100 Best Screenplay Books of All Time (Updated for 2026)

1

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Original Screenplay

J.K. Rowling

5.0

J.K. Rowling's screenwriting debut is captured in this exciting hardcover edition of the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them screenplay.

When Magizoologist Newt Scamander arrives in New York, he intends his stay to be just a brief stopover. However, when his magical case is misplaced and some of Newt's fantastic beasts escape, it spells trouble for everyone…

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Th

2

Save the Cat: The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need

Blake Snyder

4.9

This ultimate insider's guide reveals the secrets that none dare admit, told by a show biz veteran who's proven that you can sell your script if you can save the cat!

Recommended by Eric Weinstein, Vinod Khosla, Vinod Khosla, and 2 others.

Eric Weinstein

Managing Director/Thiel Capital

Eric Weinstein recommended this book on Twitter. [source]

Bill Liao

The human world occurs in language so best get good at it! [source]

Neville Medhora

It takes you through 11 different 'archetypes' of screenplays you can write, and the exact elements each needs to be a great story. [source]

3

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald – The Original Screenplay

J.K. Rowling

4.8

At the end of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, the powerful Dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald was captured in New York with the help of Newt Scamander. But, making good on his threat, Grindelwald escapes custody and sets about gathering followers, most unsuspecting of his true agenda: to raise pure-blood wizards up to rule over all non-magical beings.

In an effort to thwart Grindelwald’s plan

4

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Parts One and Two: The Official Playscript of the Original West End Production

J.K. Rowling

4.7

The official playscript of the original West End production of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.

It was always difficult being Harry Potter and it isn't much easier now that he is an overworked employee of the Ministry of Magic, a husband, and father of three school-age children.

While Harry grapples with a past that refuses to stay where it belongs, his youngest son Albus must struggle with the

5

Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting

Robert McKee

4.7

Preview Summary

Robert McKee's screenwriting workshops have earned him an international reputation for inspiring novices, refining works in progress and putting major screenwriting careers back on track. Quincy Jones, Diane Keaton, Gloria Steinem, Julia Roberts, John Cleese and David Bowie are just a few of his celebrity alumni. Writers, producers, development executives and agents all flock to his lecture series

Recommended by Bill Liao.

Bill Liao

The human world occurs in language so best get good at it! [source]

6

Pulp Fiction: A Quentin Tarantino Screenplay

Quentin Tarantino

4.6

Quentin Tarantino - director of "Reservoir Dogs" and writer of "True Romance" - won the Palme d'Or for best film at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival for "Pulp Fiction, " his unique vision of the underworld, starring John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Bruce Willis, Samuel Jackson, and Harvey Keitel. Taking his inspiration from the popular, and often lurid, "pulp" crime stories of the thirties and forties, Ta

7

Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting

Syd Field

4.6

A generation of screenwriters has used Syd Field’s bestselling books to ignite successful careers in film. Now the celebrated producer, lecturer, teacher, and bestselling author has updated his classic guide for a new generation of filmmakers, offering a fresh insider’s perspective on the film industry today. From concept to character, from opening scene to finished script, here are easily underst

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8

Inception: The Shooting Script

Christopher Nolan

4.5

Inception, writer-director Christopher Nolan’s seventh feature film, joins the epic scope of The Dark Knight with the narrative sophistication of Memento. The story of a group of thieves who specialize in invading the mind through one’s dreams, Inception explores the Nolan’s signature psychological themes of memory, paranoia, and self-doubt as the protagonist, Dom Cobb, is pitted against a hostile

9

Reservoir Dogs

Quentin Tarantino

4.5

Quentin Tarantino's films have single-handedly revived and redefined American noir, bringing to Hollywood a new energy, irony, and cool. Tarantino has won awards and accolades around the world, earned a devoted following among critics, actors, and audiences, and paved the way for a new generation of young filmmakers. Tarantino's directorial debut, Reservoir Dogs, hit the screen with a freshness an

10

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind: The Shooting Script

Charlie Kaufman

4.5

In this illuminating script book, Charlie Kaufman, the Academy Award®-nominated screenwriter of Being John Malkovich and Adaptation, shares the logistical challenges of writing Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind in a fascinating interview.

Kaufman also provides commentary on stills from the movie, revealing remarkable details about the editing process, set construction, and shooting techniques t

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11

Before Sunrise & Before Sunset: Two Screenplays

Richard Linklater and Kim Krizan

4.5

In one volume, the screenplays to two contemporary classics, directed by Richard Linklater, and starring Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy, about the immediate and life-altering attraction between two strangers.

On a train from Budapest to Vienna, Jesse, a young American student, at the end of a romance and his European trip, meets Celine, a young French woman. They are immediately attracted. Despite kn

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12

Inglourious Basterds

Quentin Tarantino

4.5

From the most original and beloved screenwriter of his generation, the complete Oscar-nominated screenplay of Quentin Tarantino's World War II epic Inglorious Basterds.

From the brilliant writer/director behind the iconic films Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill, and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, comes Tarantino's most ambitious movie: a World War II epic starring Brad Pitt and filmed on location in German

13

Hamlet

William Shakespeare

4.4

No Fear Shakespeare gives you the complete text of Hamlet on the left-hand page, side-by-side with an easy-to-understand translation on the right.

"Hamlet" is the story of the Prince of Denmark who learns of the death of his father at the hands of his uncle, Claudius. Claudius murders Hamlet's father, his own brother, to take the throne of Denmark and to marry Hamlet's widowed mother. Hamlet is su

Recommended by Ryan Holiday and Tim Lott.

Ryan Holiday

Author

Philosophy runs through this play–all sorts of great lines. There are gems like “..for there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so” which I used in my last book and “Beware of entrance to a quarrel; but, being in, bear it, that the opposed may beware of thee.” was a favorite of Sherman. [source]

Tim Lott

I love the speech when Hamlet’s uncle Claudius admits to being inflicted with the primal eldest curse for killing his brother, and begs on his knees for forgiveness for this ultimate violation of the law of nature. [source]

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14

Technicolor Dreams

Ryan Jame

4.4

On June 7th 1969, four year-old James Bava was saved from death and pulled from the river by actress Kara Stone. Four days later, Kara was the first victim of the Oakland Butcher, a notorious Pittsburgh serial killer who was never caught.

James went on to have a career in Hollywood as a stuntman. But he never forgot his angelic savior, and decides to make a movie about Kara Stone. While doing resea

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15

Storm of the Century

Stephen King

4.4

For the first time in Stephen King's remarkable publishing history, the master storyteller presents an all-new, original tale written expressly for the television screen.

They're calling it the Storm of the Century, and it's coming hard. The residents of Little Tall Island have seen their share of nasty Maine Nor'easters, but this one is different. Not only is it packing hurricane-force winds and u

16

Fight Club

Chuck Palahniuk

4.4

"THE FIRST RULE ABOUT FIGHT CLUB IS YOU DON'T TALK ABOUT CLUB."

Every weekend, in the basements and parking lots of bars across the country, young men with good white-collar jobs and absent fathers take off their shoes and shirts and fight each other barehanded for as long as they have to. Then they go back to those jobs with blackened eyes and loosened teeth and the sense that they can handle anyt

Recommended by Ryan Holiday and Van Badham.

Ryan Holiday

Author

I’m amazed how many young people haven’t read this book. Truly life-changing. This is the classic of my generation; it is the book that defines our age and ultimately, how to find meaning in it. It’s a cautionary tale too—about being too caught up in revolutionary ideas. [source]

Van Badham

SUPER EXCITED to receive my copy of “Solved! How Other Countries Have Cracked the World’s Biggest Problems and We Can, Too” by Andrew Wear. SO GREAT to read a political book that’s about both pragmatic action *and* hope. Squee! #auspol https://t.co/jIYgr36kZO [source]

17

Get Out: The Complete Annotated Screenplay

Jordan Peele

4.4

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18

Good Will Hunting

Matt Damon and Ben Affleck

4.4

Wildly charismatic, impossibly brilliant, totally rebellious - Will Hunting is a mathematical genius who lives on the fringes of society, refusing to accept the talent that he has for maths and taking, instead, a job as a cleaner in a university. A psychologist takes him under his wing and tries to help Hunting resolve the traumas that beset him.

Matt Damon and Ben Affleck - lifelong friends and tw

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19

Among the Stars: A Screenplay

James J. Caterin

4.3

The year is 2042. The return of fascism, war, and raging climate change have left the Earth on a path toward inevitable destruction. But there is one industry that thrives as people look for an escape—space tourism—lead by Brenda Bakke, the CEO and designer of the Aphrodite, a cruise ship to the stars.

Brenda offers a scholarship ticket to Stanford astrophysicist student Ariana Green, hires Captain

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20

Steel Phantom

James J. Caterino

4.3

Angela is seeing things. Strange things. Dangerous things.

Angela relocates to Pittsburgh and is haunted by intense visions of a menacing attacker clad in a welding mask who abducts her and takes her to an abandoned steel mill. The visions escalate, crossing the line into reality, and she soon learns the secret to stopping this Steel Phantom, may be buried in the dark mysteries of the forbidden pas

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21

Death of a Salesman

Arthur Miller

4.3

In the spring of 1948 Arthur Miller retreated to a log cabin in Connecticut with the first two lines of a new play already fixed in his mind. He emerged six weeks later with the final script of Death of a Salesman - a painful examination of American life and consumerism. Opening on Broadway the following year, Miller's extraordinary masterpiece changed the course of modern theatre. In creating Wil

Recommended by Daniel Pink, Tim Lott, and 1 others.

Tim Lott

Death of a Salesman is more about the relationship between fathers and sons than brothers, but the motif of maimed brother relationships runs in all directions. [source]

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22

The Big Lebowski

Ethan Coen and Joel Coen

4.3

The Big Lebowski begins with a case of mistaken identity which escalates when Jeffrey Lebowski-alias The Dude-attempts to seek recompense for the despoliation of his ratty-ass little rug, and then finds himself entangled in a kidnapping caper as a bagman-a situation that goes from bad to worse due to the interference of his hapless bowling partners.

In this film the Coen brothers have taken on the

23

Romeo and Juliet

William Shakespeare, Dr. Barbara A. Mowat, Paul Werstine Ph.D.

4.3

In Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare creates a violent world, in which two young people fall in love. It is not simply that their families disapprove; the Montagues and the Capulets are engaged in a blood feud.

In this death-filled setting, the movement from love at first sight to the lovers’ final union in death seems almost inevitable. And yet, this play set in an extraordinary world has become the q

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24

Taxi Driver

Paul Schrader

4.3

1970s New York, and young Vietnam veteran Travis Bickle takes to driving a taxi in search of an escape from his insomnia, his barren apartment and his gnawing sense of self-disgust, which threatens to erupt in revenge against the sordid, unlovely world through which he travels. When his tentative efforts at a relationship with elegant political campaign worker Betsy come to naught, Travis conceive

25

King Lear

William Shakespeare

4.3

In King Lear, one of Shakespeare's greatest and most enduring plays, an aging father's demand that his daughters publicly declare their love for him triggers a reaction that involves nations and brings suffering and death to his entire family. The play takes ordinary jealousies, demands for love, sibling rivalries, desires for money and power, and petty cruelties to the extreme. In this play, we s

Recommended by Steve Jobs and Kathleen Taylor.

Steve Jobs

Founder/Apple

Jobs told Walter Isaacson, the author of his biography, that he “loved King Lear”, which isn’t surprising. [source]

Kathleen Taylor

Lear is about all sorts of things but one of the things it’s about is people getting old and not ceding what their kids think they should to them and the kids trying to bully them. [source]

26

Adventures in the Screen Trade

William Goldman

4.3

Now available as an ebook for the first time!

No one knows the writer's Hollywood more intimately than William Goldman. Two-time Academy Award-winning screenwriter and the bestselling author of Marathon Man, Tinsel, Boys and Girls Together, and other novels, Goldman now takes you into Hollywood's inner sanctums...on and behind the scenes for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, All the President's

Recommended by Timothy Ferriss.

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27

The Dark Knight Trilogy: The Complete Screenplays with Storyboards

Christopher Nolan

4.3

THE DARK KNIGHT TRILOGY: The Compete Screenplays of Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, and The Dark Knight Rises, with storyboards from each film. There is also an introduction featuring a conversation about The Dark Knight trilogy among the three writers: Christopher Nolan, Jonathan Nolan and David S. Goyer

Synopsis:
Christopher Nolan brings The Dark Knight trilogy to its climax.
The trilogy commenced

28

When Harry Met Sally. . .

Nora Ephron

4.3

Rob Reiner's enormously funny and moving When Harry Met Sally ... -- a romantic comedy about the difficult, frustrating, awful, funny search for happiness in an American city, where the primary emotion is unrequited love -- is delighting audiences everywhere. Now, the complete screenplay is published. Written by Nora Ephron -- author of screenplays for Silkwood and Heartburn (from her own best-sel

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29

The Royal Tenenbaums

Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson

4.3

This is the screenplay for the acclaimed film, directed by Wes Anderson. There were three extraordinary children in the Tenenbaum family; Chas Tenenbaum (Ben Stiller) was a financial expert and started buying real estate in his early teens; Margot Tenenbaum (Gwyneth Paltrow) was an acclaimed playwright and won a Pulitzer Prize in the 9th grade; Richie Tenenbaum (Luke Wilson) was a champion tennis

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30

Collected Screenplays

Andrei Arsenevich Tarkovsky, William Powell, et al.

4.3

Since his death in 1986, Andrei Tarkovsky has become increasingly recognized as one of the great masters of world cinema. In his films, Solaris, Mirror, Stalker and The Sacrifice, Tarkovsky defined a new way of looking at the world. His non-realistic, highly-charged images are a continuing source of inspiration - not only for a new generation of film-makers, but also for poets, musicians and paint

31

Call Me by Your Name

André Aciman

4.2

Call Me by Your Name is the story of a sudden and powerful romance that blossoms between an adolescent boy and a summer guest at his parents' cliffside mansion on the Italian Riviera. Each is unprepared for the consequences of their attraction when, during the restless summer weeks, unrelenting currents of obsession, fascination, and desire intensify their passion and test the charged ground betwe

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32

The Green Mile: The Screenplay

Frank Darabont, Stephen King

4.2

The screenplay of the film The Green Mile, based on Stephen King's novel. Cold Mountain Penitentiary houses convicted killers awaiting their turn to walk the Green Mile to the electric chair. But there's never been anyone like John Coffey, with the body of a giant and the mind of a child.

33

The Shawshank Redemption: The Shooting Script

Frank Darabont

4.2

This modern film classic, an extraordinary tale of hope and survival inside a maximum security prison, follows the complex twenty-year relationship between two convicts who have little in common—except friendship. Based on the novella Rita Hayworth and The Shawshank Redemption by Stephen King, director/screenwriter Frank Darabont's film, starring Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman, was nominated for s

34

The Sense and Sensibility Screenplay and Diaries: Bringing Jane Austen's Novel to Film

Emma Thompson, Jane Austen, et al.

4.2

This engaging and beautiful book includes the complete Academy Award-winning script and Thompson's own diaries detailing the production of the film, reviewed by Stanley Kauffmann in The New Republic as "vivid, funny, and gamy"

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35

The Quite Nice and Fairly Accurate Good Omens Script Book

Neil Gaiman

4.2

Neil Gaiman’s complete original scripts for the highly anticipated six-episode original series, adapted from the classic novel he wrote with Terry Pratchett.

First published nearly thirty years ago, the novel Good Omens has sold more than five million copies worldwide and is beloved by Gaiman and Pratchett fans alike. Collected here are Neil Gaiman’s original scripts for the Good Omens television s

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36

Four Films: Annie Hall/Interiors/Manhattan/Stardust Memories

Woody Allen

4.2

Complete screenplays of four of Woody Allen's most famous films. Hilariously funny, with all actions included.

37

Macbeth

William Shakespeare, Dr. Barbara A. Mowat, Paul Werstine Ph.D.

4.2

One night on the heath, the brave and respected general Macbeth encounters three witches who foretell that he will become king of Scotland. At first sceptical, he’s urged on by the ruthless, single-minded ambitions of Lady Macbeth, who suffers none of her husband’s doubt. But seeing the prophecy through to the bloody end leads them both spiralling into paranoia, tyranny, madness, and murder.

This s

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38

Clerks & Chasing Amy

Kevin Smith

4.2

39

The Truman Show: The Shooting Script

Andrew Niccol

4.2

Jim Carrey is Truman Burbank, the most famous face on television, only he doesn't know it. He is the unwitting star of a nonstop, 24-hour-a-day documentary soap opera called The Truman Show, with every moment of his life broadcast to a worldwide audience. Everyone around him is an actor. He is a prisoner in a made-for-TV paradise. This is the story of his escape.

Rarely has a first-time collaborati

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40

Withnail and I: the Original Screenplay

Bruce Robinson

4.2

Presents the screenplay of the classic cult film by Bruce Robinson, with an introduction by the director.

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41

The Apartment

I.A.L. Diamond

4.2

Billy Wilder won two Oscars - as co-screenwriter and director - for this mordant comedy about getting ahead in the corporate world. Jack Lemmon played the 'schnook' who lends out his apartment for his boss's sexual trysts, only to fall in love with the boss's girl - played by Shirey MacLaine. The Apartment is a beautifully judged piece of writing saved from cynicism by Wilder and Diamond's tendern

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42

Juno: The Shooting Script

Diablo Cody, Ivan Reitman

4.2

Meet Juno MacGuff (Ellen Page), a confidently frank teenage girl who calls the shots with a nonchalant cool and an effortless attitude as she journeys through an emotional nine-month adventure into adulthood. Quick-witted and distinctively unique, Juno walks Dancing Elk High's halls to her own tune—preferably anything by The Stooges—but underneath her tough, no-nonsense exterior is just a teenage

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43

True Romance

Quentin Tarantino

4.2

True Romance, directed by Tony Scott, is a hilarious, twisted road movie about which Interview raved, "A pop-crazy, instant B classic with A clout." Alabama, a hooker, and Clarence, a comic-book store clerk, fall in love and hit the road in a purple Cadillac. They are going to Los Angeles to start a new life -- with a suitcase full of cocaine accidentally stolen from Alabama's defunct ex-pimp. Gui

44

The Grand Budapest Hotel

Wes Anderson

4.2

The Grand Budapest Hotel recounts the adventures of Gustave H (Ralph Fiennes), a legendary concierge at a famous European hotel between the wars, and Zero Moustafa (Tony Revolori), the lobby boy who becomes his most trusted friend. Acting as a kind of father figure, M. Gustave leads the resourceful Zero on a journey that involves the theft and recovery of a priceless Renaissance painting; the batt

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45

Annie Hall: Screenplay

Woody Allen, Marshall Brickman

4.2

One of a hand-picked selection of some of the most popular and cult-worthy titles on Faber and Faber's extensive list of film scripts.

46

The Crucible

Arthur Miller, Christopher W. E. Bigsby

4.2

"I believe that the reader will discover here the essential nature of one of the strangest and most awful chapters in human history," Arthur Miller wrote of his classic play about the witch-hunts and trials in seventeenth-century Salem, Massachusetts. Based on historical people and real events, Miller's drama is a searing portrait of a community engulfed by hysteria. In the rigid theocracy of Sale

Recommended by Claire Fox.

Claire Fox

This is the Salem witch hunt in the context of the McCarthy era. The reason I chose it is because I feel that we ourselves, in the contemporary period, are in danger of having our own heresy-calling and witch hunts. It is very popular to say this book proves what it is like when hysterical religions name people as witches, and how intolerant religion is. But I think we can see it in a much more contemporary light as just what happens in an atmosphere where people’s fear is exploited. [source]

47

The Wes Anderson Collection

Matt Zoller Seitz

4.2

Wes Anderson is one of the most influential voices from the past two decades of American cinema. A true auteur, Anderson is known for the visual artistry, inimitable tone, and idiosyncratic characterizations that make each of his films—Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, The Darjeeling Limited, Fantastic Mr. Fox, and Moonrise Kingdom—instantly recogni

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48

The Hateful Eight

Quentin Tarantino

4.2

Academy Award-winning screenwriter Quentin Tarantino returns with his most infamous, most brilliant, most masterful screenplay yet?Ä¶

At the end of the Civil War, a stagecoach hurtles through the wintry Wyoming landscape. Bounty hunter John Ruth and his fugitive captive Daisy Domergue race toward the town of Red Rock, where Ruth will bring Domergue to justice. Along the road, they encounter Major

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49

Chinatown

Robert Towne

4.1

1930s Los Angeles. Jake Gittes is a successful 'bedroom dick': a private eye specialising in cases of marital infidelity. Paradoxically he might also be the last truly ethical man in a corrupt town. Lured into an investigation of the death-by-drowning of City Water Commissioner Hollis Mulwray, Gittes gets more than usually entwined with his new client, Mulwray's enigmatic widow Evelyn. He then fin

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50

Usual Suspects

Christopher McQuarrie

4.1

One of a hand-picked selection of some of the most popular and cult-worthy titles on Faber and Faber's extensive list of film scripts.

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51

Sex, Lies, and Videotape

James Spader, Andie MacDowell, Steven Soderbergh

4.1

The annotated screenplay and production notes from the award-winning and extremely popular movie, including an essay about the origins and making of the film by its highly acclaimed writer/director. Illustrated.

Recommended by Charles Cumming.

Charles Cumming

The story of sex, lies and videotape is the story of a marriage between a lawyer, who is having an affair with his wife’s sister, a savvy, sassy barmaid, and his rather straitlaced, you might say frigid, wife, played by Andy MacDowell. And into their lives comes a character played by James Spader, an old university friend of the husband. It’s at least ten years since they were at college. Spader’s character has changed a great deal in that time and has rejected corporate, bourgeois suburban life. He’s also impotent. He gets his kicks by winning the trust of women – he’s very honest about who he is and what his problem is – and getting them to talk about their sex lives on camera. It sounds like the seediest film, but it works, principally because all the characters – with the exception of the husband – are sympathetic. Damaged and strange, but sympathetic. That in itself is an achievement. [source]

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52

Casablanca: Script and Legend

Howard Koch

4.1

Released in December 1942, Casablanca is the classic of all classic films, the enduring triumph of Hollywood's golden age. This volume contains the complete screenplay as well as a behind-the-scenes look at how the Oscar-winning movie was made, by one of its writers, Howard Koch. Charles Champlin, Roger Ebert, Umberto Eco, and others contribute incisive analyses of the movie's timeless appeal, and

53

Magnolia: The Shooting Script

Paul Thomas Anderson

4.1

The complete Oscar RM -nominated screenplay by the writer/director of Boogie Nights, featuring an exclusive introduction by Anderson, and never-before-published interview in which he discusses the themes and relationships explored in Magnolia, plus a 16-page photo section with 45 color and b&w movie stills and behind-the-scenes photographs.

54

The Counselor: A Screenplay

Cormac McCarthy

4.1

On the eve of becoming a married man, the Counselor makes a risky entr�e into the drug trade--and gambles that the consequences won't catch up to him.

Along the gritty terrain of the Texas-Mexico border, a respected and recently engaged lawyer throws his stakes into a cocaine trade worth millions. His hope is that it will be a one-time deal and that, afterward, he can settle into life with his belo

55

A Streetcar Named Desire

Tennessee Williams

4.1

The Pulitzer Prize and Drama Critics Circle Award winning play—reissued with an introduction by Arthur Miller (Death of a Salesman and The Crucible), and Williams’ essay “The World I Live In.”

It is a very short list of 20th-century American plays that continue to have the same power and impact as when they first appeared—57 years after its Broadway premiere, Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named D

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56

Three Colors Trilogy: Blue, White and Red

Krzysztof Kieslowski, Krzysztof Piesiewicz, Danusia Stok

4.1

Krzystof Kieslowski's "Three Colors" trilogy earned him the deserved reputation as "one of the world's premier film-makers' ("Independent"). In these films, based on the colors of the French flag and the principles of liberty, equality and fraternity--the three ideals of the French Revolution--Kieslowski has crafted three parables of contemporary existence. In "Blue," Julie loses her child and hus

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57

Monty Python and the Holy Grail: Screenplay

Graham Chapman

4.1

The first feature film by the Monty Python team is a mock heroic tale set in medieval Britain with lots of silly things going on besides. In a series of sketches and animations, the Pythons recount scenes from the Grail legend in which the knights forsake their chorus line can-can dancing in Camelot for a higher aim. Typically, the Pythons set-up a 'historical' tale which is really a take on the m

58

Snow Falling on Cedars

David Guterson

4.1

Gripping, tragic, and densely atmospheric—a masterpiece of suspense San Piedro Island, north of Puget Sound, is a place so isolated that no one who lives there can afford to make enemies. But in 1954 a local fisherman is found suspiciously drowned, and a Japanese American named Kabuo Miyamoto is charged with his murder. In the course of the ensuing trial, it becomes clear that what is at stake is

Recommended by Bryan Callen and Scott Turow.

Bryan Callen

So here are my three must read books. I've been reading a lot of great books like: Outsmart Your Instincts, The Culture Code, and Antonio Damasio’s The Strange Order, and sometimes when you read a lot of nonfiction it’s very enriching, sometimes you need a novel. I really believe you should take a minute and read something beautiful. Listen, listen to Lolita by Nabokov. But also listen to Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy and listen to Richard Poe narrate that. Those are two of the greatest feats of the english language that I can think of. Then there’s Fortress of Solitude, an amazing book, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, these are great novels. Cold Mountain is a beautiful novel, Snow Falling On Cedars, I mean they’ve been around for a while. But goddamnit, get those under your belt. Those are the novels I think you should read. You know Love In The Time Of Cholera it just makes you ache. Kind of like a Hemingway thing, where Hemingway “ahh!”, it’s the same thing, you know. So I don’t know, I’m a fan of all those books. Those are my 3 slash 20 books. [source]

Scott Turow

it’s just a superb novel, full of really beautiful characterizations – the reporter who’s covering this trial, and his elderly lawyer who’s defending the case is quite a remarkable character. [source]

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59

Titanic: James Cameron's Illustrated Screenplay

James Cameron and Randall Frakes

4.1

Titanic: James Cameron's Illustrated Screenplay contains the shooting script of the most popular film of all time. An invaluable reference for film students and fans, this book details the evolution of the epic romance from script to screen, including scenes and dialogue cut from the final film, as well as annotations explaining footage seen in the final cut, yet not contained in the screenplay. N

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60

Paris, Texas

Sam Shepard, Wim Wenders, L. M. Kit Carson

4.1

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61

Knives Out (Screenplay)

William F. Brow

4.1

62

Monster

Walter Dean Myers

4.1

Sometimes I feel like I have walked into the middle of a movie. Maybe I can make my own movie. The film will be the story of my life. No, not my life, but of this experience. I'll call it what the lady who is the prosecutor called me. Monster.

Fade In: Interior Court. A guard sits at a desk behind Steve. Kathy O'Brien, Steve's lawyer, is all business as she talks to Steve.

O'Brien
Let me make sure yo

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63

Hannah and Her Sisters

Woody Allen

4.1

The illustrated screenplay of Woody Allen's most successful film to date, which has already received higher praise and bigger boxoffice returns than Annie Hall. Photographs.

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64

Michael Clayton: The Shooting Script

Tony Gilroy

4.1

The official screenplay book tie-in to the hit thriller from Warner Bros., starring Academy Award® winner George Clooney, Tom Wilkinson, Tilda Swinton, and Sydney Pollack, and written and directed by Tony Gilroy (The Bourne Identity and The Bourne Supremacy).

Michael Clayton (George Clooney) is an in-house "fixer" at one of the largest corporate law firms in New York. A former criminal prosecutor,

65

Little Miss Sunshine: The Shooting Script

Michael Arndt, Jonathan Dayton, Valerie Faris

4.1

66

The Anatomy of Story: 22 Steps to Becoming a Master Storyteller

John Truby

4.1

John Truby is one of the most respected and sought-after story consultants in the film industry, and his students have gone on to pen some of Hollywood's most successful films, including Sleepless in Seattle, Scream, and Shrek. The Anatomy of Story is his long-awaited first book, and it shares all of his secrets for writing a compelling script. Based on the lessons in his award-winning class, Grea

67

Waiting for Godot

Samuel Becket

4.1

The story revolves around two seemingly homeless men simply waiting for someone—or something—named Godot. Vladimir and Estragon wait near a tree, inhabiting a drama spun of their own consciousness. The result is a comical wordplay of poetry, dreamscapes, and nonsense, which has been interpreted as mankind’s inexhaustible search for meaning. Beckett’s language pioneered an expressionistic minimalis

Recommended by Elon Musk.

Elon Musk

Founder/SpaceX

Have recently come to appreciate the awesome, absurdist humor of this book. [source]

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68

Four Screenplays of Ingmar Bergman: Smiles of a Summer Night/The Seventh Seal/Wild Strawberries/The Magician

Ingmar Bergman

4.1

s/t: Smiles of a Summer Night, The Seventh Seal, Wild Strawberries & The Magician
Ingmar Bergman has been acclaimed throughout the world as one of the most brilliant filmmakers of our time. This collection of screenplays for a quartet of his most distinguished films shows that he's also a writer of distinction, for the words themselves emerge, in their own right, as a form of powerfully moving lit

69

Julius Caesar

William Shakespeare, Dr. Barbara A. Mowat, Paul Werstine Ph.D.

4.1

Shakespeare may have written Julius Caesar as the first of his plays to be performed at the Globe, in 1599. For it, he turned to a key event in Roman history: Caesar’s death at the hands of friends and fellow politicians. Renaissance writers disagreed over the assassination, seeing Brutus, a leading conspirator, as either hero or villain. Shakespeare’s play keeps this debate alive.

70

Chinatown & The Last Detail

Robert Towne

4.1

"Chinatown," generally regarded as the Great American Screenplay, follows a seedy private investigator, Jake Gittes, as he becomes involved in a case far more complicated than he ever imagined. Instead of adultery and divorce, he uncovers a conspiracy reaching to the economic foundations of Los Angeles. Set in the 1930s, the film was directed by Roman Polanski and stars Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunawa

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71

The Annotated Godfather

Jenny M. Jones

4.1

This fully authorized, annotated, and illustrated edition of the complete screenplay of The Godfather presents all the little-known details and behind-the-scenes intrigue surrounding the landmark film.

The Godfather is considered by many to be the greatest movie ever made, from its brilliant cinematic innovations and its memorable, oft-quoted script to it magnificent cast, including Marlon Brando,

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72

The Matrix: The Shooting Script

Larry Wachowski, Andy Wachowski, William Gibson

4.1

Includes detailed scene notes by Paul Oosterhouse, assistant to the Wachowskis throughout the making of the movie.

73

The Screenwriter's Bible, 7th Edition: A Complete Guide to Writing, Formatting, and Selling Your Script

David Trottier

4.1

The Screenwriter's Bible's 7th edition marks the 20th anniversary of one of the most popular, authoritative, and useful books on screenwriting. A standard by which other screenwriting books are measured, it has sold over 300,000 copies in its twenty-year life. Always up-to-date and reliable, it contains everything that both the budding and working screenwriter needs under one cover five books in o

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74

Blackadder: The Whole Damn Dynasty, 1485-1917

Richard Curtis, Ben Elton, Rowan Atkinson, John Lloyd

4.1

Then look no further. Blackadder: The Whole Damn Dynasty is the book for you. Here, at last, for the first time, are the full scripts of one of British television's funniest comedies. Follow the hilarious misadventures of the despicable Edmund Blackadder and his dimwitted sidekick Baldrick through four centuries of hopelessly mangled English history: from medieval nastiness through English history

Cover unavailable

75

Goodfellas: Screenplay

Martin Scorsese, Nicholas Pileggi, Timothy Bricknell

4.1

'As far back as I can remember, I've always wanted to be a gangster.'

Henry Hill grows up in the 1950s, in a Brooklyn neighbourhood where Italian-American gangsters walk tall in the streets, commanding the respect of their peers. Young Henry dreams that one day he too might be a professional 'wiseguy' - a 'goodfella'. His wishes come true with remarkable speed once he teams up with renowned hoodlum

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76

Stranger Than Fiction: The Shooting Script

Zach Helm, Marc Forster, Lindsay Doran

4.1

In this strange and delightful tale, an IRS agent namedHarold Crick suddenly finds himself the subject of a narrationonly he can hear—narration that soon affects everythingfrom his work to his love life to his death. Starring WillFerrell, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Dustin Hoffman, Queen Latifah,and Emma Thompson, Stranger Than Fiction is a heartfelt film,perhaps a comedy, perhaps a tragedy, about love and

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77

Fargo

Joel Coen, Ethan Coen

4.1

A tale of kidnapping and murder in snowbound Minnesota.

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78

American Beauty: The Shooting Script

Alan Ball, Sam Mendes

4.1

On a typical suburban street in a typical suburban town, there is an ordinary family living the American dream. But look closer. Lester Burnham's wife, Carolyn, regards him with contempt, his daughter, Jane, thinks he's a loser, and his boss is positioning him for the ax.

Captivated by Jane's sultry high school friend Angela, Lester decides to make a few changes in his mere existence—changes that a

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79

The Seventh Seal

Mathues Imhotep

4.0

The Seventh Seal is an allegorical film, set in plague-ridden medieval Sweden. This book contains the script to the film, as well as an introduction by writer/director Ingmar Bergman and several B&W stills from the film.

The screenplay in this book is identical to that used in the film, except that some sequences did not make it into the final version of the film.

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80

Lost Highway

David Lynch, Barry Gifford

4.0

Sitting on Death Row, awaiting execution for the murder of his wife, Fred Madison experiences a shattering headache. The next day, a dazed and confused Pete Dayton is found in Madison's cell. Dayton has no memory of how he came to be there. Madison has gone missing. What follows may be reality or it may be part of a highly organized hallucination that Fred Madison is undergoing. Lost Highway refus

Cover unavailable

81

Five Screenplays: The Great McGinty / Christmas in July / The Lady Eve / Sullivan's Travels / Hail the Conquering Hero

Preston Sturges, Brian Henderson

4.0

Here are five comic masterpieces by Preston Sturges, who has been called "Hollywood's greatest writer-director, with emphasis on the former." The scripts are drawn from the great period between 1939 and 1944, which Andrew Sarris called "one of the most brilliant and most bizarre bursts of creation in the history of cinema."
They are astonishingly readable and deliciously funny. Brian Henderson's i

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82

Brokeback Mountain: Story to Screenplay

Annie Proulx, Larry McMurtry, Diana Ossana

4.0

Annie Proulx has written some of the most original and brilliant short stories in contemporary literature, and for many readers and reviewers, "Brokeback Mountain" is her masterpiece. Now the major motion picture "Brokeback Mountain" is being hailed as equally masterful, with performances that are "the stuff of Hollywood history" "(The New York Times)." "Brokeback Mountain: Story to Screenplay" of

83

American Psycho

Bret Easton Ellis

4.0

Patrick Bateman is twenty-six and he works on Wall Street, he is handsome, sophisticated, charming and intelligent. He is also a psychopath. Taking us to head-on collision with America's greatest dream—and its worst nightmare—American Psycho is bleak, bitter, black comedy about a world we all recognise but do not wish to confront.

Recommended by Jay McInerney and Pavel Tsatsouline.

Jay McInerney

It’s a brilliant satire of greed and the mindlessness of popular culture, of American life and of New York in the 80s. [source]

Pavel Tsatsouline

Most people exist between the on and off switch. They are unable to turn on and put out high power, and they are unable to turn off completely and enjoy true rest. To learn how to control your on and off switch, read the book Psych by Dr. Judd Biasiotto. He is one of the most successful power lifters in history, having squatted over 600 pounds at a bodyweight of 132... drug free, at the age of 44, after back surgery. [source]

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84

The Idea: The Seven Elements of a Viable Story for Screen, Stage or Fiction

Erik Bork

4.0

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85

North by Northwest

Ernest Lehman

4.0

Hitchcock's best-loved romantic thriller is one of the most influential works ever made in the genre - an enticing cocktail of suspense, comedy, eroticism and danger.

Roger Thornhill is a suave but stiff-necked Madison Avenue executive, who finds himself mistaken for a US intelligence agent, and dragged into life-threatening escapades. His consolation is that he gets to romance an elegant female sp

86

Collected Screenplays 1: Blood Simple / Raising Arizona / Miller's Crossing / Barton Fink

Ethan Coen, Joel Coen

4.0

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87

Der Himmel über Berlin: Ein Filmbuch

Wim Wenders

4.0

88

Pan's Labyrinth: The Labyrinth of the Faun

Guillermo del Toro, Cornelia Funke, Allen Williams

4.0

Fans of dark fairy-tales like The Hazel Wood and The Cruel Prince will relish this atmospheric and absorbing book based on Guillermo del Toro’s critically acclaimed movie.

Oscar winning writer-director Guillermo del Toro and New York Times bestselling author Cornelia Funke have come together to transform del Toro’s hit movie Pan’s Labyrinth into an epic and dark fantasy novel for readers of all age

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89

Hello Lighthouse

Sophie Blackall

4.0

A new picture book that will transport readers to the seaside.

Watch the days and seasons pass as the wind blows, the fog rolls in, and icebergs drift by. Outside, there is water all around. Inside, the daily life of a lighthouse keeper and his family unfolds as the keeper boils water for tea, lights the lamp's wick, and writes every detail in his logbook.

Cover unavailable

90

Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Illustrated Screenplay

Lawrence Kasdan, Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Philip Kaufman, Ed Verreaux, David Negron, Joe Johnson, Nilo Rodis-Jamero

4.0

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91

Jackie Brown

Quentin Tarantino

4.0

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92

Persona

Hisato Murasak

4.0

L’attrice Elisabeth Vogler (Liv Ullmann), durante la rappresentazione teatrale dell’Elettra, si blocca improvvisamente, presa da un’inspiegabile desiderio di ridere. In seguito si chiude in un assoluto mutismo. Ricoverata in un ospedale psichiatrico, viene riconosciuta sana nel fisico e nella mente, non soffre di afasia, ma ha scelto coscientemente di non parlare più.
Per farla uscire da questa con

93

Fleabag: Scriptures

Phoebe Waller-Bridge

4.0

Cover unavailable

94

(500) Days of Summer: The Shooting Script

Scott Neustadter, Michael H. Weber

4.0

The official book tie-in to the acclaimed romantic comedy from Fox Searchlight Pictures, an audience hit at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt (3rd Rock from the Sun, 10 Things I Hate About You) and Zooey Deschanel (Yes Man, The Happening, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy).

"This is a story of boy meets girl," begins the wry, probing narrator of (500) Days of Summer,

95

Stranger Things: The Complete Scripts, Season 1

The Duffer Brothers, Netflix

4.0

Go deeper into the groundbreaking Emmy-winning series with the complete, authorized scripts of Stranger Things: Season One, including an exclusive introduction from the Duffer Brothers.A high-pitched shrieking sound suddenly fills the shed. We don’t see what happens to Will; we just watch that naked dangling light bulb. It glows brighter and brighter and brighter, filling the shed with overwhelmin

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96

Batman Begins: The Screenplay

Christopher Nolan

4.0

Batman Begins, directed by the award-winning Christopher Nolan (Memento, Insomnia), unveils the untold origins of the Dark Knight's emergence as a force for good in Gotham City. In the wake of his parents' murder, disillusioned industrial heir Bruce Wayne travels the world seeking the means to fight injustice and turn fear against those who prey on the fearful. He returns to Gotham City and unveil

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97

In Bruges

Martin McDonagh

4.0

After a shooting in London goes hideously wrong, two hitmen, Ray and Ken, are sent to hide out in the strange, Gothic, medieval town of Bruges, Belgium, by their volatile and dangerous boss, Harry Waters.

While awaiting instructions from him as to what to do next, the pair attempt to deal both with their feelings over the botched killing and their differing attitudes towards this curious, otherworl

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98

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Script Book Season One Vol. 1

Various Authors

4.0

"It's my first day [of school]. I was afraid that I'd be behind in all my classes, that I wouldn't have any friends, that I'd have last month's hair. I didn't think there would be vampires on campus."-- Buffy, "Welcome to the Hellmouth"

A true fan knows that one of the very best aspects of Buffy the Vampire Slayer is its hip, irreverent, witty writing. Slayer-speak packs one of the show's strongest

99

Othello

William Shakespeare

4.0

Othello by William Shakespeare. One of the greatest classics of literary fiction, now available in high quality.

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100

Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

Veronika Martenova Charles, Annouchka Gravel Galouchko, et al.

4.0