If you want to make a good movie, the first thing you have to do is WRITE a good movie. The case for the screenplay being the most important part of filmmaking isn’t the most difficult one to make. It sets the tone for character, action, theme and pace, which inform all the other most vital storytelling devices in cinema’s arsenal. It’s a strangely daunting task to pick 10 and one that, frankly, we’ve been trying to avoid, but today we’re testing our mettle! Here are our picks for the top 10 screenplays of all time.

From the crackling back and forth of classic old hollywood fare like His Girl Friday to the hipster swagger of Juno and hyper-specific cadence of Quentin Tarantnio in Pulp Fiction, the most obvious thing to look at is dialogue. But screenplays are also filled with action description, from a boulder chasing Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark, to the way the “camera” swoops out of Jack’s brain at the beginning of Fight Club. There’s world building to do, like the vastness of Lord of the Rings, there’s exposition to deliver, like Rian Johnson methodically reverse engineering a mystery in Knives Out, and there is tone to set, like the violent intensity of PT Anderson and There Will Be Blood. Screenplays have a lot to accomplish, and so do we! So enjoy the next twenty minutes or so!

The Picks

10 - Dialogue - Miller’s Crossing (1990) written by Joel and Ethan Coen
9 - Action - M (1931) written by Fritz Lang and Thea Von Harbou
8 - Worldbuilding - The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) written by Fran Walsh, Phillipa Boyens and Peter Jackson
7 - Characterization - All About Eve (1950) written by Joseph L. Mankiewicz
6 - Information Reveal - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) written by Charlie Kaufman
5 - Tone - Taxi Driver (1976) written by Paul Schrader
4 - Theme - Get Out (2017) written by Jordan Peele
3 - Concept - The Matrix (1999) written by The Wachowskis
2 - Dramatic Conflict - 12 Angry Men (1957) written by Reginald Rose
1 - Chinatown (1974) written by Roman Polanski and Robert Towne

This video was written and edited by Billy Jackson.

For more high falutin’ award season oscar baitin’ stuff subscribe to CineFix - IGN Movies & TV or click on the below-linked videos to satisfy your cravin’ for deep dive you tube film school curiosities!

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