7 Greatest Screenwriters of All Time

Team FC

Billy Wilder

Wilder is one of the most important filmmakers to have lived and is considered the greatest screenwriter of all time as well, with scripts like Double Indemnity, Stalag 17, Some Like It Hot, Ace in the Hole, and The Apartment to his credit.

I.A.L. Diamond

Diamond was Wilder's long-term writing partner and a co-producer, serving as the co-scribe on films like Some Like It Hot, The Apartment, One, Two, Three, and Irma la Douce.

Ruth Praver Jhabwala

One-third of the trio that was responsible for the films that were produced by Merchant Ivory Productions, Jhabwala mostly adapted novels for the screen, her most significant works being Howard's End, A Room with a View, and The Remains of the Day.

The Coen Brothers

The Coens have carved a unique niche for themselves over the four decades that they've been making films, adapting the likes of Homer and Cormac McCarthy but also producing stellar original work like Fargo, The Big Lebowski, Miller's Crossing, and A Serious Man.

Aaron Sorkin

Sorkin has made a name for himself for his fast-moving scenes and faster-talking characters, penning famous scripts like A Few Good Men and The Social Network, aside from creating and writing the network television drama The West Wing.

Frazer Harrison

Quentin Tarantino

"Written and Directed by Quentin Tarantino" is on graphic t-shirts for a reason: the brash filmmaker's scripts are truly one-of-a-kind, and seldom miss the mark, coming as they do in the form of Reservoir Dogs, Inglourious Basterds, Django Unchained, and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

Paul Thomas Anderson

Anderson is responsible for bringing hitherto "unfilmable" works by the likes of Upton Sinclair and Thomas Pynchon to the screen, aside from work like Punch Drunk Love, Phantom Thread, and Licorice Pizza.

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