Writers Guild of America Award for Best Written Drama

The Writers Guild Award for Best Written Drama was an award presented from 1949 to 1984 by the Writers Guild of America, after which it was discontinued.

Writers Guild of America Award for Best Written Drama
Awarded for	Outstanding Writing for a Dramatic Film
Country	United States
Presented by	Writers Guild of America
First award	1949
Final award	1984
Website	http://www.wga.org

Winners & Nominees[1]

Notes

• The year indicates when the film was released. The awards were presented the following year.

1940s

Year	Film	Writer(s)
1948 (1st)[2]	The Snake Pit	Frank Partos and Millen Brand
	All My Sons	Chester Erskine
	Another Part of the Forest	Vladimir Pozner
	Berlin Express	Harold Medford
	Call Northside 777	Jerome Cady, and Jay Dratler
	Command Decision	William R. Laidlaw, and George Froeschel
	I Remember Mama	Dewitt Bodeen
	Johnny Belinda	Irma von Cube, and Allen Vincent
	Key Largo	Richard Brooks, and John Huston
	Sorry, Wrong Number	Lucille Fletcher
	The Naked City	Albert Maltz, and Malvin Wald
	The Treasure of the Sierra Madre	John Huston
1949 (2nd)[3]	All the King's Men	Robert Rossen
	Battleground	Robert Pirosh
	Champion	Carl Foreman
	Intruder in the Dust	Ben Maddow
	The Hasty Heast	Ranald MacDougall
	The Heiress	Ruth Goetz, and Augustus Goetz
	The Window	Mel Dinelli

1950s

Year	Film	Writer(s)
1950 (3rd)[4]	Sunset Boulevard	Charles Brackett, Billy Wilder, and D.M. Marshman Jr.
	All About Eve	Joseph L. Mankiewicz
	Panic in the Streets	Richard Murphy
	The Asphalt Jungle	Ben Maddow, and John Huston
	The Men	Carl Foreman
1951 (4th)[5]	A Place in the Sun	Michael Wilson and Harry Brown
	A Streetcar Named Desire	Tennessee Williams
	Death of a Salesman	Stanley Roberts
	Detective Story	Philip Yordan, and Robert Wyler
	Fourteen Hours	John Paxton
1952 (5th)[6]	High Noon	Carl Foreman
	5 Fingers	Michael Wilson
	Come Back, Little Sheba	Ketti Frings
	Moulin Rouge	Anthony Veiller, and John Huston
	The Bad and the Beautiful	Charles Schnee
1953 (6th)[7]	From Here to Eternity	Daniel Taradash
	Above and Beyond	Melvin Frank, Norman Panama, and Beirne Lay Jr.
	Little Fugitive	Ray Ashley
	Martin Luther	Allan Sloane, and Lothar Wolff
	Shane	A. B. Guthrie Jr.
1954 (7th)[8]	On the Waterfront	Budd Schulberg
	Executive Suite	Ernest Lehman
	Rear Window	John Michael Hayes
	The Barefoot Contessa	Joseph L. Mankiewicz
	The Country Girl	George Seaton
1955 (8th)[9]	Marty	Paddy Chayefsky
	Bad Day at Black Rock	Millard Kaufman
	Blackboard Jungle	Richard Brooks
	East of Eden	Paul Osborn
	Picnic	Daniel Taradash
1956 (9th)[10]	Friendly Persuasion	Michael Wilson
	Baby Doll	Tennessee Williams
	Giant	Fred Guiol, and Ivan Moffat
	Somebody Up There Likes Me	Ernest Lehman
	The Rainmaker	N. Richard Nash
1957 (10th)[11]	12 Angry Men	Reginald Rose
	Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison	John Lee Mahin, and John Huston
	Paths of Glory	Stanley Kubrick, Calder Willingham, and Jim Thompson
	Peyton Place	John Michael Hayes
	Sayonara	Paul Osborn
1958 (11th)[12]	The Defiant Ones	Harold Jacob Smith, and Nedrick Young
	Cat on a Hot Tin Roof	Richard Brooks, and James Poe
	I Want to Live!	Nelson Gidding, and Don Mankiewicz
	Separate Tables	Terence Rattigan, and John Gay
	The Long, Hot Summer	Irving Ravetch, and Harriet Frank Jr.
1959 (12th)[13]	The Diary of Anne Frank	Frances Goodrich, and Albert Hackett
	Anatomy of a Murder	Wendell Mayes
	Ben-Hur	Karl Tunberg
	Compulsion	Richard Murphy
	The Nun's Story	Robert Anderson

1960s

Year	Film	Writer(s)
1960 (13th)[14]	Elmer Gantry	Richard Brooks
	Sons and Lovers	Gavin Lambert, and T.E.B. Clarke
	Psycho	Joseph Stefano
	Spartacus	Dalton Trumbo
	The Sundowners	Isobel Lennart
1961 (14th)[15]	The Hustler	Sidney Carroll, and Robert Rossen
	A Raisin in the Sun	Lorraine Hansberry
	Fanny	Julius J. Epstein
	Judgment at Nuremberg	Abby Mann
	The Innocents	William Archibald, and Truman Capote
1962 (15th)[16]	To Kill a Mockingbird	Horton Foote
	Billy Budd	Peter Ustinov, and DeWitt Bodeen
	Birdman of Alcatraz	Guy Trosper
	Freud	Charles Kaufman, and Wolfgang Reinhardt
	The Miracle Worker	William Gibson
1963 (16th)[17]	Hud	Harriet Frank Jr., and Irving Ravetch
	America America	Elia Kazan
	Captain Newman, M.D.	Richard L. Breen, Phoebe Ephron, and Henry Ephron
	The Balcony	Ben Maddow
	The Great Escape	James Clavell, and W.R. Burnett
	The Ugly American	Stewart Stern
1964 (17th)[18]	Becket	Edward Anhalt
	One Potato, Two Potato	Raphael Hayes, and Orville H. Hampton
	Seven Days in May	Rod Serling
	The Best Man	Gore Vidal
	The Night of the Iguana	Anthony Veiller, and John Huston
1965 (18th)[19]	The Pawnbroker	Morton S. Fine
	A Patch of Blue	Guy Green
	The Spy Who Came in from the Cold	Paul Dehn, and Guy Trosper
	The Collector	Stanley Mann, and John Kohn
	Ship of Fools	Abby Mann
1966 (19th)[20]	Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?	Ernest Lehman
	Harper	William Goldman
	The Professionals	Richard Brooks
	The Sand Pebbles	Robert Anderson
1967 (20th)[21]	Bonnie and Clyde	Robert Benton, and David Newman
	Guess Who's Coming to Dinner	William Rose
	In Cold Blood	Richard Brooks
	In the Heat of the Night	Stirling Silliphant
	Up the Down Staircase	Tad Mosel
1968 (21st)[22]	The Lion in Winter	James Goldman
	Petulia	Lawrence B. Marcus
	Rachel, Rachel	Stewart Stern
	Rosemary's Baby	Roman Polanski
	The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter	Thomas C. Ryan
1969 (22nd)[23]	Best Drama Adapted from Another Medium
	Midnight Cowboy †	Waldo Salt
	Anne of the Thousand Days ‡	John Hale, and Bridget Boland
	The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie	Jay Presson Allen
	They Shoot Horses, Don't They? ‡	James Poe, and Robert E. Thompson
	True Grit	Marguerite Roberts
	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

1970s

Year	Film	Writer(s)
1970 (23rd)[24]	Best Drama Adapted from Another Medium
	I Never Sang for My Father	Robert Anderson
	Airport ‡	George Seaton
	Catch-22	Buck Henry
	Little Big Man	Calder Willingham
	The Great White Hope	Howard Sackler
	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
1971 (24th)[25]	Best Drama Adapted from Another Medium
	The French Connection †	Ernest Tidyman
	A Clockwork Orange ‡	Stanley Kubrick
	Johnny Got His Gun	Dalton Trumbo
	McCabe & Mrs. Miller	Robert Altman, and Brian McKay
	The Last Picture Show ‡	Larry McMurtry, and Peter Bodganovich
	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
1972 (25th)[26]	Best Drama Adapted from Another Medium
	The Godfather †	Mario Puzo, and Francis Ford Coppola
	Deliverance	James Dickley
	Pete 'n' Tillie ‡	Julius J. Epstein
	Slaughterhouse-Five	Stephen Geller
	Sounder ‡	Lonne Elder III
	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
1973 (26th)[27]	Best Drama Adapted from Another Medium
	Serpico ‡	Waldo Salt, and Norman Wexler
	Cinderella Liberty	Darryl Ponicsan
	The Exorcist †	William Peter Blatty
	The Last Detail ‡	Robert Towne
	The Paper Chase ‡	James Bridges
	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
1974 (27th)[28]	Best Drama Adapted from Another Medium
	The Godfather Part II †	Francis Ford Coppola, and Mario Puzo
	Conrack	Irving Ravetch, and Harriet Frank Jr.
	Lenny ‡	Julian Barry
	The Parallax View	David Giler, and Lorenzo Sempler Jr.
	The Talking of Pelham One Two Three	Peter Stone
	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
1975 (28th)[29]	Best Drama Adapted from Another Medium
	One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest †	Lawrence Hauben, and Bo Goldman
	Barry Lyndon ‡	Stanley Kubrick
	The Man Whou Would Be King ‡	John Huston, and Gladys Hill
	Jaws	Peter Benchley, and Carl Gottlieb
	The Man in the Glass Booth	Edward Anhalt
	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
1976 (29th)[30]	Best Drama Adapted from Another Medium
	All the President's Men †	William Goldman
	Bound for Glory ‡	Robert Getchell
	The Seven-Per-Cent Solution ‡	Nicholas Meyer
	Marathon Man	William Goldman
	The Shootist	Miles Hood Swarthout, and Scott Hale
	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
1977 (30th)[31]	Best Drama Adapted from Another Medium
	Julia †	Alvin Sargent
	I Never Promised You a Rose Garden ‡	Gavin Lambert, and Lewis John Carlino
	Islands in the Stream	Denne Bart Petitclerc
	Looking for Mr. Goodbar	Richard Brooks
	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
1978 (31st)[32]	Best Drama Adapted from Another Medium
	Midnight Express †	Oliver Stone
	Bloodbrothers ‡	Walter Newman
	Go Tell the Spartans	Wendell Mayes
	Invasion of the Body Snatchers	W.D. Richter
	Who'll Stop the Rain	Judith Rascoe, and Robert Stone
	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
1979 (32nd)[33]	Best Drama Adapted from Another Medium
	Kramer vs. Kramer †	Robert Benton
	Norma Rae ‡	Irving Ravetch, and Harriet Frank Jr.
	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

1980s

Year	Nominees	Writer(s)
1980 (33rd)[34]	Best Drama Adapted from Other Medium
	Ordinary People †	Alvin Sargent
	Coal Miner's Daughter ‡	Thomas Rickman
	The Elephant Man ‡	Christopher De Vore, Eric Bergren, and David Lynch
	The Great Santini	Lewis John Carlino
	The Stunt Man ‡	Lawrence B. Marcus, Richard Rush
	Best Drama Written Directly for the Screen
	Melvin and Howard †	Bo Goldman
	Fame	Christopher Gore
	My Bodyguard	Alan Ornsby
1981 (34th)[35]	Best Drama Adapted from Other Medium
	On Golden Pond †	Ernest Thompson, and Donald E. Stewart
	Cutler's Way	Jeffrey Alan Fiskin
	Prince of the City ‡	Jay Presson Allen, and Sidney Lumet
	Ragtime ‡	Michael Weller
	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
1982 (35th)[36]	Best Drama Adapted from Other Medium
	Missing †	Costa-Gavras, and Donald E. Stewart
	Sophie's Choice ‡	Alan J. Pakula
	The Verdict ‡	David Mamet
	The World According to Garp	Steve Tesich
	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
1983 (36th)[37]	Best Drama Adapted from Other Medium
	Reuben, Reuben ‡	Julius J. Epstein
	The Year of Living Dangerously	David Williamson, Peter Weir, and C.J. Koch
	The Right Stuff	Philip Kaufman
	Best Drama Written Directly for the Screen
	Tender Mercies †	Horton Foote
	Silkwood	Nora Ephron, and Alice Arlen
	WarGames	Lawrence Lasker, and Walter F. Parkes