Best Screenplays to Read for Aspiring Screenwriters — Top 10

Any and every Quentin Tarantino script is worth studying, but Inglourious Basterds just might be his masterpiece, as Aldo Raine cheekily suggests in the film’s final line of dialogue. It is certainly one of Tarantino’s best movies.

One key difference between the Inglorious Basterds screenplay and the majority of other screenplays is the length of scenes. Inglorious Basterds has a couple of incredibly long scenes, such as the opening at the farm dissected in the video essay above or the extended tavern scene toward the middle.

It is important to note that Tarantino breaks many of the traditional rules of screenplay conventions and formatting. He can get away with it because, well, he’s Tarantino! But if an unknown writer defied as many script conventions as he does, their work would likely get dinged by any professional readers and/or industry gatekeepers.

Refer to our screenplay formatting guide to make sure you have a solid grasp on all of the proper script conventions and use StudioBinder’s screenwriting software to write your script, it’s free to get started.

Reading the Sicario screenplay and watching the Sicario film are vastly different experiences. This is one case where much was changed between Taylor Sheridan writing the film and Denis Villeneuve directing the film.

The specific changes made are worth studying in and of themselves for a glimpse into the process a script goes through when it progresses from a writer to a director.

The opening scene of the screenplay, pictured above, was entirely cut from the final film, as was the rest of the voice-over attributed to the character of Alejandro, which returns at the end of the script as well. In the finished film, Alejandro, played by Benicio Del Toro, is a far quieter and more enigmatic character, and the end-result is all the stronger for it.

Robert Towne’s script for Chinatown is often hailed as the greatest screenplay ever written. Anyone interested in becoming a screenwriter owes it to themself to read and learn from the Chinatown screenplay. It is an immaculate telling of a tight, complex story and we analyze what makes it so great in our movie analysis. 

Almost any Coen Brothers’ screenplay is worthy of dissection and analysis with only one or two exceptions. The scripts for some of the Coen Brothers’ best movies like Fargo, Barton Fink, and The Big Lebowski are also highly-recommended reading for anyone looking to start a career as a screenwriter.

The No Country For Old Men screenplay is a particularly interesting one to learn from for a couple of reasons. One is the long stretches of visual storytelling completely free from dialogue, another is the multiple characters and viewpoints the story jumps between, and, perhaps most importantly, the fact that this script is an adaptation.

It is a worthwhile exercise to look at both the Coen Brothers’ script and Cormac McCarthy’s novel that the film was based on and compare and contrast the two. Take note of what the Coen Brothers changed and ask yourself why. Also, observe how they were able to translate unfilmable passages from the novel into a visual language.

Martin McDonagh’s Oscar-nominated screenplay for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri offers a masterclass in how to blend comedy and drama. Read through McDonagh’s script and pay particular attention to the way he commands your perception of characters and is able to shift that perception over the course of the reading or viewing experience.

Charlie Kaufman has spent his entire career churning out some of the most original and thought-provoking screenplays in the entire entertainment industry. His scripts often challenge the very nature of cinema and even storytelling as a whole, and Adaptation is no exception.

This brilliant script is post-modern to the extreme. Charlie Kaufman writes himself as the protagonist with a full view into his psyche layered throughout the script, including in the highlighted scene above which even includes meta-mention of his equally unique Being John Malkovich.

Kaufman, a single child, also writes about his brother Donald, a fictitious counterpart to his own non-fiction lead character in a fictional story about writing the adaptation to a non-fiction book that is itself an adaptation of the very same book. It might sound strange and confusing but that’s only because it is (in the best way possible).

Read more for a deeper dive into Kaufman's screenplays.

Do you want to write teen comedies? Read Lady Bird. Want to write familial dramas? Read Lady Bird. Maybe you want to write a relatable coming of age story. Read Lady Bird.

The point is: read Lady Bird. Greta Gerwig’s screenplay for her debut directorial effort (not including her Joe Swanberg collaborations) is incredibly instructive for anyone hoping to become a screenwriter. Its characters are deeply realized, its plot captivating without being contrived, its comedy funny without being forced.

Gerwig has gone on to prove herself to be one of the preeminent voices of her generation, and though she had worked as a writer on a few movies before it, Lady Bird is the film which earned her that status.

The screenplay for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is another gem of a script that is often hailed as one of if not the best screenplay ever written.

The above excerpt is from the shooting script of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, meaning there is more detail than would be found in a script before entering production. The scene numbers and “CUT TO”s that you see above are not needed when writing a spec script.

The screenplay for this film would be considered extremely long at 186 pages in total, but William Goldman keeps the story moving at a good pace and keeps it gripping for the entire duration.