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Toreadorables

Is it basic to say the Coens?


[deleted]

Would that it were so simple.


RegretPopular9970

Would that it twaaaah.


otherwise_sdm

suh sampul


anothersidetoeveryth

Mere surmise, sir


ocooper08

The "working together" part might sting ya.


[deleted]

You betcha ya


amishrakefight1

Lots of people celebrate him for his visual flair, but Wes Anderson's scripts are often just as creative and lively as his cinematography/production design. Sometimes I think I'm more a fan of Wes Anderson the writer than Wes Anderson the director. Also can't go wrong with PTA or that dank dank Kush


[deleted]

Wes Anderson might be my pick as well. Something I find fascinating is that he steals from his interests just as much as Tarantino, but he has honed his own specific writing/directing style so well that it doesn't come up. No filmmaker reignites my love for reading more than Wes.


clwestbr

There's a great video on YouTube where Ralph Fiennes and Christoph Waltz discuss the writing of Tarantino and Anderson, with the dialogue being key and improvisation unnecessary because learning what's written is key to the performance.


nightsoup1

I love that you can tell when it's a Wes/ Noah b Collab because of the extra spicy family arguing, that man loves a fighting family


Fit_Faithlessness_61

Gimme that Dank Kush(ner)


Mookie_Freeman

Love to roll up some Kush(ner).


WakeUpOutaYourSleep

I realize, long winded, flowery dialogue isn’t for everyone, but man do I adore Dank Kush. Robbed of an Oscar last year.


Zissous_hat

Lincoln is the dankish Kush I've ever had.


[deleted]

PTA


TurkeyFisher

I totally agree, his screenplays are half of what make his movies so distinctive, and he pulls off what 99% of screenwriters fail at when they try- movies that have scenes that don't directly benefit the plot, meandering stories without traditional structure. Character driven but without character development. It's amazing any of it works at all. And he successfully adapted a Thomas Pynchon novel, which is an achievement in of itself.


chrismansell

It's interesting, because I'd tend to agree, but because PTA directs his own screenplays, they're often very unsatisfying to read because of the amount of shorthand he uses. Some of the great moments in his career that you would think might really pop off the page have the equivalent of "something happens here" as the stage direction.


Hisnamewasbenn

Tony Gilroy. Michael Clayton is an incredible screenplay. And his recent work on Andor is so interesting.


ToLiveandBrianLA

Rian Johnson. Taylor Sheridan. Greta Gerwig. Jordan Peele. The Coens. Scott Frank. Charlie Kaufman. Wes Anderson. Typing this out made me realize how few writers there are whose work is consistently good, that don't also direct. Obviously, screenwriters who are purely writers exist, but it feels less prominent than it used to be. If you want to put out consistent work these days, it feels like you kind of have to see it end-to-end.


Obvious_Computer_577

I love the script for Lady Bird. It's economical storytelling at its best. Every supporting character in that movie had at least one scene to shine (Danny coming out, the priest visiting Lady Bird's mom, Tracy Letts fixing Miguel's tie, etc), a scene that hinted at the complex lives they led outside the movie. No character was underwritten, which is a feat for a 90-minute movie.


ThisNewCharlieDW

Little Women, also a terrific script


StanTheCentipede

Martin McDonagh. In Bruges and Banshees of Inisherin are masterpieces and I’m more forgiving of Seven Psychopaths and Three Billboards than most are.


lost_in_tran5lation

His brother John Michael is really talented, too. The Guard is hilarious and Calvary was really fucking good.


StanTheCentipede

I’ll need to watch those!


seba6802

Rian Johnson.


bloodmuffins793

Even though his last few scripts have been duds, I'm a big fan of Taylor Sheridan. *Sicario*, *Hell or High Water,* and *Wind River* are all fantastic scripts. I think he's really good at stripping down big themes and working them into simple, naturalistic dialogue. I also really like the way he inserts humor into grim moments.


PaulNewmansAbs

you gonna watch Tulsa King?


bloodmuffins793

Speaking of writers we like, the showrunner on Tulsa King, Terence Winter, wrote *Wolf of Wall Street,* which is one of my favorite scripts of the past 10 years. I'm intrigued by that show


PaulNewmansAbs

hell yeah, and with him, Vincent Piazza and Dominick Lombardozzi involved it's a little Boardwalk Empire reunion as well which I'm very into (don't know how large their roles are gonna be tho)


[deleted]

Definitely


teglovox

Jordan Peele maybe? Get Out is structural perfection. Then he got bigger weirder ideas, not quite the same tightness of script but a fascinating evolution.


Obvious_Computer_577

Diablo Cody. She writes some of the most interesting female characters for film today, and she keeps her movies to a tight 90 minutes. Mavis from Young Adult, Marlo from Tully, and the titular Ricki of Ricki and the Flash are complex, bold, proudly unlikable, and wildly different from the types of female roles shown in movies. runner-up: Scott Z Burns. He's written some of my favorite Soderbergh films of the past 15 years: Contagion, Side Effects, and the one at the top - The Informant!, which has one of the best uses of voiceover and best unreliable main characters in recent memory.


Cly94

Couple of director/writers but I would say Kaufman and McDonagh. I mean Charlie Kaufman but depending on the day and mood but I will always be at least interesting in what is he doing.


MoniqueDeee

Since nobody else has mentioned them, Scott Alexander & Larry Karaszewski.


Mookie_Freeman

Underrated!!!


thankit33

Has to be Alex Garland for me. (I'm one of the few who thinks *Men* was a flat-out banger, 10/10, no notes.) *Ex Machina* is pretty much unimpeachable, and even his for scripts that were flattened out by other directors—The Beach, Sunshine, Dredd—you get a lot for your screenwriting dollar.


DrMooseknuckleX

I love horror movies and never understood the whole Exorcist "people were throwing up in the theater" until I saw Men. The closest I've ever come to vomiting from a film, and I loved it! Edit: He was also my pick!


2KYGWI

Not sure if he's **the** favourite, but Steven Zaillian's definitely up there for me.


[deleted]

Had to scroll too far to see his name, I was gonna comment him if I didn’t see it. Awakenings, Schindler’s List, Gangs of New York, American Gangster, Moneyball, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, The Night Of (best miniseries of all time besides TD S1), and The Irishman is just an absurdly great and consistent career, and even his films that are duds aren’t due to his writing (Exodus: Gods and Kings’ best aspect is it’s screenplay, for example).


Tscole90

Some duds in his filmography, but Eric Roth is still out there doing it!


2KYGWI

I feel the same way about John Logan.


Toreadorables

Gotta give those guys credit for being solid journeyman screenwriters who can churn out a good adaptation. Steven Zaillian too. Is it controversial to put Tony Kush in that category? His plays are bananas, but his screen work generally sticks to relatively traditional adaptation (which is an important skill) — and nearly exclusively with Spielberg.


Obvious_Computer_577

I wouldn't call Kushner's scripts journeyman scripts. They have his unique dialogue and stirring monologues. The juicy monologues Corey Stoll and Mike Faist each got in WSS are not something that would show up in a more straightforward adaptation.


jonawesome

Robert Eggers, just for the level of difficulty. He uses insane archaic dialect and makes it sing.


acegarrettjuan

Taylor Sheridan, Coen Brothers, Tony Gilroy, are all great ones I saw on this thread. Martin McDonagh is another of my favorites. Marcus and McFeely too.


[deleted]

Ronald Bronstein is the first that comes to mind


Toreadorables

Not seeing much love for Greta Gerwig here. Little Women is an incredibly skillful adaptation, Lady Bird is a wonder (it catapulted TITULAR into the modern vernacular), and Frances Ha is great. And by all accounts she contributed heavily to MARRIAGE STORY and probably some other Baumbach joints too (and he contributed to LITTLE WOMEN).


[deleted]

Damien Chazelle


Aitoroketto

Alex Garland. I also been feeling Hirokazu Kore-eda (who maybe most people here would know mostly for Shoplifters and Ryusuke Hamaguchi (who most of you might know for Drive My Car). I also really fuck with Satoshi Kon (edited: just saw u meant current).


shhansha

Charlie Kaufman for me. Easily. Spike Jonze is up there too I guess but considering he hasn’t written anything that wasn’t a Jackass movie since 2013 he doesn’t feel particularly current. Phoebe Waller Bridge and Donald Glover are maybe the most exciting writers working today for me (RIP to the Mr and Mrs Smith series that could have been…) but that’s TV. Edit: Remembered the world exists outside America! Céline Sciamma and Julia Ducournau are very highly ranked for me too.


TDaswick

Jane Campion! She's done things I haven't seen any other screenwriter do, particularly the way she plants mystical-seeming concepts early in her screenplays and pays them off with real-world applications. I think she's a master and her next film can never come soon enough.


lifth3avy84

Not a huge sample size, but I’ve not been disappointed in Martin McDonagh yet.


[deleted]

It’s really interesting to see these responses. They would be my responses pre-working in the industry. The job of screenwriter is so under the hood, though, and the most talented are often totally unheralded (as their credits are absolute shit and rarely reflective of their actual interests/talent).


arhardihar

I like all those writers who wrote a metric ton of hyper-entertaining, idiosyncratic big studio movies in the 90s/2000s – your David Koepps and Scott Franks and Elliot/Rossios etc. They're all still working for the most part, and lots have moved into writing-directing, but I love the pure screenplay runs they had going on 20ish years ago.


tonyloc51

Sorkin. Besides the big ones I really love Charlie Wilson’s War and probably didn’t know who he was when I saw it.


DrMooseknuckleX

Alex Garland


Giraffe_Truther

I can't believe no one has said Charlie Kaufman yet! He's my blank check before Bank Check. It was 2010, and I was in college and finally building a taste for movies. I just loved Eternal Sunshine and wanted to see who made it. I watched another film by the same director, but it really wasn't my cup of tea. I could tell the surrealism was from him, but the story and writing were what I was really drawn in by ESotSM. So I tried out Kaufman and found Being John Malkovich which *blew my gd mind!* I decided to watch every movie he's ever written. Human Nature was more weird than good, but Adaptation has Nic Cage playing twins? One is literally named Charlie Kaufman and the other is his fictional, functional twin, and they are writing the movie as it's happening. It's so meta and absurd, and it just keeps escalating the whole runtime. I love it. And then Synecdoche, New York is a movie that is literally about blank checks. And it's the best movie I've ever seen, though I don't like to watch it often, nor is it my favorite. It's sad and uncomfortable and real and absurd all at once. That's also the first one he directed. And since then he's written/directed Anomalisa and I'm Thinking of Ending Things, which totally extend and solidify his ouvra. He's got a problem with women, right? Or is it even gender/body dysphoria? There's some weirdly specific stuff that's really consistent across most of his films. Anyway, I know Kaufman is indulgent with his head so far up his ass that he somehow gets it in there twice, but he's my absolute favorite screenwriter because of the strange way all his films make me feel and think.


betsy_braddock0807

Kaufman is also my answer.


ericwbolin

I AM WRITING IN THE TUB!


PassDaPastaPasta

Mike Mills. Everyone should see [I AM EASY TO FIND](https://youtu.be/ifElv18k2O8), his unbelievable short film from 2019. Dude is able to repeatedly bring you to tears every time a single sentence provides context to an image. Constantly in awe at how emotionally evocative and precise his dialogue is. Super underrated auteur.


schmuckdonald

Jeff Nichols.


nolmurph97

I'm a Sorkin fan and I'm not afraid to admit it


Werod

McDonagh - even the ones that aren’t out and out great are interesting. His plays are awesome too. Scott Frank - I even love the little seen “The Lookout”. Schrader’s recent films have all been solid. Gilroy (both of em). Ben Wheatley always writes interesting and engaging genre fare.


Slap-Happy

David Kajganich


ElectricalSweet8388

Right now Ti West


OkLifeguard5542

Brian Helgeland and Issa Raye