Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay facts for kids

The Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay is a special prize given out at the Academy Awards (also known as the Oscars). It honors the best movie script that was created from something already existing, like a book, a play, a TV show, or even another movie.

Imagine a popular book you love. If someone turns that book into a movie, the person who writes the movie script (the screenplay) could win this award! This award has been part of the Oscars since the very beginning. Before its current name, it was called the Academy Award for Best Screenplay Based On Material From Another Medium.

Awesome Achievements

Some writers have won this award more than once! The first person to win twice was Joseph L. Mankiewicz, who won in 1949 and 1950. Other writers who have won twice include George Seaton, Robert Bolt, Francis Ford Coppola, Mario Puzo, Alvin Sargent, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, Michael Wilson, Alexander Payne, and Christopher Hampton. Michael Wilson won his second Oscar, but because of some difficulties at the time, the award was first given to someone else. However, the Academy later officially recognized him as the true winner.

Some amazing writers have won Oscars for both original screenplays (stories they created themselves) and adapted screenplays. These include Billy Wilder, Charles Brackett, Paddy Chayefsky, Francis Ford Coppola, Horton Foote, William Goldman, Robert Benton, Bo Goldman, Waldo Salt, and the Coen brothers.

The first woman to win an Oscar for writing a screenplay was Frances Marion. She won for her original script for The Big House. Later, Sarah Y. Mason was the first woman to win for an adapted screenplay, sharing the award with her husband, Victor Heerman, for Little Women. They were also the first married couple to win in this category, followed by Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.

Pierre Collings and Sheridan Gibney were the first to win for adapting their own work into a film.

The first siblings to win this award were Philip G. Epstein and Julius J. Epstein for Casablanca. Later, James Goldman and William Goldman became the first siblings to win for different films. The Coen brothers are another pair of siblings who won together.

Mario Puzo is one of two writers whose original books led to two Oscar wins in this category. His novel The Godfather led to wins in 1972 and 1974 for himself and Francis Ford Coppola. The other is E. M. Forster, whose novels A Room with a View and Howards End led to wins for Ruth Prawer Jhabvala.

Larry McMurtry has a unique achievement: he won for adapting someone else's work (Brokeback Mountain), and his own book (Terms of Endearment) was adapted by someone else and also won an Oscar!

William Monahan (The Departed) and Sian Heder (CODA) are the only people who won this award by adapting another full-length movie.

Geoffrey S. Fletcher (Precious) and John Ridley (12 Years a Slave) are the only African-Americans to win this award by themselves. Geoffrey S. Fletcher was also the first African-American to win in any writing category. Barry Jenkins and Tarell Alvin McCraney (Moonlight) were the first African-American writing duo to win.

The oldest person to win this award is James Ivory at age 89, for Call Me by Your Name. The youngest winner is Charlie Wachtel, who was 32 when he won for BlacKkKlansman.

Taika Waititi (Jojo Rabbit) is the first person of Māori descent to receive this award.

Emma Thompson (Sense and Sensibility) is the only winner who has also won an Oscar for acting.

Cool Nominees

Many famous writers have been nominated for this award. These include well-known novelists and playwrights like George Bernard Shaw (who won for his play Pygmalion), Graham Greene, Tennessee Williams, Vladimir Nabokov, Dashiell Hammett, Lillian Hellman, Arthur Miller, and Kazuo Ishiguro.

Only a few animated films have had their writers nominated for this award. These include Shrek and Toy Story 3.

The writers of Logan were the first to be nominated for a film based on superhero comic books (the X-Men).

Howard Estabrook won for Cimarron (1931).

Victor Heerman co-won for Little Women (1933).

Sarah Y. Mason co-won for Little Women (1933).

Robert Riskin won for It Happened One Night (1934).

Pierre Collings co-won for The Story of Louis Pasteur (1936).

Sidney Howard won the award posthumously for Gone with the Wind (1939).

George Froeschel co-won for Mrs. Miniver (1942).

Julius J. Epstein co-won for Casablanca (1943).

Charles Brackett co-won for The Lost Weekend (1945).

Billy Wilder co-won for The Lost Weekend (1945).

Robert E. Sherwood won for The Best Years of Our Lives (1946).

John Huston won for The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948).

Joseph L. Mankiewicz won the award two years in a row, first for A Letter to Three Wives (1949) and then for All About Eve (1950).

Paddy Chayefsky won for Marty (1955).

John Farrow co-won for Around the World in 80 Days (1956).

S. J. Perelman co-won for Around the World in 80 Days (1956).

Carl Foreman co-won for The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957).

Alan Jay Lerner won for Gigi (1958).

Richard Brooks won for Elmer Gantry (1960).

Ring Lardner Jr. won for M*A*S*H (1970).

Francis Ford Coppola co-won the award twice, first for The Godfather (1972) and then for The Godfather Part II (1974).

Mario Puzo co-won the award twice, first for The Godfather (1972) and then for The Godfather Part II (1974).

William Peter Blatty won for The Exorcist (1973), an adaptation of his novel of the same name.

Bo Goldman co-won for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975).

William Goldman won for All the President's Men (1976).

Alvin Sargent won the award twice, first for Julia (1977) and then for Ordinary People (1980).

Oliver Stone won for Midnight Express (1978).

Ernest Thompson won for On Golden Pond (1981), an adaptation of his play of the same name.

Costa-Gavras co-won for Missing (1982).

Donald E. Stewart co-won for Missing (1982).

James L. Brooks won for Terms of Endearment (1983).

Peter Shaffer won for Amadeus (1984).

Ruth Prawer Jhabvala won the award twice, first for A Room with a View (1986) and then for Howards End (1992).

Bernardo Bertolucci co-won for The Last Emperor (1987).

Christopher Hampton won the award twice, first as a solo writer for Dangerous Liaisons (1988) and then as a co-writer for The Father (2020).

Alfred Uhry won for Driving Miss Daisy (1989), an adaptation of his play of the same name.

Michael Blake won for Dances with Wolves (1990), an adaptation of his novel of the same name.

Emma Thompson won for Sense and Sensibility (1995).

Billy Bob Thornton won for Sling Blade (1996).

Curtis Hanson co-won for L.A. Confidential (1997).

Brian Helgeland co-won for L.A. Confidential (1997).

John Irving won for The Cider House Rules (1999), an adaptation of his novel of the same name.

Stephen Gaghan won for Traffic (2000).

Akiva Goldsman won for A Beautiful Mind (2001).

Philippa Boyens co-won for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003).

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

Fran Walsh co-won for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003).

Alexander Payne co-won the award twice, first for Sideways (2004) and then for The Descendants (2011).

Larry McMurtry co-won for Brokeback Mountain (2005).

William Monahan won for The Departed (2006).

The Coen brothers won for No Country for Old Men (2007).

Geoffrey S. Fletcher won for Precious (2009); first Black winner in this category.

Aaron Sorkin won for The Social Network (2010).

Nat Faxon co-won for The Descendants (2011).

Jim Rash co-won for The Descendants (2011).

John Ridley won for 12 Years a Slave (2013).

Graham Moore won for The Imitation Game (2014).

Adam McKay co-won for The Big Short (2015).

Barry Jenkins co-won for Moonlight (2016).

Tarell Alvin McCraney co-won for Moonlight (2016).

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

Spike Lee co-won for BlacKkKlansman (2018).

Taika Waititi won for Jojo Rabbit (2019).

Florian Zeller co-won for The Father (2020), an adaptation of his play of the same name.

Sian Heder won for CODA (2021).

Winners and Nominees: A Look Back

Here are some of the films and writers who have won or been nominated for this award. The winners are listed first in a colored row.

1920s

1930s

1940s

1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

2020s

Multiple Wins and Nominations

Age Records

See Also

In Spanish: Anexo:Óscar al mejor guion adaptado para niños

• Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay
• BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay
• Independent Spirit Award for Best Screenplay
• Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Screenplay
• List of Big Five Academy Award winners and nominees
• Writers Guild of America Award for Best Adapted Screenplay