Rarely has morality, justice, and religion been so effortlessly intertwined. Each of their scripts has such a compelling central protagonist that it is forced to deal with some form of crime and the moral and legal repercussions of whatever mess they've gotten themselves into. None of all the writers I'm highlighting today are more outwardly Shakespearean than the Coen Brothers. I'd check out the back-to-back run of Do the Right Thing, Mo' Better Blues, Jungle Fever, and Malcolm X to show how a playful attitude to the form of cinema provides fresh perspectives on thorny issues. His singular, abrasive, rebellious, and energetic style cuts through any pretension and finds the heart of whatever issue he's investigating. It's pretty easy to tell when you're watching a Spike Lee movie, but that isn't a bad thing. While some writers try to blend in with the crowd, others strike out and do what's unique to them. Though her screenplays are all great, nothing beats When Harry Met Sally for its unconventional structure, brilliant character work, and such thematic incisiveness that the story still informs relationships to this very day. Her scripts that could almost function as stage plays have such an intimate understanding of their characters that they don't feel like characters but truly fleshed out people.
Perhaps the most excellent rom-com writer to ever have lived, Nora Ephron may not have strayed far from the central theme of love, but her stories have explored it like no others. With a distinctly existential edge to his most famous works, Kurosawa loves throwing characters into situations that fundamentally test who they think they are.Įvery writer should read and watch Rashomon, which uses the medium of storytelling itself as the central thematic fulcrum of the script. His stories stretch from the intimate to the epic, never forgetting the human in the middle of the story.
Best screenwriter tv#
Akira KurosawaĪ true legend of Japanese cinema who wrote over 80 films and TV projects, Kurosawa was a master of both directing and storytelling. The script is supremely influential to this day because of its intensely anemic and impressionistic style, forgoing any semblance of purple prose and keeping most action lines to a single sentence or line.Īlien shows a true mastery of the craft, but his scripts for The Driver, The Warriors, and Southern Comfort show how a stripped-back writing style can wring the most out of simple but bountiful premises.
Though he went uncredited for his extensive writing work on Alien, Hill's script has gone down as a bit of a folk legend among screenwriters. Some of these folks are directors too, but we're exclusively thinking about their screenwriting today.Īnd a quick disclaimer: This list is in no particular order. Today, I will highlight ten of the best screenwriters who've ever lived. The tricky bit with screenwriting is that writers are rarely public-facing figures, so it's sometimes tricky to figure out who exactly is in that hall of fame. In any profession, it's wise to look at the field's greats and see what we can learn from them.
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