show 1927–1950
Frank Borzage (1928; drama)
Lewis Milestone (1928; comedy)
Frank Lloyd (1929)
Lewis Milestone (1930)
Norman Taurog (1931)
Frank Borzage (1932)
Frank Lloyd (1933)
Frank Capra (1934)
John Ford (1935)
Frank Capra (1936)
Leo McCarey (1937)
Frank Capra (1938)
Victor Fleming (1939)
John Ford (1940)
John Ford (1941)
William Wyler (1942)
Michael Curtiz (1943)
Leo McCarey (1944)
Billy Wilder (1945)
William Wyler (1946)
Elia Kazan (1947)
John Huston (1948)
Joseph L. Mankiewicz (1949)
Joseph L. Mankiewicz (1950)
1951–1975
George Stevens (1951)
John Ford (1952)
Fred Zinnemann (1953)
Elia Kazan (1954)
Delbert Mann (1955)
George Stevens (1956)
David Lean (1957)
Vincente Minnelli (1958)
William Wyler (1959)
Billy Wilder (1960)
Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise (1961)
David Lean (1962)
Tony Richardson (1963)
George Cukor (1964)
Robert Wise (1965)
Fred Zinnemann (1966)
Mike Nichols (1967)
Carol Reed (1968)
John Schlesinger (1969)
Franklin J. Schaffner (1970)
William Friedkin (1971)
Bob Fosse (1972)
George Roy Hill (1973)
Francis Ford Coppola (1974)
Miloš Forman (1975)
1976–2000
John G. Avildsen (1976)
Woody Allen (1977)
Michael Cimino (1978)
Robert Benton (1979)
Robert Redford (1980)
Warren Beatty (1981)
Richard Attenborough (1982)
James L. Brooks (1983)
Miloš Forman (1984)
Sydney Pollack (1985)
Oliver Stone (1986)
Bernardo Bertolucci (1987)
Barry Levinson (1988)
Oliver Stone (1989)
Kevin Costner (1990)
Jonathan Demme (1991)
Clint Eastwood (1992)
Steven Spielberg (1993)
Robert Zemeckis (1994)
Mel Gibson (1995)
Anthony Minghella (1996)
James Cameron (1997)
Steven Spielberg (1998)
Sam Mendes (1999)
Steven Soderbergh (2000)
2001–present
show 1940–1975
Preston Sturges (1940)
Herman J. Mankiewicz and Orson Welles (1941)
Michael Kanin and Ring Lardner Jr. (1942)
Norman Krasna (1943)
Lamar Trotti (1944)
Richard Schweizer (1945)
Muriel Box and Sydney Box (1946)
Sidney Sheldon (1947)
No award (1948)
Robert Pirosh (1949)
Charles Brackett , D. M. Marshman Jr. , and Billy Wilder (1950)
Alan Jay Lerner (1951)
T. E. B. Clarke (1952)
Charles Brackett , Richard L. Breen , and Walter Reisch (1953)
Budd Schulberg (1954)
Sonya Levien and William Ludwig (1955)
Albert Lamorisse (1956)
George Wells (1957)
Nathan E. Douglas and Harold Jacob Smith (1958)
Clarence Greene , Maurice Richlin , Russell Rouse , and Stanley Shapiro (1959)
I. A. L. Diamond and Billy Wilder (1960)
William Inge (1961)
Ennio de Concini , Pietro Germi , and Alfredo Giannetti (1962)
James Webb (1963)
S. H. Barnett, Peter Stone and Frank Tarloff (1964)
Frederic Raphael (1965)
Claude Lelouch and Pierre Uytterhoeven (1966)
William Rose (1967)
Mel Brooks (1968)
William Goldman (1969)
Francis Ford Coppola and Edmund H. North (1970)
Paddy Chayefsky (1971)
Jeremy Larner (1972)
David S. Ward (1973)
Robert Towne (1974)
Frank Pierson (1975)
1976–2000
Paddy Chayefsky (1976)
Woody Allen and Marshall Brickman (1977)
Robert C. Jones , Waldo Salt , and Nancy Dowd (1978)
Steve Tesich (1979)
Bo Goldman (1980)
Colin Welland (1981)
John Briley (1982)
Horton Foote (1983)
Robert Benton (1984)
William Kelley, Pamela Wallace , and Earl W. Wallace (1985)
Woody Allen (1986)
John Patrick Shanley (1987)
Ronald Bass and Barry Morrow (1988)
Tom Schulman (1989)
Bruce Joel Rubin (1990)
Callie Khouri (1991)
Neil Jordan (1992)
Jane Campion (1993)
Quentin Tarantino and Roger Avary (1994)
Christopher McQuarrie (1995)
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen (1996)
Ben Affleck and Matt Damon (1997)
Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard (1998)
Alan Ball (1999)
Cameron Crowe (2000)
2001–present
show 1928–1950
Benjamin Glazer (1928)
Hanns Kräly (1929)
Frances Marion (1930)
Howard Estabrook (1931)
Edwin J. Burke (1932)
Victor Heerman and Sarah Y. Mason (1933)
Robert Riskin (1934)
Dudley Nichols (1935)
Pierre Collings and Sheridan Gibney (1936)
Heinz Herald, Geza Herczeg, and Norman Reilly Raine (1937)
Ian Dalrymple , Cecil Arthur Lewis , W. P. Lipscomb , and George Bernard Shaw (1938)
Sidney Howard (1939)
Donald Ogden Stewart (1940)
Sidney Buchman and Seton I. Miller (1941)
George Froeschel , James Hilton , Claudine West , and Arthur Wimperis (1942)
Philip G. Epstein , Julius J. Epstein , and Howard Koch (1943)
Frank Butler and Frank Cavett (1944)
Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder (1945)
Robert Sherwood (1946)
George Seaton (1947)
John Huston (1948)
Joseph L. Mankiewicz (1949)
Joseph L. Mankiewicz (1950)
1951–1975
Harry Brown and Michael Wilson (1951)
Charles Schnee (1952)
Daniel Taradash (1953)
George Seaton (1954)
Paddy Chayefsky (1955)
John Farrow , S. J. Perelman , and James Poe (1956)
Pierre Boulle , Carl Foreman and Michael Wilson (1957)
Alan Jay Lerner (1958)
Neil Paterson (1959)
Richard Brooks (1960)
Abby Mann (1961)
Horton Foote (1962)
John Osborne (1963)
Edward Anhalt (1964)
Robert Bolt (1965)
Robert Bolt (1966)
Stirling Silliphant (1967)
James Goldman (1968)
Waldo Salt (1969)
Ring Lardner Jr. (1970)
Ernest Tidyman (1971)
Francis Ford Coppola and Mario Puzo (1972)
William Peter Blatty (1973)
Francis Ford Coppola and Mario Puzo (1974)
Bo Goldman and Lawrence Hauben (1975)
1976–2000
William Goldman (1976)
Alvin Sargent (1977)
Oliver Stone (1978)
Robert Benton (1979)
Alvin Sargent (1980)
Ernest Thompson (1981)
Costa-Gavras and Donald E. Stewart (1982)
James L. Brooks (1983)
Peter Shaffer (1984)
Kurt Luedtke (1985)
Ruth Prawer Jhabvala (1986)
Bernardo Bertolucci and Mark Peploe (1987)
Christopher Hampton (1988)
Alfred Uhry (1989)
Michael Blake (1990)
Ted Tally (1991)
Ruth Prawer Jhabvala (1992)
Steven Zaillian (1993)
Eric Roth (1994)
Emma Thompson (1995)
Billy Bob Thornton (1996)
Curtis Hanson and Brian Helgeland (1997)
Bill Condon (1998)
John Irving (1999)
Stephen Gaghan (2000)
2001–present
Akiva Goldsman (2001)
Ronald Harwood (2002)
Philippa Boyens , Peter Jackson , and Fran Walsh (2003)
Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor (2004)
Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana (2005)
William Monahan (2006)
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen (2007)
Simon Beaufoy (2008)
Geoffrey S. Fletcher (2009)
Aaron Sorkin (2010)
Alexander Payne , Jim Rash , and Nat Faxon (2011)
Chris Terrio (2012)
John Ridley (2013)
Graham Moore (2014)
Adam McKay and Charles Randolph (2015)
Barry Jenkins and Tarell Alvin McCraney (2016)
James Ivory (2017)
Charlie Wachtel, David Rabinowitz, Kevin Willmott and Spike Lee (2018)
Taika Waititi (2019)
Christopher Hampton and Florian Zeller (2020)
show 1948–1975
Joseph L. Mankiewicz (1948)
Robert Rossen (1949)
Joseph L. Mankiewicz (1950)
George Stevens (1951)
John Ford (1952)
Fred Zinnemann (1953)
Elia Kazan (1954)
Delbert Mann (1955)
George Stevens (1956)
David Lean (1957)
Vincente Minnelli (1958)
William Wyler (1959)
Billy Wilder (1960)
Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise (1961)
David Lean (1962)
Tony Richardson (1963)
George Cukor (1964)
Robert Wise (1965)
Fred Zinnemann (1966)
Mike Nichols (1967)
Anthony Harvey (1968)
John Schlesinger (1969)
Franklin J. Schaffner (1970)
William Friedkin (1971)
Francis Ford Coppola (1972)
George Roy Hill (1973)
Francis Ford Coppola (1974)
Miloš Forman (1975)
1976–2000
John G. Avildsen (1976)
Woody Allen (1977)
Michael Cimino (1978)
Robert Benton (1979)
Robert Redford (1980)
Warren Beatty (1981)
Richard Attenborough (1982)
James L. Brooks (1983)
Miloš Forman (1984)
Steven Spielberg (1985)
Oliver Stone (1986)
Bernardo Bertolucci (1987)
Barry Levinson (1988)
Oliver Stone (1989)
Kevin Costner (1990)
Jonathan Demme (1991)
Clint Eastwood (1992)
Steven Spielberg (1993)
Robert Zemeckis (1994)
Ron Howard (1995)
Anthony Minghella (1996)
James Cameron (1997)
Steven Spielberg (1998)
Sam Mendes (1999)
Ang Lee (2000)
2001–present
show
Robert Bolt (1965)
Robert Bolt (1966)
Stirling Silliphant (1967)
Stirling Silliphant (1968)
Bridget Boland , John Hale and Richard Sokolove (1969)
Erich Segal (1970)
Paddy Chayefsky (1971)
Francis Ford Coppola and Mario Puzo (1972)
William Peter Blatty (1973)
Robert Towne (1974)
Bo Goldman and Lawrence Hauben (1975)
Paddy Chayefsky (1976)
Neil Simon (1977)
Oliver Stone (1978)
Robert Benton (1979)
William Peter Blatty (1980)
Ernest Thompson (1981)
John Briley (1982)
James L. Brooks (1983)
Peter Shaffer (1984)
Woody Allen (1985)
Robert Bolt (1986)
Bernardo Bertolucci , Mark Peploe and Enzo Ungari (1987)
Naomi Foner (1988)
Oliver Stone and Ron Kovic (1989)
Michael Blake (1990)
Callie Khouri (1991)
Bo Goldman (1992)
Steven Zaillian (1993)
Quentin Tarantino (1994)
Emma Thompson (1995)
Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski (1996)
Ben Affleck and Matt Damon (1997)
Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard (1998)
Alan Ball (1999)
Stephen Gaghan (2000)
Akiva Goldsman (2001)
Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor (2002)
Sofia Coppola (2003)
Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor (2004)
Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana (2005)
Peter Morgan (2006)
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen (2007)
Simon Beaufoy (2008)
Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner (2009)
Aaron Sorkin (2010)
Woody Allen (2011)
Quentin Tarantino (2012)
Spike Jonze (2013)
Alejandro G. Iñárritu , Nicolás Giacobone , Alexander Dinelaris Jr. , and Armando Bo (2014)
Aaron Sorkin (2015)
Damien Chazelle (2016)
Martin McDonagh (2017)
Brian Hayes Currie, Peter Farrelly , and Nick Vallelonga (2018)
Quentin Tarantino (2019)
Aaron Sorkin (2020)
show
Sidney Lumet (1975)
Sidney Lumet (1976)
Herbert Ross (1977)
Michael Cimino (1978)
Robert Benton (1979)
Roman Polanski (1980)
Warren Beatty (1981)
Steven Spielberg (1982)
James L. Brooks (1983)
Miloš Forman (1984)
Terry Gilliam (1985)
David Lynch (1986)
John Boorman (1987)
David Cronenberg (1988)
Spike Lee (1989)
Martin Scorsese (1990)
Barry Levinson (1991)
Clint Eastwood (1992)
Jane Campion (1993)
Quentin Tarantino (1994)
Mike Figgis (1995)
Mike Leigh (1996)
Curtis Hanson (1997)
Steven Spielberg (1998)
Sam Mendes (1999)
Steven Soderbergh (2000)
David Lynch (2001)
Pedro Almodóvar (2002)
Peter Jackson (2003)
Alexander Payne (2004)
Ang Lee (2005)
Paul Greengrass (2006)
Paul Thomas Anderson (2007)
Danny Boyle (2008)
Kathryn Bigelow (2009)
Olivier Assayas / David Fincher (2010)
Terrence Malick (2011)
Paul Thomas Anderson (2012)
Alfonso Cuarón (2013)
Richard Linklater (2014)
George Miller (2015)
Barry Jenkins (2016)
Guillermo del Toro / Luca Guadagnino (2017)
Debra Granik (2018)
Bong Joon-ho (2019)
Chloé Zhao (2020)
show
Joan Tewkesbury (1975)
Paddy Chayefsky (1976)
Woody Allen and Marshall Brickman (1977)
Paul Mazursky (1978)
Robert Benton (1979)
John Sayles (1980)
John Guare (1981)
Larry Gelbart and Murray Schisgal (1982)
James L. Brooks (1983)
Peter Shaffer (1984)
Terry Gilliam , Charles McKeown and Tom Stoppard (1985)
Woody Allen (1986)
John Boorman (1987)
Ron Shelton (1988)
Gus Van Sant and Daniel Yost (1989)
Nicholas Kazan (1990)
James Toback (1991)
David Webb Peoples (1992)
Jane Campion (1993)
Quentin Tarantino and Roger Avary (1994)
Emma Thompson (1995)
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen (1996)
Curtis Hanson and Brian Helgeland (1997)
Warren Beatty and Jeremy Pikser (1998)
Charlie Kaufman (1999)
Kenneth Lonergan (2000)
Christopher Nolan (2001)
Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor (2002)
Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini (2003)
Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor (2004)
Noah Baumbach / Dan Futterman (2005)
Peter Morgan (2006)
Tamara Jenkins (2007)
Mike Leigh (2008)
Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner (2009)
Aaron Sorkin (2010)
Asghar Farhadi (2011)
Chris Terrio (2012)
Richard Linklater , Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy (2013)
Wes Anderson (2014)
Tom McCarthy and Josh Singer (2015)
Yorgos Lanthimos and Efthymis Filippou (2016)
Jordan Peele (2017)
Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty (2018)
Noah Baumbach (2019)
Emerald Fennell (2020)
show
Michelangelo Antonioni (1966)
Ingmar Bergman (1967)
Ingmar Bergman (1968)
François Truffaut (1969)
Ingmar Bergman (1970)
Bernardo Bertolucci (1971)
Luis Buñuel (1972)
François Truffaut (1973)
Francis Ford Coppola (1974)
Robert Altman (1975)
Martin Scorsese (1976)
Luis Buñuel (1977)
Terrence Malick (1978)
Woody Allen / Robert Benton (1979)
Martin Scorsese (1980)
Louis Malle (1981)
Steven Spielberg (1982)
Paolo Taviani and Vittorio Taviani (1983)
Robert Bresson (1984)
John Huston (1985)
David Lynch (1986)
John Boorman (1987)
Philip Kaufman (1988)
Gus Van Sant (1989)
Martin Scorsese (1990)
David Cronenberg (1991)
Clint Eastwood (1992)
Steven Spielberg (1993)
Quentin Tarantino (1994)
Mike Figgis (1995)
Lars von Trier (1996)
Curtis Hanson (1997)
Steven Soderbergh (1998)
Mike Leigh (1999)
Steven Soderbergh (2000)
Robert Altman (2001)
Roman Polanski (2002)
Clint Eastwood (2003)
Zhang Yimou (2004)
David Cronenberg (2005)
Paul Greengrass (2006)
Paul Thomas Anderson (2007)
Mike Leigh (2008)
Kathryn Bigelow (2009)
David Fincher (2010)
Terrence Malick (2011)
Michael Haneke (2012)
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen (2013)
Richard Linklater (2014)
Todd Haynes (2015)
Barry Jenkins (2016)
Greta Gerwig (2017)
Alfonso Cuarón (2018)
Greta Gerwig (2019)
Chloé Zhao (2020)
show 1967–2000 2001–present
Julian Fellowes (2001)
Ronald Harwood (2002)
Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini (2003)
Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor (2004)
Noah Baumbach (2005)
Peter Morgan (2006)
Tamara Jenkins (2007)
Mike Leigh (2008)
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen (2009)
Aaron Sorkin (2010)
Asghar Farhadi (2011)
Tony Kushner (2012)
Richard Linklater , Ethan Hawke , and Julie Delpy (2013)
Wes Anderson (2014)
Tom McCarthy and Josh Singer (2015)
Kenneth Lonergan (2016)
Greta Gerwig (2017)
Armando Iannucci , David Schneider and Ian Martin (2018)
Bong Joon-ho and Han Jin-won (2019)
Eliza Hittman (2020)
show 1956–1975
Robert Aldrich (1956)
Mario Monicelli (1957)
Tadashi Imai (1958)
Akira Kurosawa (1959)
Jean-Luc Godard (1960)
Bernhard Wicki (1961)
Francesco Rosi (1962)
Nikos Koundouros (1963)
Satyajit Ray (1964)
Satyajit Ray (1965)
Carlos Saura (1966)
Živojin Pavlović (1967)
Carlos Saura (1968)
Jean-Pierre Blanc (1972)
Sergei Solovyov (1975)
1976–2000 2001–present
show Original Drama (1969–1983) Original Comedy (1969–1983) Original Screenplay (1984–present)
Woody Allen (1984)
William Kelley & Earl W. Wallace (1985)
Woody Allen (1986)
John Patrick Shanley (1987)
Ron Shelton (1988)
Woody Allen (1989)
Barry Levinson (1990)
Callie Khouri (1991)
Neil Jordan (1992)
Jane Campion (1993)
Richard Curtis (1994)
Randall Wallace (1995)
Joel Coen & Ethan Coen (1996)
James L. Brooks & Mark Andrus (1997)
Marc Norman & Tom Stoppard (1998)
Alan Ball (1999)
Kenneth Lonergan (2000)
Julian Fellowes (2001)
Michael Moore (2002)
Sofia Coppola (2003)
Charlie Kaufman (2004)
Paul Haggis & Bobby Moresco (2005)
Michael Arndt (2006)
Diablo Cody (2007)
Dustin Lance Black (2008)
Mark Boal (2009)
Christopher Nolan (2010)
Woody Allen (2011)
Mark Boal (2012)
Spike Jonze (2013)
Wes Anderson & Hugo Guinness (2014)
Tom McCarthy & Josh Singer (2015)
Barry Jenkins & Tarell Alvin McCraney (2016)
Jordan Peele (2017)
Bo Burnham (2018)
Bong Joon-ho & Han Jin-won (2019)
Emerald Fennell (2020)
show Adapted Drama (1969–1983) Adapted Comedy (1969–1983) Adapted Screenplay (1984–present)
Bruce Robinson (1984)
Richard Condon & Janet Roach (1985)
Ruth Prawer Jhabvala (1986)
Steve Martin (1987)
Christopher Hampton (1988)
Alfred Uhry (1989)
Michael Blake (1990)
Ted Tally (1991)
Michael Tolkin (1992)
Steven Zaillian (1993)
Eric Roth (1994)
Emma Thompson (1995)
Billy Bob Thornton (1996)
Curtis Hanson & Brian Helgeland (1997)
Scott Frank (1998)
Alexander Payne & Jim Taylor (1999)
Stephen Gaghan (2000)
Akiva Goldsman (2001)
David Hare (2002)
Shari Springer Berman & Robert Pulcini (2003)
Alexander Payne & Jim Taylor (2004)
Larry McMurtry & Diana Ossana (2005)
William Monahan (2006)
Joel Coen & Ethan Coen (2007)
Simon Beaufoy (2008)
Jason Reitman & Sheldon Turner (2009)
Aaron Sorkin (2010)
Alexander Payne , Jim Rash & Nat Faxon (2011)
Chris Terrio (2012)
Billy Ray (2013)
Graham Moore (2014)
Adam McKay & Charles Randolph (2015)
Eric Heisserer (2016)
James Ivory (2017)
Nicole Holofcener & Jeff Whitty (2018)
Taika Waititi (2019)
Sacha Baron Cohen , Anthony Hines, Dan Swimer , Peter Baynham , Erica Rivinoja, Dan Mazer , Jena Friedman , Lee Kern & Nina Pedrad (2020)