Professional film scripts are one of the best tools screenwriters have at their disposal. There is nothing else that gives you the practical experience of how it all comes together than reading a produced screenplay. But what are the best movie scripts to read, and why?
In this post, we break down five of the best screenplays to read in each major genre—drama, comedy, action/adventure, thriller and horror. And why you need to read them.
It's by not only reading scripts, but really breaking them down, getting inside them and figuring out why they work, that you'll get the most out of them as a screenwriter.
Let's dive on in and take a look at the top movie scripts in each genre you should read.
Alan Ball graduated from Florida State University with a degree in theater arts. He went on to write for the theater and then television, penning Grace Under Fire and Cybil.
Although there are elements of comedy in American Beauty, for which he won the Oscar for best screenplay in 2000, it is overall a drama. And, in our opinion, a modern masterpiece of screenwriting.
The script opens with Jane staring into the camera—a handheld device operated by an unseen man—nonchalantly discussing killing her father.
We then cut to said father—a supposed loser named Lester Burnham—and follow him as he begins another miserable day at the office. All the while we hear his voiceover from beyond the grave...
In fact, the opening twenty-five pages are a masterclass in how to establish character, stakes and genre as the script pulls you into a web of lies set in a suburban hell.
There are some truly terrific examples of how to write a scene in this script. One of our favorites is the “cute meet” between Lester and his daughter Jane’s best friend, Angela.
Ball has a terrific visual style which you’ll pick up and imbibe into your own writing while reading and studying this script.
There are no major formatting quirks in Ball’s writing. But the first thing you may notice when you start reading is that he likes to underline his sluglines.
Like we always say, there are no “rules” when it comes to movie script format. However, there are differences between spec scripts' style and a pro scripts' style.
Overall, it’s best to keep things simple. This means not underlining sluglines in your spec script, as Ball does here. He can do it because he’s Alan Ball. You’re not. And so why give a potentially grumpy script reader at a company even the slightest reason to reject your spec?
We could’ve picked any number of comedy script classics for this section—Groundhog Day, Annie Hall, Some Like It Hot, etc.—but we thought we’d go with a little underrated comedy gem by the name of Youth In Revolt.
Gustin Nash’s writing in this screenplay is funny as hell. He broke onto the scene after writing nine spec screenplays with a comedy he wrote in four weeks called Charlie Bartlett.
Then, after reading C.D. Payne’s novel, Youth In Revolt, Nash decided to adapt it into a screenplay. He said modestly at the time, “Here was a chance to take credit for writing something that was much better than what I'd come up with on my own.”
But his take on Youth In Revolt is a blast and the movie is every bit as good as the book. If you write comedy movie scripts, you’ve probably already been told to include more jokes and, generally, pack in as much humor in every line as possible.
Nash’s script is a perfect of example of how to do just that.
From the opening page, Nash has us laughing. Look at how he introduces a protagonist in Nick Twisp who’s readily identifiable from his dialogue and actions. And funny.
From there on in, the script is a riot of teenage angst and sexual yearning, with a nice side-helping of surrealism thrown in for good measure.
Reading comedy movie scripts like this will also teach how to keep a consistent tone throughout. In this case, it's funny and absurd, yet with an emotional heart and great characters.
Lawrence Kasdan was commissioned by George Lucas to write Raiders of the Lost Ark. How it all came together was very much a group effort, though, between Kasdan, Lucas and Spielberg.
All three worked on fleshing out the script during a series of now infamous story meetings in January 1978. The result of which was one of the best action/adventure movie scripts ever written.
Action/adventure scripts are notorious for having great concepts but thin characters. This screenplay, however, is a great example of how to elevate a protagonist's personality above a paper thin cut-out.
Making Indy a compelling hero, was the first thing Lucas concentrated on in those early story meetings. And by reading the script you get a great sense of how this was achieved.
For example, see how the writers do this by giving Indy a personal motivation to his quest in the shape of Marion.
The Raiders of the Lost Ark screenplay is also a fantastic tool for learning how to create all those twists and turns required in any action/adventure movie script.
Kasdan achieves this by utilizing a script structure composed of seven specific sequences. Each one takes Indy alternately closer and further away from his goal—the Ark of the Covenant.
(You can read more about how Kasdan achieves this in the Raiders of the Lost Ark breakdown in our screenwriting book Master Screenplay Sequences.)
Reading the script will also give you the opportunity to check out one of the best exposition scenes in history: Indy's scene with the army intelligence guys...
Download the script and study this scene. It will tell you all you need to know about hiding on-the-nose dialogue. Overall, this is one of the most essential movie scripts to study for action/adventure writers.
The other Best Screenplay Oscar winner on our list is the Coens' crime thriller masterpiece, Fargo. In 2006, the film was preserved by the Library of Congress as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." You won't go far wrong by studying movie scripts of this caliber.
Much of the Coens' work is described as “genre-bending” and the film script for Fargo is no exception, mixing elements of thriller and comedy to wonderful effect.
From Jerry’s magnificent bumbling to Marge’s ho-hum police procedural work, to Carl and Gaear’s squabbling, the characterizations all make superb use of humor to elevate the screenplay above the average thriller.
Another factor that helps with this is the screenplay theme. It shines through just as well in the screenplay as in the movie. And like in all the Coens' scripts, the writing is terse but incredibly evocative.
Check this description of Gaear’s execution of some innocent passers-by to see how to convey so much with so few words.
Like Alan Ball, the Coens like to mess around with sluglines. In this case, by almost dispensing with them entirely.
Again, we recommend you stick to the convention of including properly formatted sluglines. But, other than that, soak up as much as you can from two masters of modern cinema.
The Conjuring, written by Chad and Carey Hayes, was something of a sleeper hit when it was released in 2013. This specific horror screenplay is great because of the way the Hayes brothers make us feel the tension, mood, dread and the pacing throughout.
By the end, we're gripping the edge of our seats and don’t even realize it. This is something that’s particularly hard to do with today’s seen-it-all-before horror audiences.
The Conjuring also makes use of some interesting formatting, using ALL CAPS, bold and underlining in ways that are so subtle, and yet so manipulative. It's like a visceral punch in the gut.
You feel the visuals in this screenplay. You feel the air move as hands come out from the darkness and clamp around your throat. You feel the dread in your chest with whatever's standing behind the door telling the young girl it’s going to kill her family.
This is one of the best horror movie scripts around when it comes to delivering a screenplay a director can cinematically see. And how to leverage suspense with your script writing style. It's all there on the page.
The best thing about movie screenplays like this is that they put obstacle after obstacle in the protagonist's path. This is especially important just when they feel they finally have the upper hand.
It also plays on the deepest fears of each character. And the writing style pulls our eyes along at such a frantic pace that you can't look away.
Once you’ve read our selection of the best movies scripts, you should then go watch the movies. Then, the most important thing to do is to actually study the movie screenplays.
Take a detective at a crime scene... He doesn’t just take a cursory look around, make a few notes and go back to the station. No, they dig in deep, analyze the scene with a fine tooth comb and go over every possible angle.
This is what you should be doing with movie scripts.
Yes, there are many screenwriting books out there on the craft which can add layers of knowledge onto your mastery of screenwriting. But the best movie scripts themselves have everything right there on the page.
Taking a screenplay, studying it, breaking it down, seeing how you add tension in a way that is real and smart, is such a powerful learning experience.
The best movie scripts flow with such fierce speed that you can’t flip the page soon enough to see what happens next. This is what your screenplays should do too.
So read all of these film scripts, reverse engineer them, break them down, and then use what you learned and apply it in your own writing.
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How many movie scripts do you read a week? Is it part of your writing routine, or is it something you keep meaning to do? What have you learned from reading movie screenplays? Let us know in the comments below!
50 of the Best Screenplays to Read and Download in Every Genre
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