Read this Year’s Oscar Nominated Feature Scripts!
One of the best ways to up your screenwriting game is to read screenplays, and with the 2023/24 Oscar nominations out, studios have posted many of the scripts ‘for consideration’ online.
Read Killers of a Flower Moon and understand how Eric Roth and Martin Scorsese communicate power dynamics through their screenplay; see how a highly visual feature like Poor Things works on the page; if animation is your thing, check out the script for Elemental or the 158-page screenplay for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse; read Barbie and find out how Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach turned a child’s toy into a blockbuster comedy.
Whichever type of script inspires you, download it and dive in!
Below is a list of this year’s Oscar nominated feature films (as well as some other notable scripts from the past year) you can read online.
Click on the movie title to read the screenplay (while you still can - most of these Oscar nominated scripts disappear after awards season is over):
Best Picture Nominees:
AMERICAN FICTION - (Amazon MGM Studios) - Screenplay by Cord Jefferson (Based upon the novel 'Erasure' by Percival Everett)
ANATOMY OF A FALL - (Le Pacte) - Screenplay by Justine Triet & Arthur Harari
BARBIE - (Warner Bros) - Screenplay by Greta Gerwig & Noah Baumbach
THE HOLDOVERS - (Miramax) - Screenplay by David Hemingson
KILLERS OF A FLOWER MOON - (Apple TV+, Paramount Pictures) - Screenplay by Eric Roth and Martin Scorsese (Based on "Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI" by David Grann)
MAESTRO - (Netflix) - Screenplay by Bradley Cooper & Josh Singer
OPPENHEIMER - (Universal Pictures) - Screenplay by Christopher Nolan (based on the book American Prometheus: The Triumph And Tragedy Of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin)
POOR THINGS - (Searchlight) - Screenplay by Tony McNamara (Based on the novel POOR THINGS by Alasdair Gray)
THE ZONE OF INTEREST - (A24) - Screenplay by Jonathan Glazer (Based on the novel by Martin Amis)
*PAST LIVES - (A24) - Screenplay by Celine Song is also nominated for Best Picture
Writing (Adapted screenplay) Nominees:
AMERICAN FICTION - (Amazon MGM Studios) - Screenplay by Cord Jefferson (Based upon the novel 'Erasure' by Percival Everett)
BARBIE - (Warner Bros) - Screenplay by Greta Gerwig & Noah Baumbach
OPPENHEIMER - (Universal Pictures) - Screenplay by Christopher Nolan (based on the book American Prometheus: The Triumph And Tragedy Of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin)
POOR THINGS - (Searchlight) - Screenplay by Tony McNamara (Based on the novel POOR THINGS by Alasdair Gray)
THE ZONE OF INTEREST - (A24) - Screenplay by Jonathan Glazer (Based on the novel by Martin Amis)
Writing (Original screenplay) Nominees:
ANATOMY OF A FALL - (Le Pacte) - Screenplay by Justine Triet & Arthur Harari
THE HOLDOVERS - (Miramax) - Screenplay by David Hemingson
MAESTRO - (Netflix) - Screenplay by Bradley Cooper & Josh Singer
MAY DECEMBER - (Netflix) - Story by Samy Burch and Alex Mechanik, Screenplay by Samy Burch
*PAST LIVES - (A24) - Screenplay by Celine Song is also nominated for Best Original Screenplay
Best Animated Feature Nominees:
ELEMENTAL - (Disney) - Screenplay by John Hoberg & Kat Likkel Brenda Hsueh, Original Story by Peter Sohn John Hoberg & Kat Likkel Brenda Hsueh,
NIMONA - (Netflix) - Screenplay by Robert L. Baird & Lloyd Taylor
SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE - (Sony Pictures) - Screenplay by Phil Lord & Christopher Miller & Dave Callaham (Based on The collective work of thousands of writers and artists over the last sixty or so years)
*THE BOY AND THE HERON - (Toho) - Screenplay by Hayao Miyazaki as well as ROBOT DREAMS (Bteam Pictures, Wild Bunch) - Screenplay by Pablo Berger are both also nominated for Best Animated Feature
Screenplays for other notable 2023/2024 films:
*most of these films are nominated for oscars in other categories besides those listed above.
ALL OF US STRANGERS - (Searchlight Pictures) - Screenplay by Andrew Haigh (Based on the novel "Strangers" by Taichi Yamada)
ARE YOU THERE GOD? IT’S ME MARGARET - (Lions Gate) - Screenplay by Kelly Fremon Craig (Based on the novel by Judy Blume)
ASTEROID CITY - (FOCUS FEATURES) - Screenplay by Wes Anderson & Roman Coppola
BLACKBERRY - (IFC Films) - Screenplay by Matt Johnson & Matthew Miller (Based on, "Losing the Signal" by Jacquie McNish & Sean Silcoff)
BOTTOMS - (Amazon MGM Studios) - Screenplay by Rachel Sennott & Emma Seligman
THE COLOR PURPLE - (Warner Bros) - Screenplay by Marcus Gardley (Based on the novel by Alice Walker (Based on the Musical Stage Play - Book by Marsha Norman Music & Lyrics by Brenda Russell Allee Willis Stephen Bray))
DREAM SCENARIO - (A24) - Screenplay by Kristoffer Borgli
DUMB MONEY - (SONY) - Screenplay by Rebecca Angelo & Lauren Schuker Blum (Based on The Anti-Social Network, by Ben Mezrich)
EILEEN - (NEON) - Screenplay by Ottessa Moshfegh and Luke Goebel (Based on EILEEN, by Ottessa Moshfegh)
FERRARI - (NEON) - Screenplay by Troy Kennedy Martin (Michael Mann revised draft)
FINGERNAILS (Apple TV+) - Screenplay by Christos Nikou, Sam Steiner, and Stavros Raptis
A HAUNTING IN VENICE - (Disney) - Screenplay by Michael Green (based on the novel ‘Halloween Party’ by Agatha Christie)
JOHN WICK: CHAPTER FOUR - (Lions Gate) - Screenplay by Shay Hatten (Current Revisions by Michael Finch, Based on characters created by Derek Kolstad)
NAPOLEON - (Apple TV+, Columbia Pictures) - Screenplay by David Scarpa
NYAD - (Netflix) - Screenplay by Julia Cox (Based on the book "Find a Way" by Diana Nyad)
ORIGIN - (NEON) - Screenplay by Ava DuVernay (Inspired by Isabel Wilkerson's CASTE)
THE PERSIAN VERSION - (Sony Pictures Classics, Stage 6 Films) - Screenplay by Maryam Keshavarz
PRISCILLA - (A24, Mubi, Stage 6 Films) - Screenplay by Sofia Coppola (Based on Elvis & Me by Priscilla Presley and Sandra Harmon)
RUSTIN - (Netflix) - Screenplay by Julian Breece and Dustin Lance Black (Story by Julian Breece)
SALTBURN - (Amazon MGM Studios) - Screenplay by Emerald Fennell
SHAYDA - (SONY) - Screenplay by Noora Niasari
WONKA - (Warner Bros) - Screenplay by by Simon Farnaby & Paul King, Story by Paul King (Based on characters created by Roald Dahl)
What screenplays inspire you? Let me know @CaroleKirsch!
For more industry info and tips check out these additional resources:
For the ultimate guide to pitching a TV show that sells, check out my e-book, The Ultimate Guide to a Killer Pitch
To learn how to create your “personal logline” read my free e-book, Tell Your Story in 60 Seconds.
For my in-depth video course on breaking into the business go to: Carole Kirschner’s Hollywood Boot Camp.