Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

Quick facts for kids Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay
The 2024 recipient: Sean Baker
Presented by	Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS)
First awarded	February 27, 1941; 84 years ago (1941-02-27) (for films released in 1940)
Currently held by	Sean Baker Anora (2024)

The Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay is a special Oscar given to the writer of the best movie script that is a completely new story. A screenplay is the script for a movie, including all the dialogue and action.

This award is for stories that are not based on a book, a play, or another movie. The writers who came up with the story and wrote the script are the ones who receive the award.

This award category was created in 1940. It has always existed alongside the Best Adapted Screenplay award, which is for scripts based on existing stories. For a while, there was also an award for Best Story, but in 1956, it was combined with this one.

What Makes a Screenplay "Original"?
Record-Breaking Writers
Famous Winners Through the Decades
- 1940s
- 1950s
- 1960s
- 1970s
- 1980s
- 1990s
- 2000s
- 2010s
- 2020s
Images for kids
See also

What Makes a Screenplay "Original"?

A screenplay is considered "original" if it's not based on something that has already been published. The writers' group at the Academy decides if a script is original or adapted. They look at where the idea came from and what the writers have said about it.

Sometimes, the rules can be tricky.

The movie Gangs of New York was nominated for an original screenplay even though it was based on a history book. The writers used the book for research but created a brand new plot and characters.
The movie Moonlight was based on a play that had never been published. The writers wanted it to be in the original category, but the Academy decided it was an adapted screenplay. It ended up winning in that category.
The movie Whiplash was also called an adapted screenplay. This was because a short film was made from one scene of the script to help get the full movie made.

Record-Breaking Writers

Woody Allen has the most nominations in this category with 16. He has won three times.

Some writers have been recognized many times for their amazing original stories.

Most Nominations & Wins: Woody Allen has the most nominations with 16 and the most wins with 3. He won for Annie Hall, Hannah and Her Sisters, and Midnight in Paris.
Oldest and Youngest Winners: Woody Allen is also the oldest person to win, at age 76. The youngest winner is Ben Affleck, who was 25 when he won for Good Will Hunting with his co-writer Matt Damon (who was 27).
First Woman to Win: Muriel Box was the first woman to win in this category for the film The Seventh Veil. She shared the award with her husband, Sydney Box.
First African-American Winner: Jordan Peele was the first African-American to win this award. He won in 2017 for his movie Get Out.
First Asian Winners: Bong Joon-ho and Han Jin-won were the first Asian writers to win a screenplay Oscar. They won in 2019 for the movie Parasite.

Famous Winners Through the Decades

Here are some of the famous movies that have won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay over the years.

1940s

1940: The Great McGinty - Written by Preston Sturges
1941: Citizen Kane - Written by Herman J. Mankiewicz & Orson Welles
1942: Woman of the Year - Written by Ring Lardner Jr. & Michael Kanin
1945: Marie-Louise - Written by Richard Schweizer (the first winner for a foreign-language film)
1949: Battleground - Written by Robert Pirosh

1950s

1950: Sunset Boulevard - Written by Charles Brackett, D. M. Marshman Jr. & Billy Wilder
1951: An American in Paris - Written by Alan Jay Lerner
1954: On the Waterfront - Written by Budd Schulberg
1956: The Red Balloon - Written by Albert Lamorisse (the only short film to ever win this award)
1959: Pillow Talk - Written by Stanley Shapiro & Maurice Richlin

1960s

1960: The Apartment - Written by I. A. L. Diamond & Billy Wilder
1962: Divorce Italian Style - Written by Ennio De Concini, Pietro Germi & Alfredo Giannetti
1968: The Producers - Written by Mel Brooks
1969: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid - Written by William Goldman

1970s

1970: Patton - Written by Francis Ford Coppola & Edmund H. North
1973: The Sting - Written by David S. Ward
1974: Chinatown - Written by Robert Towne
1976: Network - Written by Paddy Chayefsky
1977: Annie Hall - Written by Woody Allen & Marshall Brickman

1980s

1981: Chariots of Fire - Written by Colin Welland
1982: Gandhi - Written by John Briley
1985: Back to the Future was nominated but the winner was Witness.
1986: Hannah and Her Sisters - Written by Woody Allen
1989: Dead Poets Society - Written by Tom Schulman

1990s

1990: Ghost - Written by Bruce Joel Rubin
1991: Thelma & Louise - Written by Callie Khouri
1993: The Piano - Written by Jane Campion
1994: Pulp Fiction - Written by Quentin Tarantino
1995: The Usual Suspects - Written by Christopher McQuarrie
1997: Good Will Hunting - Written by Ben Affleck & Matt Damon
1999: American Beauty - Written by Alan Ball

2000s

2000: Almost Famous - Written by Cameron Crowe
2003: Lost in Translation - Written by Sofia Coppola
2004: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - Written by Charlie Kaufman
2007: Juno - Written by Diablo Cody
2009: The Hurt Locker - Written by Mark Boal

2010s

2010: The King's Speech - Written by David Seidler
2011: Midnight in Paris - Written by Woody Allen
2012: Django Unchained - Written by Quentin Tarantino
2014: Birdman - Written by Alejandro G. Iñárritu and others
2015: Spotlight - Written by Josh Singer & Tom McCarthy
2017: Get Out - Written by Jordan Peele
2019: Parasite - Written by Bong Joon-ho & Han Jin-won

2020s

2020: Promising Young Woman - Written by Emerald Fennell
2021: Belfast - Written by Kenneth Branagh
2022: Everything Everywhere All at Once - Written by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert
2023: Anatomy of a Fall - Written by Justine Triet & Arthur Harari
2024: Anora - Written by Sean Baker

Images for kids

Preston Sturges was the first winner, for The Great McGinty (1940).
Orson Welles co-won the award for Citizen Kane in 1942.
Herman J. Mankiewicz won for Citizen Kane (1941) with Orson Welles.
Billy Wilder won twice for Sunset Boulevard (1950) and The Apartment (1960).
Alan Jay Lerner won for An American in Paris (1951).
Budd Schulberg won for On the Waterfront (1954).
William Inge won for Splendor in the Grass (1961).
Claude Lelouch won for A Man and a Woman (1966).
Mel Brooks won for his comedy The Producers (1968).
William Goldman, winner in 1969 for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
Francis Ford Coppola won for Patton (1970).
Paddy Chayefsky won twice for The Hospital (1971) and Network (1976).
Robert Towne won for Chinatown (1975).
Woody Allen won three times and has the most nominations of any writer.
Steve Tesich won for Breaking Away (1979).
Bo Goldman won for Melvin and Howard (1980).
John Patrick Shanley won for Moonstruck (1987).
Callie Khouri won for Thelma & Louise (1991).
Neil Jordan won for The Crying Game in 1992.
Jane Campion won for The Piano in 1993.
Quentin Tarantino won twice for Pulp Fiction (1994), and Django Unchained (2012).
Christopher McQuarrie won for The Usual Suspects in 1995.
The Coen brothers won for Fargo (1996).
Ben Affleck won for co-writing Good Will Hunting (1997).
Matt Damon won for co-writing Good Will Hunting (1997).
Tom Stoppard won for Shakespeare in Love (1998).
Alan Ball won for American Beauty (1999).
Cameron Crowe won for Almost Famous (2000).
Julian Fellowes won for Gosford Park (2001).
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).
Paul Haggis won for Crash (2005).
Michael Arndt won for Little Miss Sunshine (2006).
Diablo Cody won for 2007's Juno.
Dustin Lance Black won for 2008's Milk.
Mark Boal won for 2009's The Hurt Locker.
Spike Jonze won for Her (2013).
Alejandro G. Iñárritu won for Birdman (2014).
Tom McCarthy won for Spotlight (2015).
Josh Singer won for co-writing 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.
Emerald Fennell won for Promising Young Woman (2020).
Kenneth Branagh won for Belfast (2021).
Daniels won for Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022).
Justine Triet co-won for Anatomy of a Fall (2023).
Arthur Harari co-won for Anatomy of a Fall (2023).
Sean Baker won for Anora (2024).