Entertainment Industry

Contemporary A-List Screenwriters to Watch (and Read)

Below is a list of screenwriters worth reading or tracking. Certainly this is not an exhaustive list and for the purposes of honoring the rising power (and craft) of the screenwriters, we haven’t included any posthumous greats.

• J.J. Abrams — (Mission Impossible III, Lost, Alias, Felicity, Armageddon)


• Scott Alexander — (The People vs. Larry Flynt, Ed Wood)


• Woody Allen — (Oscar Winner for Annie Hall; also nominated for: Match Point, Manhattan, Purple Rose of Cairo, and many more)


• Paul Attanasio — (Quiz Show, Donnie Brasco)


• John August — (Big Fish, Go, Charlie’s Angels)


• Ron Bass — (Oscar winner for Rain Man; My Best Friend’s Wedding, Joy Luck Club)


• Shane Black — (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Lethal Weapon 1 — 4, The Long Kiss Goodnight, Last Action Hero, Last Boy Scout)


• Linwood Boomer — (creator of Malcolm in the
  Middle)


• James L. Brooks — (Oscar winner for Terms of Endearment, As Good as it Gets)


• Frank Darabont — (Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, etc.)


• Steven de Souza — (Die Hard 1 & 2, 48 Hours, The Flintstones)


• Leslie Dixon — (Outrageous Fortune, Mrs. Doubtfire, The Thomas Crown Affair)


• Ted Elliott — (Pirates of the Caribbean 1, 2 & 3, Shrek, Aladdin, etc.)


• Scott Frank — (Minority Report, The Interpreter, Get Shorty, Out of Sight)


• Stephen Gaghan — (Oscar winner for Traffic; Rules of Engagement)


• Lowell Ganz — (Parenthood, City Slickers, A League of Their Own)


• Michael Glouberman — (3rd Rock from the Sun, Malcolm in the Middle)


• Bo Goldman — (Oscar winner for One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Melvin and Howard; also The Rose, Scent of a Woman)


• Akiva Goldsman — (Oscar winner for A Beautiful Mind; The Client)


• Susannah Grant — (Erin Brockovich, 28 Days)


• Paul Haggis — (Crash, Million Dollar Baby)


• John Lee Hancock — (writer-director, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, The Rookie)


• Marshall Herskovitz — (co-creator, Once and Again, thirtysomething)


• Winnie Holzman — (My So-Called Life)


• Robert Nelson Jacobs — (Chocolat, The Shipping News)


• Amy Holden Jones — (Mystic Pizza, Indecent Proposal)


• Larry Karaszewski — (People vs. Larry Flynt, Ed Wood)


• Lawrence Kasdan — (Raiders of the Lost Ark, Body Heat, Stars Wars V — The Empire Strikes Back, Grand Canyon)


• Charlie Kaufman — (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Being John Malkovich, Adaptation)


• Nicholas Kazan — (Reversal of Fortune, Matilda, Enough)


• Callie Khouri — (Oscar winner, Thelma & Louise; Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood)


• Simon Kinberg — (Mr. and Mrs. Smith, X-Men: The Last Stand, XXX 2)


• Dale Launer — (My Cousin Vinny, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Ruthless People)


• Phil LaZebnick — (Pocahontas, Mulan, Wings)


• Andrew Lipsitz — (Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, CSI)


• Chuck Lorre — (creator of Dharma & Gregg)


• David Mamet — (Hannibal, State and Main, Wag the Dog, The Spanish Prisoner, About Last Night, The Verdict, The Unit)


• Michael Mann — (writer, director, Heat, The Insider, Ali)


• David Milch — (Hill Street Blues; co-creator, NYPD Blue)


• Marc Norman — (Oklahoma Crude, Shakespeare in Love)


• Steve Oedekerk — (Ace Ventura, When Nature Calls, The Nutty Professor, Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius)


• Dennis Palumbo — (psychologist and writer, My Favorite Year)


• Dan Petrie, Jr. — (The Big Easy, Beverly Hills Cop)


• Mike Rich — (Finding Forrester, The Rookie)


• Phil Rosenthal — (Exec. Prod/creator, Everybody Loves Raymond, Coach)


• Terry Rossio — (Pirates of the Caribbean 1, 2 & 3, Shrek, Aladdin, etc.)


• Eric Roth — (Oscar winner for Forrest Gump; The Insider, Ali)


• Bruce Joel Rubin — (Oscar winner for Ghost; Deep Impact)


• Ed Solomon — (Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, Men in Black, Levity)


• Aaron Sorkin — (The West Wing, A Few Good Men)


• Robin Swicord — (Memoirs of a Geisha, The Perez Family, Little Women, Practical Magic)


• Robert Towne — (The Last Detail, Chinatown, Shampoo, The Firm)


• Steven Zaillian — (Oscar for Schindler’s List; Searching for Bobby Fischer, A Civil Action)

HOME | BACK | MORE ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY