The Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay is the

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

for the best screenplay

adapted In biology, adaptation has three related meanings. Firstly, it is the dynamic evolutionary process of natural selection that fits organisms to their environment, enhancing their evolutionary fitness. Secondly, it is a state reached by the po ...

from previously established material. The most frequently adapted media are novels, but other adapted narrative formats include stage plays, musicals, short stories, TV series, and even other films and film characters. All sequels are also considered adaptations by this standard (based on the story and characters set forth in the original film). Prior to its current name, this award had been known as the Academy Award for Best Screenplay Based On Material From Another Medium. See also the

Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay The Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay is the Academy Awards, Academy Award for the best screenplay not based upon previously published material. It was created in 1940 as a separate writing award from the Academy Award for Best Story. Be ...

, the corresponding award for scripts with original stories.

Superlatives

The first person to win twice in this category was

Joseph L. Mankiewicz Joseph Leo Mankiewicz (; February 11, 1909 – February 5, 1993) was an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. Mankiewicz had a long Hollywood career, and won both the Academy Award for Best Director and the Academy Award for Best ...

, who won the award in two consecutive years, 1949 and 1950. Others to win twice in this category include:

George Seaton George Seaton (April 17, 1911 – July 28, 1979) was an American screenwriter, playwright, film director and producer, and theatre director. Life and career Early life Seaton was born George Edward Stenius in South Bend, Indiana, of Swedish des ...

, Robert Bolt (who also won in consecutive years),

Francis Ford Coppola Francis Ford Coppola (; ; born April 7, 1939) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is considered one of the major figures of the New Hollywood filmmaking movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Coppola is the recipient of five A ...

, Mario Puzo,

Alvin Sargent Alvin Sargent (April 12, 1927 – May 9, 2019) was an American screenwriter. He won two Academy Awards for Best Adapted Screenplay, for ''Julia'' (1977), and ''Ordinary People'' (1980). Sargent's other prominent works include screenplays of th ...

Ruth Prawer Jhabvala Ruth Prawer Jhabvala (; 7 May 19273 April 2013) was a British author and screenwriter. She is best known for her collaboration with Merchant Ivory Productions, made up of director James Ivory and producer Ismail Merchant. In 1951, Jhabvala ma ...

, Michael Wilson,

Alexander Payne Constantine Alexander Payne (; born February 10, 1961) is an American film director, screenwriter and producer. He is best known for the films ''Citizen Ruth'' (1996), ''Election'' (1999), ''About Schmidt'' (2002), ''Sideways'' (2004), ''The Desc ...

and

Christopher Hampton Sir Christopher James Hampton ( Horta, Azores, 26 January 1946) is a British playwright, screenwriter, translator and film director. He is best known for his play ''Les Liaisons Dangereuses'' based on the novel of the same name and the film ...

. Payne won both awards as part of a writing team, with Jim Taylor for '' Sideways'' and Jim Rash and Nat Faxon for '' The Descendants''. Michael Wilson was

blacklisted Blacklisting is the action of a group or authority compiling a blacklist (or black list) of people, countries or other entities to be avoided or distrusted as being deemed unacceptable to those making the list. If someone is on a blacklist, t ...

at the time of his second Oscar, so the award was given to a front (novelist Pierre Boulle). However, the Academy officially recognized him as the winner several years later.

Billy Wilder Billy Wilder (; ; born Samuel Wilder; June 22, 1906 – March 27, 2002) was an Austrian-American filmmaker. His career in Hollywood spanned five decades, and he is regarded as one of the most brilliant and versatile filmmakers of Classic Holl ...

, Charles Brackett, Paddy Chayefsky,

, Horton Foote,

William Goldman William Goldman (August 12, 1931 – November 16, 2018) was an American novelist, playwright, and screenwriter. He first came to prominence in the 1950s as a novelist before turning to screenwriting. He won Academy Awards for his screenplays '' ...

, Robert Benton, Bo Goldman, Waldo Salt, and the Coen brothers have won Oscars for both original and adapted screenplays. Frances Marion ('' The Big House'') was the first woman to win in the category.

Pierre Collings Lysander Pierre Collings (September 22, 1900 - December 21, 1937), known professionally as Pierre Collings, was a writer and filmmaker who, along with Sheridan Gibney, won two Academy Awards in 1936 for ''The Story of Louis Pasteur''. Their scree ...

and

Sheridan Gibney Sheridan de Raismes Gibney (June 11, 1903 – April 12, 1988) was a writer and producer in theater and film. He attended Amherst College and received an honorary M.A. from it. He later served as an instructor at Hobart and William Smith College ...

('' The Story of Louis Pasteur'') were the first to win for adapting their own work.

Philip G. Epstein Philip G. Epstein (August 22, 1909 – February 7, 1952) was an American screenwriter most known for his screenplay for the film ''Casablanca'' (1942), which won an Academy Award. He had written it in partnership with his twin brother Julius and ...

and

Julius J. Epstein Julius J. Epstein (August 22, 1909December 30, 2000) was an American screenwriter, who had a long career, best remembered for his screenplay, written with his twin brother, Philip, and Howard E. Koch, of the film ''Casablanca'' (1942), for whic ...

(''

Casablanca Casablanca, also known in Arabic as Dar al-Bayda ( ar, الدَّار الْبَيْضَاء, al-Dār al-Bayḍāʾ, ; ber, ⴹⴹⴰⵕⵍⴱⵉⴹⴰ, ḍḍaṛlbiḍa, : "White House") is the largest city in Morocco and the country's econom ...

'') are the first siblings to win in this category. James Goldman (''

The Lion in Winter ''The Lion in Winter'' is a 1966 play by James Goldman, depicting the personal and political conflicts of Henry II of England, his wife Eleanor of Aquitaine, their children and their guests during Christmas 1183. It premiered on Broadway at the ...

'') and

(''

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid ''Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid'' is a 1969 American Western buddy film directed by George Roy Hill and written by William Goldman. Based loosely on fact, the film tells the story of Wild West outlaws Robert LeRoy Parker, known as Butch C ...

'' and '' All the President's Men'') are the first siblings to win for separate films. Joel Coen and Ethan Coen ('' No Country for Old Men'') are the third winning siblings. Mario Puzo is the one of two writers whose work has been adapted and resulted in two wins. Puzo's novel ''The Godfather'' resulted in wins in 1972 and 1974 for himself and

. The other is E. M. Forster, whose novels ''

A Room with a View ''A Room with a View'' is a 1908 novel by English writer E. M. Forster, about a young woman in the restrained culture of Edwardian era England. Set in Italy and England, the story is both a romance and a humorous critique of English society a ...

'' and '' Howards End'' resulted in wins for

Larry McMurtry Larry Jeff McMurtry (June 3, 1936March 25, 2021) was an American novelist, essayist, bookseller and screenwriter whose work was predominantly set in either the Old West or contemporary Texas.

is the only person who has won for adapting someone else's work (''

Brokeback Mountain ''Brokeback Mountain'' is a 2005 American neo-Western romantic drama film directed by Ang Lee and produced by Diana Ossana and James Schamus. Adapted from the 1997 short story of the same name by Annie Proulx, the screenplay was written by O ...

''), and whose own work has been adapted by someone else, resulting in a win (''

Terms of Endearment ''Terms of Endearment'' is a 1983 American family comedy-drama film directed, written, and produced by James L. Brooks, adapted from Larry McMurtry's 1975 novel of the same name. It stars Debra Winger, Shirley MacLaine, Jack Nicholson, Danny De ...

'').

William Monahan William J. Monahan (born November 3, 1960) is an American screenwriter and novelist. His second produced screenplay was ''The Departed'', a film that earned him a Writers Guild of America Award and Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. Wr ...

(''

The Departed ''The Departed'' is a 2006 American epic crime thriller film directed by Martin Scorsese and written by William Monahan. It is both a remake of the 2002 Hong Kong film ''Infernal Affairs'' and also loosely based on the real-life Boston Winter ...

'') and

Sian Heder Sian Heder (; born June 23, 1977) is an American television writer, television producer, and filmmaker who is best known for writing and directing the films '' Tallulah'' and ''CODA''. ''CODA'' earned Heder an Academy Award for Best Adapted Scree ...

(''

CODA Coda or CODA may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * Movie coda, a post-credits scene * ''Coda'' (1987 film), an Australian horror film about a serial killer, made for television *''Coda'', a 2017 American experimental film from Na ...

'') are the only people who have won this award by using another full-length feature film as the credited source of the adaptation.

Peter Jackson Sir Peter Robert Jackson (born 31 October 1961) is a New Zealand film director, screenwriter and producer. He is best known as the director, writer and producer of the ''Lord of the Rings'' trilogy (2001–2003) and the ''Hobbit'' trilogy ( ...

and Fran Walsh ('' The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King'') are the only married couple to win.

Geoffrey S. Fletcher Geoffrey Shawn Fletcher (born October 4, 1970) is an American screenwriter and film director. Fletcher is best known for being the screenwriter of '' Precious'', for which he received the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, becoming the f ...

('' Precious'') and John Ridley (''

12 Years a Slave ''Twelve Years a Slave'' is an 1853 memoir and slave narrative by American Solomon Northup as told to and written by David Wilson. Northup, a black man who was born free in New York state, details himself being tricked to go to Washington, D.C., ...

'') are the only African-Americans to win solo in this category; Fletcher is also the first African-American to win in any writing category.

Barry Jenkins Barry Jenkins (born November 19, 1979) is an American filmmaker. After making his filmmaking debut with the short film ''My Josephine'' (2003), he directed his first feature film ''Medicine for Melancholy'' (2008) for which he received an Indep ...

and

Tarell Alvin McCraney Tarell Alvin McCraney (born October 17, 1980) is an American playwright, screenwriter, and actor. He is the chair of playwriting at the Yale School of Drama and a member of the Steppenwolf Theatre Ensemble. He co-wrote the 2016 film ''Moonlight ( ...

(''

Moonlight Moonlight consists of mostly sunlight (with little earthlight) reflected from the parts of the Moon's surface where the Sun's light strikes. Illumination The intensity of moonlight varies greatly depending on the lunar phase, but even the ful ...

'') are the first African-American writing duo to win;

Spike Lee Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee (born March 20, 1957) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. His production company, 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks, has produced more than 35 films since 1983. He made his directorial debut ...

and

Kevin Willmott Kevin Willmott (born August 31, 1959) is an Academy Award Winning American film director and screenwriter, and professor of film at the University of Kansas. He is known for work focusing on black issues including writing and directing '' Nint ...

('' BlacKkKlansman'') are the second, although their co-writers, David Rabinowitz and Charlie Wachtel, are both white.

James Ivory James Francis Ivory (born June 7, 1928) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. For many years, he worked extensively with Indian-born film producer Ismail Merchant, his domestic as well as professional partner, and with screen ...

(''

Call Me by Your Name Call Me by Your Name may refer to: * ''Call Me by Your Name'' (novel), a 2007 novel by André Aciman * ''Call Me by Your Name'' (film), a 2017 film based on the novel, directed by Luca Guadagnino ** '' Call Me by Your Name: Original Motion Pictur ...

'') is the oldest person to receive the award at age 89. Charlie Wachtel ('' BlacKkKlansman'') is the youngest at age 32.

Taika Waititi Taika David Cohen (born 16 August 1975), known professionally as Taika Waititi ( ), is a New Zealand filmmaker, actor, and comedian. He is a recipient of an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, and a Grammy Award, and has received two nominations at t ...

(''

Jojo Rabbit ''Jojo Rabbit'' is a 2019 comedy-drama film written and directed by Taika Waititi, adapted from Christine Leunens's 2008 book ''Caging Skies''. Roman Griffin Davis portrays the title character, Johannes "Jojo" Betzler, a ten-year-old Hitler You ...

'') is the first person of

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

descent to receive the award.

Emma Thompson Dame Emma Thompson (born 15 April 1959) is a British actress. Regarded as one of the best actresses of her generation, she has received numerous accolades throughout her four-decade-long career, including two Academy Awards, two British A ...

(''

Sense and Sensibility ''Sense and Sensibility'' is a novel by Jane Austen, published in 1811. It was published anonymously; ''By A Lady'' appears on the title page where the author's name might have been. It tells the story of the Dashwood sisters, Elinor (age 19) a ...

'') is the only winner who has also won for acting. Winners Billy Bob Thornton ('' Sling Blade'') and

John Huston John Marcellus Huston ( ; August 5, 1906 – August 28, 1987) was an American film director, screenwriter, actor and visual artist. He wrote the screenplays for most of the 37 feature films he directed, many of which are today considered ...

(''

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre ''The Treasure of the Sierra Madre'' (originally titled ''Der Schatz der Sierra Madre'') is a 1927 adventure novel by German author B. Traven, whose identity remains unknown. In the book, two destitute American men in Mexico of the 1920s join a ...

'') have been nominated for acting but not won.

Charles Schnee Charles Schnee (6 August 1916 Bridgeport, Connecticut - 29 November 1963 Beverly Hills, California) was a screenwriter and film producer. He wrote the scripts for the Westerns '' Red River'' (1948) and '' The Furies'' (1950), the social melodrama ...

('' The Bad and the Beautiful''), Billy Bob Thornton ('' Sling Blade''), and

Bill Condon William Condon (born October 22, 1955) is an American director and screenwriter. Condon is known for writing and/or directing numerous successful and acclaimed films including '' Gods and Monsters'', ''Chicago'', '' Kinsey'', ''Dreamgirls'', ' ...

('' Gods and Monsters'') are the only winners whose films were not nominated for Best Picture.

Notable nominees

Noted novelists and playwrights nominated in this category include:

George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from ...

(who shared an award for an adaptation of his play ''Pygmalion''),

Graham Greene Henry Graham Greene (2 October 1904 – 3 April 1991) was an English writer and journalist regarded by many as one of the leading English novelists of the 20th century. Combining literary acclaim with widespread popularity, Greene acquir ...

Tennessee Williams Thomas Lanier Williams III (March 26, 1911 – February 25, 1983), known by his pen name Tennessee Williams, was an American playwright and screenwriter. Along with contemporaries Eugene O'Neill and Arthur Miller, he is considered among the thre ...

, Vladimir Nabokov, James Hilton,

Dashiell Hammett Samuel Dashiell Hammett (; May 27, 1894 – January 10, 1961) was an American writer of hard-boiled detective novels and short stories. He was also a screenwriter and political activist. Among the enduring characters he created are Sam Spade ('' ...

Raymond Chandler Raymond Thornton Chandler (July 23, 1888 – March 26, 1959) was an American-British novelist and screenwriter. In 1932, at the age of forty-four, Chandler became a detective fiction writer after losing his job as an oil company executive durin ...

, Lillian Hellman, Irwin Shaw,

James Agee James Rufus Agee ( ; November 27, 1909 – May 16, 1955) was an American novelist, journalist, poet, screenwriter and film critic. In the 1940s, writing for ''Time Magazine'', he was one of the most influential film critics in the United States. ...

, Norman Corwin, S. J. Perelman, Terence Rattigan,

John Osborne John James Osborne (12 December 1929 – 24 December 1994) was an English playwright, screenwriter and actor, known for his prose that criticized established social and political norms. The success of his 1956 play ''Look Back in Anger'' tra ...

, Robert Bolt,

Harold Pinter Harold Pinter (; 10 October 1930 – 24 December 2008) was a British playwright, screenwriter, director and actor. A Nobel Prize winner, Pinter was one of the most influential modern British dramatists with a writing career that spanne ...

, David Mamet,

, Arthur Miller, John Irving,

David Hare David Hare may refer to: *David Hare (philanthropist) (1775–1842), Scottish philanthropist *David Hare (artist) (1917–1992), American sculptor and photographer *David Hare (playwright) (born 1947), English playwright and theatre and film direc ...

, Tony Kushner, August Wilson and

Florian Zeller Florian Zeller (; born 28 June 1979) is a French novelist, playwright, theatre director, screenwriter, and film director. He won the Prix Interallié for his 2004 novel ''The Fascination of Evil'' and several awards for his plays. He wrote and ...

. Ted Elliott,

Roger S. H. Schulman Roger S. H. Schulman is an American film and television screenwriter and producer. He co-wrote the animated feature ''Shrek'', for which he won the British Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay and was nominated for an Oscar for Best Writing ...

Joe Stillman Joseph Stillman (born August 1, 1959) is an American television and movie writer, producer, and director. Before becoming a screenwriter, he worked for several TV shows, including ''Beavis and Butt-head'', ''King of the Hill'', ''Doug'', and '' ...

Terry Rossio Terry Rossio (born July 2, 1960) is an American screenwriter. He co-wrote the films ''Aladdin'', ''Shrek'', and all five of the ''Pirates of the Caribbean'' series. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for ''Shrek' ...

, writers of '' Shrek'' and

Michael Arndt Michael Arndt is an American screenwriter. He is best known as the writer of the films ''Little Miss Sunshine'' (2006), ''Toy Story 3'' (2010), and '' Star Wars: The Force Awakens'' (2015). Arndt won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenpl ...

, John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton &

Lee Unkrich Lee Edward Unkrich (born August 8, 1967) is an American film director, film editor, screenwriter, and animator. He was a longtime member of the creative team at Pixar, where he started in 1994 as a film editor. He later began directing, first as ...

, writers of '' Toy Story 3'', are as of 2020, the only writers to be nominated for an animated film. Scott Frank,

James Mangold James Allen Mangold (born December 16, 1963) is an American filmmaker. He is best known for the films ''Cop Land'' (1997), '' Girl, Interrupted'' (1999), ''Walk the Line'' (2005), '' 3:10 to Yuma'' (2007), '' The Wolverine'' (2013) and '' Logan'' ...

& Michael Green, writers of ''

Logan Logan may refer to: Places * Mount Logan (disambiguation) Australia * Logan (Queensland electoral district), an electoral district in the Queensland Legislative Assembly * Logan, Victoria, small locality near St. Arnaud * Logan City, local gover ...

'', are the first writers to be nominated for a film based on superhero comic books (the

X-Men The X-Men are a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, first appearing in Uncanny X-Men, ''The X-Men'' #1 by artist/co-plotter Jack Kirby and writer/editor Stan Lee in 1963. Although initially cancelled in ...

).2018, Oscars.org
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Winners and nominees

Winners are listed first in colored row, followed by the other nominees.

1920s

1930s

1940s

1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

2020s

Writers with multiple awards

;2 Awards * Robert Bolt *

* Mario Puzo * Michael Wilson *

Writers with multiple nominations

The following writers have received three or more nominations: ;7 Nominations *

;6 Nominations *

Eric Roth Eric R. Roth (born March 22, 1945) is an American screenwriter. He has been nominated six times for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay — for ''Forrest Gump'' (1994), '' The Insider'' (1999), ''Munich'' (2005), '' The Curious Case of ...

;5 Nominations *

Richard Brooks Richard Brooks (May 18, 1912 – March 11, 1992) was an American screenwriter, film director, novelist and film producer. Nominated for eight Academy Awards, Oscars in his career, he was best known for ''Blackboard Jungle'' (1955), ''Cat on a ...

;4 Nominations * Michael Wilson * Carl Foreman * Albert Hackett * Frances Goodrich *

Stanley Kubrick Stanley Kubrick (; July 26, 1928 – March 7, 1999) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and photographer. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, his films, almost all of which are adaptations of nove ...

Joel Coen Joel Daniel Coen (born November 29, 1954) and Ethan Jesse Coen (born September 21, 1957),State of Minnesota. ''Minnesota Birth Index, 1935–2002''. Minnesota Department of Health. collectively known as the Coen brothers (), are American film ...

Ethan Coen Joel Daniel Coen (born November 29, 1954) and Ethan Jesse Coen (born September 21, 1957),State of Minnesota. ''Minnesota Birth Index, 1935–2002''. Minnesota Department of Health. collectively known as the Coen brothers (), are American film ...

* Steven Zaillian ;3 Nominations *

* Ernest Lehman * Robert Bolt * Neil Simon *

Oliver Stone William Oliver Stone (born September 15, 1946) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. Stone won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay as writer of '' Midnight Express'' (1978), and wrote the gangster film remake '' Sc ...

Aaron Sorkin Aaron Benjamin Sorkin (born June 9, 1961) is an American playwright, screenwriter and film director. Born in New York City, he developed a passion for writing at an early age. Sorkin has earned an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, five Primetime E ...

Age superlatives

Notes

References

{{Academy Award Best Adapted Screenplay Adapted Screenplay Screenwriting awards for film Awards established in 1929