
	The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes	Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond
	Quackser Fortune Has a Cousin in the Bronk	Gabriel Walsh
	Start the Revolution Without Me	Fred Freeman and Lawrence J. Cohen
	The Cheyenne Social Club	James Lee Barrett
1971 (24th) [3]	Best Drama Written Directly for the Screen
	Sunday Bloody Sunday	Penelope Gilliatt
	Klute	Andy Lewis and David E. Lewis
	Summer of '42	Hernan Raucher
	The Hellstrom Chronicle	David Seltzer
	Best Comedy Written Directly for the Screen
	The Hospital	Paddy Chayefsky
	Bananas	Woody Allen and Mickey Rose
	Carnal Knowledge	Jules Feiffer
	Made for Each Other	Renée Taylor and Joseph Bologna
	Taking Off	Miloṡ Forman, Jean-Claude Carrière, John Guare, and Jon Klein
1972 (25th) [4]	Best Drama Written Directly for the Screen
	The Candidate	Jeremy Larner
	Bad Company	David Newman and Robert Benton
	Images	Robert Altman
	The Culpepper Cattle Co.	Eric Bercovici and Gregory Prentiss
	The Great Northfield Minnesota Raid	Philip Kaufman
	Best Comedy Written Directly for the Screen
	What’s Up, Doc?	Peter Bogdanovich, Buck Henry, David Newman, and Robert Benton
	Get to Know Your Rabbit	Jordan Crittenden
	Hammersmith Is Out	Stanford Whitmore
	Minnie and Moskowitz	John Cassavetes
	The War Between Men and Women	Melville Shavelson and Danny Arnold
1973 (26th) [5]	Best Drama Written Directly for the Screen
	Save the Tiger	Steve Shagan
	Mean Streets	Martin Scorsese and Mardik Martin
	Payday	Don Carpenter
	The Sting	David S. Ward
	The Way We Were	Arthur Laurents
	Best Comedy Written Directly for the Screen
	A Touch of Class	Melvin Frank and Jack Rose
	American Graffiti	George Lucas, Gloria Katz, and Willard Huyck
	Blume in Love	Paul Mazursky
	Sleeper	Woody Allen and Marshall Brickman
	Slither	W.D. Richter
1974 (27th) [6]	Best Drama Written Directly for the Screen
	Chinatown	Robert Towne
	A Woman Under the Influence	John Cassavetes
	Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore	Robert Getchell
	Harry and Tonto	Paul Mazursky and Josh Greenfeld
	The Conversation	Francis Ford Coppola
	Best Comedy Written Directly for the Screen
	Blazing Saddles	Mel Brooks, Norman Steinberg, Andrew Bergman, Richard Pryor, and Alan Uger
	California Split	Joseph Walsh
	Claudine	Tina Pine and Lester Pine
	Phantom of the Paradise	Brian de Palma
	The Sugarland Express	Hal Barwood, Matthew Robbins, and Steven Spielberg
1975 (28th) [7]	Best Drama Written Directly for the Screen
	Dog Day Afternoon	Frank Pierson
	French Connection II	Alexander Jacobs, Robert Dillon, and Laurie Dillon
	Nashville	Joan Twekesbury
	The Wind and the Lion	John Milius
	Best Comedy Written Directly for the Screen
	Shampoo	Robert Towne and Warren Beatty
	Heats of the West	Rob Thompson
	Smile	Jerry Belson
	The Return of the Pink Panther	Frank Waldman and Blake Edwards
1976 (29th) [8]	Best Drama Written Directly for the Screen
	Network	Paddy Chayefsky
	The Omen	David Seltzer
	Rocky	Sylvester Stallone
	Taxi Driver	Paul Schrader
	The Front	Walter Bernstein
	Best Comedy Written Directly for the Screen
	The Bad News Bears	Bill Lancaster
	Murder by Death	Neil Simon
	Next Stop, Greenwich Village	Paul Mazursky
	Silent Movie	Mel Brooks, Ron Clark, Rudy De Luca, and Barry Levinson
	Silver Streak	Colin Higgins
1977 (30th) [9]	Best Drama Written Directly for the Screen
	The Turning Point	Arthur Laurents
	Close Encounters of the Third Kind	Steven Spielberg
	Saturday Night Fever	Norman Wexler
	The Late Show	Robert Benton
	Best Comedy Written Directly for the Screen
	Annie Hall	Woody Allen and Marshall Brickman
	Star Wars	George Lucas
	Slap Shot	Nancy Dowd
	The Goodbye Girl	Neil Simon
1978 (31st) [10]	Best Drama Written Directly for the Screen
	Coming Home	Nancy Dowd, Robert C. Jones, and Waldo Salt
	An Unmarried Woman	Paul Mazursky
	Days of Heaven	Terrence Malick
	Interiors	Woody Allen
	The Deer Hunter	Deric Washburn, Michael Cimino, Louis Garfinkle, and Quinn K. Redeker
	Best Comedy Written Directly for the Screen
	Movie Movie	Larry Gelbart and Sheldon Keller
	A Wedding	John Considine, Patricia Resnick, Allan F. Nicholls, and Robert Altman
	Animal House	Harold Ramis, Douglas Kenney, and Chris Miller
	House Calls	Max Shulman, Julius J. Epstein, Alan Mandel, and Charles Shyer
	Once in Paris...	Frank D. Gilroy
1979 (32nd) [11]	Best Drama Written Directly for the Screen
	The China Syndrome	Mike Gray, T. S. Cook, and James Bridges
	Apocalypse Now	John Milius and Francis Ford Coppola
	Best Comedy Written Directly for the Screen
	Breaking Away	Steve Tesich
	10	Blake Edwards
	Manhattan	Woody Allen and Marshall Brickman

1980s

Year	Film	Writer(s)
1980 (33rd) [12]	Best Drama Written Directly for the Screen
	Melvin and Howard	Bo Goldman
	Fame	Christopher Gore
	My Bodyguard	Alan Ornsby
	Best Comedy Written Directly for the Screen
	Private Benjamin	Nancy Meyers, Harvey Miller, and Charles Shyer
	Nine to Five	Colin Higgins and Patricia Resnick
	Return of the Secaucus 7	John Sayles
	Stardust Memories	Woody Allen
1981 (34th) [13]	Best Drama Written Directly for the Screen
	Reds	Warren Beatty and Trevor Griffiths
	Absence of Malice	Kurt Luedtke
	Atlantic City	John Guare
	Body Heat	Lawrence Kasdan
	Best Comedy Written Directly for the Screen
	Arthur	Steve Gordon
	Raiders of the Lost Ark	Lawrence Kasdan, George Lucas, and Philip Kaufman
	S.O.B.	Blake Edwards
	The Four Seasons	Alan Alda
1982 (35th) [14]	Best Drama Written Directly for the Screen
	E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial	Melissa Mathison
	An Officer and a Gentleman	Douglas Day Stewart
	Shoot the Moon	Bo Goldman
	Best Comedy Written Directly for the Screen
	Tootsie	Don McGuire, Larry Gelbart, and Murray Schisgal
	Diner	Barry Levinson
	My Favorite Year	Norman Steinberg and Dennis Palumbo
1983 (36th) [15]	Best Drama Written Directly for the Screen
	Tender Mercies	Horton Foote
	Silkwood	Nora Ephron and Alice Arlen
	WarGames	Lawrence Lasker and Walter F. Parkes
	Best Comedy Written Directly for the Screen
	The Big Chill	Lawrence Kasdan and Barbara Benedek
	Risky Business	Paul Brickman
	Zelig	Woody Allen
1984 (37th) [16]	Broadway Danny Rose	Woody Allen
	El Norte	Gregory Nava and Anna Thomas
	Places in the Heart	Robert Benton
	Romancing the Stone	Diane Thomas
	Splash	Lowell Ganz, Babaloo Mandel, Bruce Jay Friedman and Brian Grazer
1985 (38th) [17]	Witness	William Kelley and Earl W. Wallace
	Back to the Future	Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale
	Cocoon	Tom Benedek
	Mask	Anna Hamilton Phelan
	The Purple Rose of Cairo	Woody Allen
1986 (39th) [18]	Hannah and Her Sisters	Woody Allen
	Blue Velvet	David Lynch
	Mona Lisa	Neil Jordan and David Leland
	Platoon	Oliver Stone
	Salvador	Richard Boyle and Oliver Stone
1987 (40th) [19]	Moonstruck	John Patrick Shanley
	Broadcast News	James L. Brooks
	Hope and Glory	John Boorman
	The Last Emperor	Bernardo Bertolucci and Mark Peploe
	Radio Days	Woody Allen
1988 (41st) [20]	Bull Durham	Ron Shelton
	Big	Gary Ross and Anne Spielberg
	A Fish Called Wanda	John Cleese and Charles Crichton
	Rain Man	Ronald Bass and Barry Morrow
	Working Girl	Kevin Wade
1989 (42nd) [21]	Crimes and Misdemeanors	Woody Allen
	Dead Poets Society	Tom Schulman
	The Fabulous Baker Boys	Steve Kloves
	Sex, Lies, and Videotape	Steven Soderbergh
	When Harry Met Sally...	Nora Ephron

1990s

Year	Film	Writer(s)
1990 (43rd) [22]	Avalon	Barry Levinson
	Alice	Woody Allen
	Ghost	Bruce Joel Rubin
	Green Card	Peter Weir
	Pretty Woman	J. F. Lawton
1991 (44th) [23]	Thelma & Louise	Callie Khouri
	Boyz n the Hood	John Singleton
	Bugsy	James Toback
	The Fisher King	Richard LaGravenese
	Grand Canyon	Lawrence and Meg Kasdan
1992 (45th) [24]	The Crying Game	Neil Jordan
	Husbands and Wives	Woody Allen
	Lorenzo's Oil	Nick Enright and George Miller
	Passion Fish	John Sayles
	Unforgiven	David Webb Peoples
1993 (46th) [25]	The Piano	Jane Campion
	Dave	Gary Ross
	In the Line of Fire	Jeff Maguire
	Philadelphia	Ron Nyswaner
	Sleepless in Seattle	Jeff Arch, Nora Ephron, and David S. Ward
1994 (47th) [26]	Four Weddings and a Funeral	Richard Curtis
	The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert	Stephan Elliott
	Bullets over Broadway	Woody Allen and Douglas McGrath
	Ed Wood	Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski
	Heavenly Creatures	Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh
1995 (48th) [27]	Braveheart	Randall Wallace
	The American President	Aaron Sorkin
	Clueless	Amy Heckerling
	Mighty Aphrodite	Woody Allen
	Muriel's Wedding	P. J. Hogan
1996 (49th) [28]	Fargo	Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
	Jerry Maguire	Cameron Crowe
	Lone Star	John Sayles
	Secrets & Lies	Mike Leigh
	Shine	Scott Hicks and Jan Sardi
1997 (50th) [29]	As Good as It Gets	James L. Brooks and Mark Andrus
	Boogie Nights	Paul Thomas Anderson
	The Full Monty	Simon Beaufoy
	Good Will Hunting	Ben Affleck and Matt Damon
	Titanic	James Cameron
1998 (51st) [30]	Shakespeare in Love	Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard
	Bulworth	Warren Beatty and Jeremy Pikser
	The Opposite of Sex	Don Roos
	Saving Private Ryan	Robert Rodat
	The Truman Show	Andrew Niccol
1999 (52nd) [31]	American Beauty	Alan Ball
	Being John Malkovich	Charlie Kaufman
	Magnolia	Paul Thomas Anderson
	The Sixth Sense	M. Night Shyamalan
	Three Kings	John Ridley and David O. Russell

2000s

Year	Film	Writer(s)
2000 (53rd) [32]	You Can Count on Me	Kenneth Lonergan
	Almost Famous	Cameron Crowe
	Best in Show	Christopher Guest and Eugene Levy
	Billy Elliot	Lee Hall
	Erin Brockovich	Susannah Grant
2001 (54th) [33]	Gosford Park	Julian Fellowes
	The Man Who Wasn't There	Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
	Monster's Ball	Milo Addica and Will Rokos
	Moulin Rouge!	Baz Luhrmann and Craig Pearce
	The Royal Tenenbaums	Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson
2002 (55th) [34]	Bowling for Columbine	Michael Moore
	Antwone Fisher	Antwone Fisher
	Far from Heaven	Todd Haynes
	Gangs of New York	Jay Cocks, Kenneth Lonergan, and Steven Zaillian
	My Big Fat Greek Wedding	Nia Vardalos
2003 (56th) [35]	Lost in Translation	Sofia Coppola
	Bend It Like Beckham	Paul Mayeda Berges, Guljit Bindra, and Gurinder Chadha
	Dirty Pretty Things	Steven Knight
	In America	Jim Sheridan, Kirsten Sheridan, and Naomi Sheridan
	The Station Agent	Thomas McCarthy
2004 (57th) [36]	Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind	Pierre Bismuth, Michel Gondry, Charlie Kaufman
	The Aviator	John Logan
	Garden State	Zach Braff
	Hotel Rwanda	Terry George and Keir Pearson
	Kinsey	Bill Condon
2005 (58th) [37]	Crash	Paul Haggis and Bobby Moresco
	The 40-Year-Old Virgin	Judd Apatow and Steve Carell
	Cinderella Man	Akiva Goldsman and Cliff Hollingsworth
	Good Night, and Good Luck.	George Clooney and Grant Heslov
	The Squid and the Whale	Noah Baumbach
2006 (59th) [38] [39]	Little Miss Sunshine	Michael Arndt
	Babel	Guillermo Arriaga
	The Queen	Peter Morgan
	Stranger than Fiction	Zach Helm
	United 93	Paul Greengrass
2007 (60th) [40]	Juno	Diablo Cody
	Knocked Up	Judd Apatow
	Lars and the Real Girl	Nancy Oliver
	Michael Clayton	Tony Gilroy
	The Savages	Tamara Jenkins
2008 (61st) [41] [42]	Milk	Dustin Lance Black
	Burn After Reading	Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
	Vicky Cristina Barcelona	Woody Allen
	The Visitor	Tom McCarthy
	The Wrestler	Robert Siegel
2009 (62nd) [43]	The Hurt Locker	Mark Boal
	(500) Days of Summer	Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber
	Avatar	James Cameron
	The Hangover	Jon Lucas and Scott Moore
	A Serious Man	Joel Coen and Ethan Coen

2010s

Year	Film	Writer(s)
2010 (63rd) [44]	Inception	Christopher Nolan
	Black Swan	Mark Heyman, Andres Heinz, and John McLaughlin
	The Fighter	Scott Silver, Paul Tamasy, Eric Johnson, and Keith Dorrington
	The Kids Are All Right	Lisa Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg
	Please Give	Nicole Holofcener
2011 (64th) [45]	Midnight in Paris	Woody Allen
	50/50	Will Reiser
	Bridesmaids	Annie Mumolo and Kristen Wiig
	Win Win	Tom McCarthy
	Young Adult	Diablo Cody
2012 (65th) [46]	Zero Dark Thirty	Mark Boal
	Flight	John Gatins
	Looper	Rian Johnson
	The Master	Paul Thomas Anderson
	Moonrise Kingdom	Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola
2013 (66th) [47]	Her	Spike Jonze
	American Hustle	Eric Warren Singer and David O. Russell
	Blue Jasmine	Woody Allen
	Dallas Buyers Club	Craig Borten and Melisa Wallack
	Nebraska	Bob Nelson
2014 (67th) [48]	The Grand Budapest Hotel	Wes Anderson and Hugo Guinness
	Boyhood	Richard Linklater
	Foxcatcher	E. Max Frye and Dan Futterman
	Nightcrawler	Dan Gilroy
	Whiplash	Damien Chazelle
2015 (68th) [49]	Spotlight	Tom McCarthy and Josh Singer
	Bridge of Spies	Matt Charman, Joel Coen, and Ethan Coen
	Sicario	Taylor Sheridan
	Straight Outta Compton	Jonathan Herman, Andrea Berloff, S. Leigh Savidge, and Alan Wenkus
	Trainwreck	Amy Schumer
2016 (69th) [50]	Moonlight	Barry Jenkins and Tarell Alvin McCraney
	Hell or High Water	Taylor Sheridan
	La La Land	Damien Chazelle
	Loving	Jeff Nichols
	Manchester by the Sea	Kenneth Lonergan
2017 (70th) [51]	Get Out	Jordan Peele
	The Big Sick	Emily V. Gordon & Kumail Nanjiani
	I, Tonya	Steven Rogers
	Lady Bird	Greta Gerwig
	The Shape of Water	Guillermo del Toro & Vanessa Taylor
2018 (71st) [52]	Eighth Grade	Bo Burnham
	Green Book	Nick Vallelonga, Brian Currie & Peter Farrelly
	A Quiet Place	Bryan Woods & Scott Beck and John Krasinski
	Roma	Alfonso Cuarón
	Vice	Adam McKay
2019 (72nd) [53]	Parasite	Bong Joon-ho and Han Jin-won
	1917	Sam Mendes & Krysty Wilson-Cairns
	Booksmart	Emily Halpern & Sarah Haskins and Susanna Fogel and Katie Silberman
	Knives Out	Rian Johnson
	Marriage Story	Noah Baumbach

2020s

Year	Film	Writer(s)
2020 (73rd) [54]	Promising Young Woman	Emerald Fennell
	Judas and the Black Messiah	Will Berson & Shaka King and Kenny Lucas & Keith Lucas
	Palm Springs	Andy Siara & Max Barbakow
	Sound of Metal	Darius Marder & Abraham Marder & Derek Cianfrance
	The Trial of the Chicago 7	Aaron Sorkin
2021 (74th) [55]	Don't Look Up	Adam McKay & David Sirota
	Being the Ricardos	Aaron Sorkin
	The French Dispatch	Wes Anderson & Roman Coppola & Hugo Guinness & Jason Schwartzman
	King Richard	Zach Baylin
	Licorice Pizza	Paul Thomas Anderson
2022 (75th) [56]	Everything Everywhere All at Once	Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert
	The Fabelmans	Steven Spielberg & Tony Kushner
	The Menu	Seth Reiss & Will Tracy
	Nope	Jordan Peele
	Tár	Todd Field
2023 (76th) [57]	The Holdovers	David Hemingson
	Air	Alex Convery
	Barbie	Greta Gerwig & Noah Baumbach
	May December	Samy Burch & Alex Mechanik
	Past Lives	Celine Song
2024 (77th) [58]	Anora	Sean Baker
	A Real Pain	Jesse Eisenberg
	Challengers	Justin Kuritzkes
	Civil War	Alex Garland
	My Old Ass	Megan Park

Writers with multiple awards

5 Awards

• Woody Allen

2 Awards

• Warren Beatty
• Mark Boal
• Paddy Chayefsky
• Larry Gelbart
• Robert Towne

Writers with multiple nominations

20 Nominations Woody Allen 5 Nominations Ethan Coen Joel Coen Paul Mazursky 4 Nominations Paul Thomas Anderson Wes Anderson Robert Benton Lawrence Kasdan Thomas McCarthy 3 Nominations Noah Baumbach Warren Beatty Marshall Brickman Francis Ford Coppola Blake Edwards Nora Ephron Barry Levinson Kenneth Lonergan George Lucas John Sayles Neil Simon Aaron Sorkin Steven Spielberg

2 Nominations Judd Apatow Mark Boal James L. Brooks James Cameron Paddy Chayefsky Damien Chazelle Diablo Cody Roman Coppola Cameron Crowe Larry Gelbart Greta Gerwig Hugo Guinness Rian Johnson Neil Jordan Charlie Kaufman Adam McKay Jordan Peele Gary Ross David O. Russell Taylor Sheridan Oliver Stone Robert Towne

See also

• Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay
• BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay
• Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Screenplay