Top 100 Screenwriters of All Time
“To make a good film,” Alfred Hitchcock once said, “you need three things: the script, the script, and the script.”
So it seemed a little surprising that on the entire Internet, there’s only one list — by Vulture — of the best screenwriters of all time. I mean, there’s literally thousands of lists of the best movies in general, the best actors and actresses, the best directors, composers, and even a few about the best cinematographers.
Hugh Laurie once said, “Screenwriting is the most prized of all the cinematic arts. Actually, it isn’t, but it should be.”
So I decided to make another list to give all the screenwriters the recognition they deserve. And no, this list isn’t based on my arbitrary whims. The writers are scored based on how many of their movies have been nominated for best original or adapted screenplay by the Academy, and where their movies appear on the MetaCritic top 300, the IMDb top 250, and the Rotten Tomatoes top 100. The scores reflect both critical opinion and that of the average user.
Here’s the list of the top 100 screenwriters of all time, including their notable movies:
1: Woody Allen (5.42)
Notable films: Annie Hall, Interiors, Manhattan, Broadway Danny Rose, The Purple Rose of Cairo, Hannah and Her Sisters, Radio Days, Crimes and Misdemeanors, Alice, Husbands and Wives, Bullets over Broadway, Mighty Aphrodite, Deconstructing Harry, Match Point, Midnight in Paris, Blue Jasmine
2: Billy Wilder (3.68)
Notable films: Ninotchka, Hold Back the Dawn, Double Indemnity, The Lost Weekend, A Foreign Affair, Sabrina, Some Like It Hot, Sunset Boulevard, The Big Carnival, The Apartment, The Fortune Cookie
3: Francis Ford Coppola (3.29)
Notable films: The Godfather, The Godfather: Part II, Apocalypse Now, Patton, The Conversation
4: John Huston (3.03)
Notable films: The Maltese Falcon, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The Asphalt Jungle, The African Queen, Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison, The Man Who Would Be King, Dr. Ehrlich’s Magic Bullet, Sergeant York
5: Ethan Coen & Joel Coen (2.91)
Notable films: O Brother, Where Art Thou?, No Country for Old Men, True Grit, A Serious Man, Bridge of Spies, Burn After Reading, Fargo, The Big Lebowski, Millers Crossing, Inside Llewyn Davis
6: Christopher Nolan (2.62)
Notable films: Memento, Inception, The Prestige, Dunkirk, Interstellar, The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises, Batman Begins
7: Stanley Kubrick (2.26)
Notable films: Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, A Clockwork Orange, Barry Lyndon, Full Metal Jacket, 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Shining, Napoleon, Eyes Wide Shut, Paths Of Glory
8: Quentin Tarantino (2.2)
Notable films: Pulp Fiction, Inglourious Basterds, Django Unchained, True Romance, Natural Born Killers, Reservoir Dogs, Kill Bill: Vol. 1
9: Ernest Lehman (2.11)
Notable films: Sabrina, West Side Story, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, North by Northwest, The Sweet Smell of Success
10: Joseph L. Mankiewicz (2.09)
Notable films: Skippy, A Letter to Three Wives, All About Eve, No Way Out, The Barefoot Contessa
11: George Lucas (1.93)
Notable films: American Graffiti, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Return Of The Jedi, Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope
12: Steven Zaillian (1.86)
Notable films: Awakenings, Schindler’s List, Moneyball, Gangs of New York, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Searching For Bobby Fischer
13: I.A.L. Diamond (1.79)
Notable films: Some Like It Hot, The Apartment, The Fortune Cookie
14: Mike Leigh (1.75)
Notable films: Secrets & Lies, Topsy-Turvy, Vera Drake, Happy-Go-Lucky, Another Year, Life Is Sweet
15: Charlie Kaufman (1.74)
Notable films: Adaptation, Being John Malkovich, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Synecdoche New York, Anomalisa
16: William Goldman (1.71)
Notable films: All the President’s Men, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Absolute Power, The Princess Bride, Dreamcatcher
17: Mario Puzo (1.7)
Notable films: The Godfather, The Godfather: Part II, Superman II
18: Roman Polanski (1.69)
Notable films: Rosemary’s Baby, Chinatown, Repulsion
19: Oliver Stone (1.69)
Notable films: Midnight Express, Born on the Fourth of July, JFK, Platoon, Salvador, Nixon, Scarface
20: Paddy Chayefsky (1.68)
Notable films: Marty, The Goddess, The Hospital, Network
21: Robert Riskin (1.68)
Notable films: Lady for a Day, It Happened One Night, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, You Can’t Take It with You
22: Paul Thomas Anderson (1.6)
Notable films: There Will Be Blood, Inherent Vice, Boogie Nights, Magnolia, Punch Drunk Love, Phantom Thread
23: Preston Sturges (1.55)
Notable films: The Great McGinty, Hail the Conquering Hero, The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek, Sullivan’s Travels, The Lady Eve
24: Carl Foreman (1.54)
Notable films: Champion, High Noon, The Guns of Navarone, The Men, Young Winston
25: Frank Darabont (1.52)
Notable films: The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile
26: Robert Towne (1.51)
Notable films: The Last Detail, Chinatown, Shampoo
27: Frank Pierson (1.5)
Notable films: Dog Day Afternoon, Cool Hand Luke, Cat Ballou
28: Julius J. Epstein (1.5)
Notable films: Four Daughters, Casablanca, Pete ’n’ Tillie, Reuben, Reuben, Fanny & Alexander Fanny Och Alexander
29: Martin Scorsese (1.49)
Notable films: Goodfellas, The Age of Innocence, Raging Bull, Casino, My Voyage To Italy
30: Lawrence Kasdan (1.43)
Notable films: The Accidental Tourist, The Big Chill, Grand Canyon, Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Empire Strikes Back, Return Of The Jedi, Dreamcatcher
31: Horton Foote (1.41)
Notable films: To Kill a Mockingbird, The Trip to Bountiful, Tender Mercies
32: Herman J. Mankiewicz (1.4)
Notable films: The Pride of the Yankees, Citizen Kane
33: James L. Brooks (1.37)
Notable films: Terms of Endearment, Broadcast News, As Good as It Gets
34: Jonathan Nolan (1.35)
Notable films: Memento, The Prestige, Interstellar, The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises
35: Damien Chazelle (1.35)
Notable films: Whiplash, La La Land, The Cellar
36: Eric Roth (1.34)
Notable films: Forrest Gump, The Insider, Munich, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
37: Orson Welles (1.34)
Notable films: Citizen Kane, Touch Of Evil
38: Ingmar Bergman (1.31)
Notable films: Wild Strawberries, Through a Glass Darkly, Cries and Whispers, Autumn Sonata, Fanny and Alexander, Persona
39: Robert Bolt (1.28)
Notable films: Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago, A Man for All Seasons
40: Ronald Harwood (1.26)
Notable films: The Dresser, The Pianist, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
41: Richard Linklater (1.26)
Notable films: Before Sunset, Before Midnight, Boyhood, Before Sunrise
42: Marshall Brickman (1.23)
Notable films: Annie Hall, Manhattan
43: Peter Jackson & Fran Walsh (1.21)
Notable films: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Heavenly Creatures, The Lord of the Rings, The Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers, King Kong
44: Alvin Sargent (1.21)
Notable films: Paper Moon, Julia, Ordinary People
45: John Michael Hayes (1.19)
Notable films: Rear Window, Peyton Place
46: Bo Goldman (1.19)
Notable films: One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Scent of a Woman, Melvin and Howard
47: Robert Benton (1.19)
Notable films: Kramer vs. Kramer, Nobody’s Fool, Bonnie and Clyde, The Late Show, Places in the Heart
48: Richard Brooks (1.19)
Notable films: Blackboard Jungle, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Elmer Gantry, The Professionals, In Cold Blood
49: Andrew Stanton (1.14)
Notable films: Toy Story, Finding Nemo, WALL-E, Monsters, Inc., Toy Story 2
50: Dashiell Hammett (1.14)
Notable films: Watch on the Rhine, The Maltese Falcon
51: Ben Hecht (1.14)
Notable films: Viva Villa!, Wuthering Heights, Angels Over Broadway, Notorious
52: Frances Goodrich & Albert Hackett (1.13)
Notable films: The Thin Man, After the Thin Man, Father of the Bride, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Its a Wonderful Life, It’s A Wonderful Life
53: Paul Schrader (1.11)
Notable films: Taxi Driver, Raging Bull
54: Federico Fellini (1.1)
Notable films: Rome, Open City, Fellini’s Casanova, Paisan, La Strada, I Vitelloni, La Dolce Vita, 8½, Amarcord
55: Charles Chaplin (1.1)
Notable films: City Lights, Modern Times, The Kid, The Gold Rush
56: Pete Docter (1.09)
Notable films: Toy Story, WALL-E, Up, Inside Out
57: Asghar Farhadi (1.09)
Notable films: A Separation, A Separation
58: Charles Brackett (1.09)
Notable films: Ninotchka, Hold Back the Dawn, The Lost Weekend, A Foreign Affair, Sunset Boulevard, Titanic
59: Mark Boal (1.08)
Notable films: The Hurt Locker, Zero Dark Thirty
60: Jospeh Stefano (1.05)
Notable films: Psycho
61: David Webb Peoples (1.05)
Notable films: Unforgiven, Blade Runner, Twelve Monkeys
62: Philippa Boyens (1.02)
Notable films: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, The Lord of the Rings, The Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers, King Kong
63: Kenneth Lonergan (1.02)
Notable films: You Can Count On Me, Gangs of New York, Manchester by the Sea
64: Brian Helgeland (1.02)
Notable films: L.A. Confidential, Mystic River, LA Confidential
65: Steven King (1.01)
Notable films: The Shawshank Redemption
66: Sidney Buchman (1.0)
Notable films: Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Here Comes Mr. Jordan, The Talk of the Town, Jolson Sings Again
67: Cameron Crowe (1.0)
Notable films: Jerry Maguire, Almost Famous
68: Neil Simon (1.0)
Notable films: The Odd Couple, The Sunshine Boys, California Suite, The Goodbye Girl
69: William Rose (1.0)
Notable films: The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming, Genevieve, The Ladykillers, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner
70: George Seaton (1.0)
Notable films: The Song of Bernadette, Miracle on 34th Street, The Country Girl, Airport
71: Elliott J. Clawson (1.0)
Notable films: The Cop, The Leatherneck, Sal of Singapore, Skyscraper
72: Budd Schulberg (1.0)
Notable films: On the Waterfront
73: Peter Shaffer (0.99)
Notable films: Equus, Amadeus
74: Roger Avary (0.98)
Notable films: Pulp Fiction
75: Reginald Rose (0.98)
Notable films: 12 Angry Men
76: Waldo Salt (0.98)
Notable films: Midnight Cowboy, Serpico, Coming Home
77: David S. Ward (0.97)
Notable films: The Sting, Sleepless in Seattle
78: Nora Ephron (0.96)
Notable films: Silkwood, When Harry Met Sally…, Sleepless in Seattle
79: Tom McCarthy (0.94)
Notable films: Up, Spotlight
80: Christopher McQuarrie (0.94)
Notable films: The Usual Suspects, The Wolverine
81: Raymond Chandler (0.92)
Notable films: Double Indemnity, The Blue Dahlia
82: Bob Peterson (0.91)
Notable films: Finding Nemo, Up, Ratatouille
83: Ruth Prawer Jhabvala (0.91)
Notable films: A Room with a View, Howards End, The Remains of the Day
84: Nicholas Pileggi (0.89)
Notable films: Goodfellas, Casino
85: Alexander Payne (0.89)
Notable films: Election, Sideways, The Descendants
86: Alan Ball (0.88)
Notable films: American Beauty
87: Spike Lee (0.87)
Notable films: Do the Right Thing, 4 Little Girls
88: Ted Tally (0.86)
Notable films: The Silence of the Lambs
89: John Milius (0.85)
Notable films: Apocalypse Now
90: Melissa Mathison (0.83)
Notable films: E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
91: John Patrick Shanley (0.83)
Notable films: Doubt, Moonstruck
92: John Ridley (0.83)
Notable films: 12 Years a Slave
93: Paul Mazursky (0.81)
Notable films: Enemies, A Love Story, Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, Harry and Tonto, An Unmarried Woman
94: Donald Ogden Stewart (0.81)
Notable films: The Philadelphia Story
95: Howard Koch (0.81)
Notable films: Casablanca
96: Philip G. Epstein (0.81)
Notable films: Casablanca
97: Peter Morgan (0.8)
Notable films: Frost/Nixon, The Queen, Rush
98: Paul Haggis (0.79)
Notable films: Million Dollar Baby, Crash, Letters from Iwo Jima, In the Valley of Elah
99: George Miller (0.79)
Notable films: Babe, Lorenzo’s Oil, Mad Max: Fury Road
100: Jim Sheridan(0.79)
Notable films: My Left Foot, In the Name of the Father, In America
