Alan Ball graduated from Florida State University with a degree in theater arts, went on to write for the theater and then television, penning the hit comedies Grace Under Fire and Cybil. Although there are elements of comedy in American Beauty, for which he won the Oscar for best screenplay in 2. The script opens with Jane staring into the camera a handheld device operated by an unseen man nonchalantly discussing killing her father. We then cut to said father a loser named Lester Burnham and follow him as he begins another miserable day at the office, all the while hearing his Voice Over from beyond the grave. In fact the opening twenty five pages are a masterclass in how to establish character, stakes and genre as the screenplay pulls you into a web of lies set in a suburban hell. There are some truly terrific examples of how to write a scene in this script and one of our favorites is the cute meet between Lester and his daughter Janes best friend, Angela Alan Ball has a terrific visual style which youll pick up and imbibe into your own writing while reading and studying this script. There are no major formatting quirks in Balls writing, but the first thing you may notice when you open American Beauty is that he likes to underline his sluglines. Like we always say, there are no rules when it comes to screenplay formatting, but there are differences between a spec scripts style and a pro scripts style. For the sake of simplicity its probably best to keep things simple, and this means not underlining sluglines in your spec script. Alan Ball can do it because hes Alan Ball. Youre not, so why give a script reader even the slightest reason to be turned off or distracted while reading your spec Heres the link to download the American Beauty screenplay. Best Movie Scripts 2 Youth In Revolt. Genre Comedy. Writer Gustin Nash from the novel by C. D. PayneSure we couldve picked any number of comedy script classics for this section Groundhog Day, Annie Hall, Some Like It Hot etc but we thought wed go with a little underrated comedy gem by the name of Youth In Revolt. Why Because its a great modern comedy script and Gustin Nashs writing is funny as hell. Nash broke onto the scene after writing nine spec screenplays with a comedy he wrote in four weeks called Charlie Bartlett. After reading C. D. Paynes novel Youth In Revolt, Nash decided to adapt it into a screenplay. He said at the time, Here was a chance to take credit for writing something that was much better than what Id come up with on my own. Nash is being modest, as his take on Youth In Revolt is a blast and the movie is every bit as good as the book. If youre an aspiring comedy writer, youve probably already been told to include more jokes, make the reader laugh preferably out loud and generally pack in as much humor in every line as you possibly can. Well, Nashs film script is a perfect of example of how you do just that. Here are the opening few paragraphs Note how from the opening page Nash has us laughing how he introduces a protagonist in Nick Twisp whos readily identifiable from his dialogue and actions. From there on in, the script is a comedy riot of teenage angst and sexual yearning, with a nice side helping of surrealism thrown in for good measure. Read it and see how consistent the tone is throughout funny and absurd, yet with an emotional heart and great characters and see the level your comedy spec needs to aspire to. Heres the link to download the Youth In Revolt screenplay. Best Movie Scripts 3 Raiders of the Lost Ark. Genre ActionAdventure. Writer Lawrence Kasdan. Lawrence Kasdan was commissioned by George Lucas to write Raiders of the Lost Ark, but how it all came together was very much a group effort between Kasdan, Lucas and Steven Spielberg. All three worked on fleshing out the script during a series of now infamous story meetings in January 1. Actionadventure movies are notorious for having great concepts but thin characterizations. This screenplay, however, is a wonderful example of how to elevate the heros personality above the paper thin cut outs found in many. In fact, making Indiana Jones a compelling protagonist, was the first thing Lucas concentrated on in those early story meetings and by reading the movie script you get a great sense of how its done. For example, see how they partly achieve this by giving Indy a personal motivation to his quest in the shape of Marion. The Raiders of the Lost Ark screenplay is also a fantastic tool for learning how to create all those twists and turns required in an actionadventure movie. Kasdan achieves this by utilizing seven specific sequences, each one taking Indy alternately closer and further away from his goal the Ark of the Covenant. You can read more about how Kasdan achieves this in our screenwriting book Master Screenplay Sequences. And reading the script will also give you the opportunity to check out one of the best exposition scenes in history Indys blackboard scene with Brody and the army intelligence guys Just studying this scene alone will tell you all you need to know about hiding on the nose dialogue. In short, this is an essential screenplay and film to study for all those wishing to write actionadventure. Heres the link to download the Raiders of the Lost Ark screenplay. Best Movie Scripts 4 Fargo. Genre Thriller. Writers Joel Coen, Ethan Coen. The other Best Screenplay Oscar winner on our list is the Coen Brothers crime thriller masterpiece, Fargo. In 2. 00. 6, the film was preserved by the Library of Congress as culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant, and youre not going to go far wrong by studying the screenplay. Much of the Coens work is described as genre bending and the film script for Fargo is no exception, mixing elements of thriller and comedy to wonderful effect. Humor can be a powerful weapon in any genre but reading this script will give you an idea of just how powerful. From Jerrys magnificent bumbling, to Marges ho hum police procedural work, to Carl and Gaears squabbling, the characterizations all make superb use of humor to elevate the screenplay above the average thriller. Another factor that helps with this is the films theme, which shines through just as well in the screenplay as in the movie. And like in all the Coens scripts, the writing is terse but incredibly evocative. Check this description of Gaears execution of some passers by, for how to convey so much with so few words Like Alan Ball, the Coens like to mess around with sluglines, and in this case by almost dispensing with them entirely. Again, stick to the conventions on this one, but other than that copy, crib and steal as much as you can from two masters of modern cinema. Heres the link to download the Fargo screenplay. Best Movie Scripts 5 The Conjuring. New Movie Reviews Film Reviews.