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The Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay is the Academy Award for the best screenplay adapted 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 other films and film characters.
Mar 7, 2024 · Discover what it takes to win the coveted Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar in this in-depth guide. From acquiring rights to capturing a book's essence and elevating source material for the big screen - we break down the incredibly nuanced art of brilliant adaptation.
- Overview
- 1920s and 1930s
- 1940s and 1950s
- 1960s and 1970s
- 1980s and 1990s
- 2000s and 2010s
- 2020s
award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, located in Beverly Hills, California. It honors outstanding achievement by screenwriters for a screenplay adapted from another work, such as a play or novel, from a given year, as determined by the academy’s voting members.
At the inaugural Academy Awards ceremony, in 1929, the award recognized the work in films released from August 1, 1927, to August 1, 1928. The next four ceremonies honored work in films released from August to July. The 6th ceremony honored work from August to December, and, beginning with the 7th ceremony (1935), only work in movies released the previous calendar year was eligible for consideration.
This award has a complicated history. In the 1st ceremony (1927–28), an award was given for best adaptation. In the 2nd and 3rd ceremonies (1928–30), an award was given for best writing, with no distinction between original work and adaptations. From the 4th (1930–31) to the 7th (1934) ceremonies, an award was again given for best adaptation. Beginning with the 8th ceremony (1935), a screenplay award was given that was the equivalent of the modern award for best adapted screenplay. At the 29th ceremony (1956), the screenplay category was split into best adaptation and best original screenplay. The award had various names before the academy finally settled on best adapted screenplay for the 75th ceremony (2002). The winning screenwriters are given a gold-plated statuette known as an Oscar.
Below is a list of the winning screenwriters and the films for which they won. The years indicate when the eligible films were released.
•1927–28: adaptation: Benjamin Glazer (7th Heaven)
•1928–29: writing: Hans Kraly (The Patriot)
•1929–30: none
•1930–31: adaptation: Howard Estabrook (Cimarron)
•1931–32: adaptation: Edward Burke (Bad Girl)
•1932–33: adaptation: Victor Heerman and Sarah Y. Mason (Little Women)
•1940: screenplay: Donald Ogden Stewart (The Philadelphia Story)
•1941: screenplay: Sidney Buchman and Seton I. Miller (Here Comes Mr. Jordan)
•1942: screenplay: Arthur Wimperis, George Froeschel, James Hilton, and Claudine West (Mrs. Miniver)
•1943: screenplay: Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein, and Howard Koch (Casablanca)
•1944: screenplay: Frank Butler and Frank Cavett (Going My Way)
•1945: screenplay: Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder (The Lost Weekend)
•1960: Richard Brooks (Elmer Gantry)
•1961: Abby Mann (Judgment at Nuremberg)
•1962: Horton Foote (To Kill a Mockingbird)
•1963: John Osborne (Tom Jones)
•1964: Edward Anhalt (Becket)
•1965: Robert Bolt (Doctor Zhivago)
•1980: Alvin Sargent (Ordinary People)
•1981: Ernest Thompson (On Golden Pond)
•1982: Costa-Gavras and Donald Steward (Missing)
•1983: James L. Brooks (Terms of Endearment)
•1984: Peter Shaffer (Amadeus)
•1985: Kurt Luedtke (Out of Africa)
•2000: Stephen Gaghan (Traffic)
•2001: Akiva Goldsman (A Beautiful Mind)
•2002: Ronald Harwood (The Pianist)
•2003: Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, and Peter Jackson (The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King)
•2004: Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor (Sideways)
•2005: Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana (Brokeback Mountain)
•2020: Christopher Hampton and Florian Zeller (The Father)
•2021: Siân Heder (CODA)
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Nov 18, 2019 · An adapted screenplay is a screenplay that is based on pre-existing material. It is adapted from another source. The sources in which the screenplay is adapted from can range greatly. They can be anything from a novel, any other type of book, a memoir, articles, short stories, TV series, and even other films.
Feb 9, 2020 · The Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay is given each year to a script “based on material from another medium.” That other medium being adapted is often a novel (The Lord of the Rings), a stage production (Fences), or another film (A Star is Born).
The BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay is a British Academy Film Award presented annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to a screenwriter for a specific film. The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) is a British organisation that hosts annual awards shows for film, television, children's film and television, and interactive media.
Mar 5, 2024 · The Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay recognizes movies based on books (and other works). Here are the top ten winners, ranked.
