The Top 25 Best Adapted Screenplay Winners So Far (Updated for 2025)

Alright my faithful and friendly readers, it’s time for another one of these. Continuing a tradition I’ve been keen on for years, I’m ranking the new crop of Academy Award winners. For nearly all of the Oscar categories, you’ll see me list the top 25 recipients of that prize. Sometimes, our newest winner will appear. Other times, they’ll be relegated to the Honorable Mention category. Who knows, maybe one or two won’t even make the cut? It’s a list series that I’ll do each and every single year, in the weeks after the ceremony concludes. So, while this is a fun way to think about the Oscars in the aftermath of the latest telecast, it’s also a beginning for another column here on the site. Of course, definitely show us your own lists as well, in the comments section below. We’re definitely keen to know what you think!

This week, it’s another pretty big one in the spotlight…the Best Adapted Screenplay category. Often the spot for prestige fare to shine, it’s also a place where major Best Picture hopefuls (and winners) see their writers rewarded. The other screenplay category may seem “cooler” on the whole, but if you look at some of the scribes who have emerged victorious in Adapted Screenplay, they’re no slouches. This is also the spot where Spike Lee finally got his Academy Award, winning for BlacKkKlansman. For my money, Aaron Sorkin and The Social Network is tops here. Where does a recent winner like Sian Heder and CODA, rank? What about a new placement for two years ago’s winner in Sarah Polley and Women Talking? There’s also Cord Jefferson last year for American Fiction. Does his spot change? Of course, what of our newest winner in Peter Straughan for Conclave? Well, you’re in luck, as you can read on below to find out the answer…

Here now are what I consider to be the 25 best winners of the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar, to date:

25. CODA (Sian Heder)
24. Sideways (Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor)
23. The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola and Mario Puzo)
22. BlacKkKlansman (Spike Lee, David Rabinowitz, Charlie Wachtel & Kevin Willmott)
21. Moonlight (Tarell Alvin McCraney and Barry Jenkins)
20. No Country for Old Men (Joel Coen and Ethan Coen)
19. The Godfather Part II (Francis Ford Coppola and Mario Puzo)
18. Traffic (Stephen Gaghan)
17. The Exorcist (William Peter Blatty)
16. Kramer vs. Kramer (Robert Benton)
15. Conclave (Peter Straughan)
14. MASH (Ring Lardner Jr.)
13. Forrest Gump (Eric Roth)
12. Marty (Paddy Chayefsky)
11. The Departed (William Monahan)
10. Judgment at Nuremberg (Abby Mann)
9. Midnight Cowboy (Waldo Salt)
8. Argo (Chris Terrio)
7. To Kill a Mockingbird (Horton Foote)
6. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (Bo Goldman and Lawrence Hauben)
5. The Silence of the Lambs (Ted Tally)
4. Schindler’s List (Steven Zaillian)
3. All the President’s Men (William Goldman)
2. Casablanca (Philip G. Epstein, Julius J. Epstein and Howard Koch)
1. The Social Network (Aaron Sorkin)

Honorable Mentions: 12 Years a Slave (John Ridley), American Fiction (Cord Jefferson), The Big Short (Adam McKay and Charles Randolph), Brokeback Mountain (Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana), Ordinary People (Alvin Sargent), and Women Talking (Sarah Polley)

Stay tuned for another category early next week!