From Surf Wiki (app.surf) — the open knowledge base

BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay

British film industry award

Summary

British film industry award

Field	Value
name	BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay
awarded_for	Best Adapted Screenplay
presenter	British Academy of Film and Television Arts
location	United Kingdom
holder	Peter Straughan for Conclave (2024)
website	http://www.bafta.org/

The BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay is a film award presented annually at the British Academy Film Awards to a screenwriter for a specific film. It is awarded by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), a British organisation that hosts annual awards shows for film, television, and video games (and formerly also for children's film and television). Since 1983, selected films have been awarded with the BAFTA award for Best Adapted Screenplay at an annual ceremony.

In the following lists, the titles and names in bold with a gold background are the winners and recipients respectively; those not in bold are the remaining nominees. The winner is also the first name listed in each category.

History

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) award for Best Adapted Screenplay has been presented to its winners since 1968, when the original category (BAFTA Award for Best Screenplay) was split into two awards, the other being the BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay.

Christopher Hampton and Peter Straughan hold the record for the most wins in this category, with two each. Ronald Harwood, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, Eric Roth and Aaron Sorkin tie for the most nominations in this category, with four each.

Shrek is the only animated feature to win in one of these two screenwriting categories.

Winners and nominees

The Unbearable Lightness of Being]]'' (1988)

[[Martin Scorsese]] won for ''[[Goodfellas]]'' (1990)

[[Nicholas Pileggi]] won for ''Goodfellas'' (1990)

[[Baz Luhrmann]] won for ''[[Romeo + Juliet]]'' (1997)

[[Peter Jackson]] won for ''[[The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King]]'' (2003)

[[Aaron Sorkin]] won for ''[[The Social Network]]'' (2010)

[[David O. Russell]] won for ''[[Silver Linings Playbook]]'' (2012)

[[Spike Lee]] won for ''[[BlacKkKlansman]]'' (2018)

[[Taika Waititi]] won for ''[[Jojo Rabbit]]'' (2018)

All Quiet on the Western Front]]'' (2022)

1980s

Year	Film	Nominee
	Heat and Dust	Ruth Prawer Jhabvala
Betrayal	Harold Pinter
Educating Rita	Willy Russell
Tootsie	Larry Gelbart and Murray Schisgal
	The Killing Fields	Bruce Robinson
Another Country	Julian Mitchell
The Dresser	Ronald Harwood
Paris, Texas	Sam Shepard
	Prizzi's Honor	Richard Condon and Janet Roach
Amadeus †	Peter Shaffer
A Passage to India	David Lean
The Shooting Party	Julian Bond
	Out of Africa †	Kurt Luedtke
Children of a Lesser God	Hesper Anderson and Mark Medoff
The Color Purple	Menno Meyjes
Ran	Masato Ide, Akira Kurosawa, and Hideo Oguni
A Room with a View †	Ruth Prawer Jhabvala
	Jean de Florette	Claude Berri and Gérard Brach
84 Charing Cross Road	Hugh Whitemore
Little Dorrit	Christine Edzard
Prick Up Your Ears	Alan Bennett
	The Unbearable Lightness of Being	Jean-Claude Carrière and Philip Kaufman
Babettes gæstebud	Gabriel Axel
Empire of the Sun	Tom Stoppard
Who Framed Roger Rabbit	Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman
	Dangerous Liaisons †	Christopher Hampton
The Accidental Tourist	Frank Galati and Lawrence Kasdan
My Left Foot	Shane Connaughton and Jim Sheridan
Shirley Valentine	Willy Russell

1990s

Year	Film	Nominee
	Goodfellas	Nicholas Pileggi and Martin Scorsese
Born on the Fourth of July	Ron Kovic and Oliver Stone
Driving Miss Daisy †	Alfred Uhry
Postcards from the Edge	Carrie Fisher
The War of the Roses	Michael J. Leeson
	The Commitments	Dick Clement, Roddy Doyle, and Ian La Frenais
Cyrano de Bergerac	Jean-Claude Carrière and Jean-Paul Rappeneau
Dances with Wolves †	Michael Blake
The Silence of the Lambs †	Ted Tally
	The Player	Michael Tolkin
Howards End †	Ruth Prawer Jhabvala
JFK	Zachary Sklar and Oliver Stone
Strictly Ballroom	Baz Luhrmann and Craig Pearce
	Schindler's List †	Steven Zaillian
In the Name of the Father	Terry George and Jim Sheridan
The Remains of the Day	Ruth Prawer Jhabvala
Shadowlands	William Nicholson
Scent of a Woman	Bo Goldman
	Quiz Show	Paul Attanasio
The Browning Version	Ronald Harwood
Forrest Gump †	Eric Roth
The Joy Luck Club	Ronald Bass and Amy Tan
	Trainspotting	John Hodge
Babe	George Miller, Chris Noonan
Leaving Las Vegas	Mike Figgis
The Madness of King George	Alan Bennett
Il Postino: The Postman	Anna Pavignano, Michael Radford, Furio Scarpelli, Giacomo Scarpelli, and Massimo Troisi
Sense and Sensibility †	Emma Thompson
	The English Patient	Anthony Minghella
The Crucible	Arthur Miller
Evita	Alan Parker and Oliver Stone
Richard III	Richard Loncraine and Ian McKellen
	Romeo + Juliet	Baz Luhrmann and Craig Pearce
The Ice Storm	James Schamus
L.A. Confidential †	Curtis Hanson and Brian Helgeland
The Wings of the Dove	Hossein Amini
	Primary Colors	Elaine May
Hilary and Jackie	Frank Cottrell Boyce
Little Voice	Mark Herman
Wag the Dog	Hilary Henkin and David Mamet
	The End of the Affair	Neil Jordan
East Is East	Ayub Khan-Din
An Ideal Husband	Oliver Parker
The Talented Mr. Ripley	Anthony Minghella

2000s

Year	Film	Nominee
	Traffic †	Stephen Gaghan
Chocolat	Robert Nelson Jacobs
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon	James Schamus, Wang Hui-ling, and Kuo Jung Tsai
High Fidelity	John Cusack, D. V. DeVincentis, Steve Pink, and Scott Rosenberg
Wonder Boys	Steve Kloves
	Shrek	Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio, Roger S. H. Schulman, and Joe Stillman
A Beautiful Mind †	Akiva Goldsman
Bridget Jones's Diary	Richard Curtis, Andrew Davies, and Helen Fielding
Iris	Richard Eyre and Charles Wood
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring	Philippa Boyens, Peter Jackson, and Fran Walsh
	Adaptation.	Charlie Kaufman and Donald Kaufman
About a Boy	Peter Hedges, Chris Weitz, and Paul Weitz
Catch Me If You Can	Jeff Nathanson
The Hours	David Hare
The Pianist †	Ronald Harwood
	The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King †	Philippa Boyens, Peter Jackson, and Fran Walsh
Big Fish	John August
Cold Mountain	Anthony Minghella
Girl with a Pearl Earring	Olivia Hetreed
Mystic River	Brian Helgeland
	Sideways †	Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor
The Chorus	Christophe Barratier and Philippe Lopes-Curval
Closer	Patrick Marber
Finding Neverland	David Magee
The Motorcycle Diaries	José Rivera
	Brokeback Mountain †	Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana
Capote	Dan Futterman
The Constant Gardener	Jeffrey Caine
A History of Violence	Josh Olson
Pride & Prejudice	Deborah Moggach
	The Last King of Scotland	Jeremy Brock and Peter Morgan
Casino Royale	Paul Haggis, Neal Purvis, and Robert Wade
The Departed †	William Monahan
The Devil Wears Prada	Aline Brosh McKenna
Notes on a Scandal	Patrick Marber
	The Diving Bell and the Butterfly	Ronald Harwood
Atonement	Christopher Hampton
The Kite Runner	David Benioff
No Country for Old Men †	Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
There Will Be Blood	Paul Thomas Anderson
	Slumdog Millionaire †	Simon Beaufoy
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button	Eric Roth
Frost/Nixon	Peter Morgan
The Reader	David Hare
Revolutionary Road	Justin Haythe
	Up in the Air	Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner
District 9	Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell
An Education	Nick Hornby
In the Loop	Simon Blackwell, Jesse Armstrong, Armando Iannucci, and Tony Roche
Precious †	Geoffrey Fletcher

2010s

Year	Film	Nominee
	The Social Network †	Aaron Sorkin
127 Hours	Danny Boyle and Simon Beaufoy
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo	Rasmus Heisterberg and Nikolaj Arcel
Toy Story 3	Michael Arndt
True Grit	Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
	Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy	Bridget O'Connor and Peter Straughan
The Descendants †	Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, and Jim Rash
The Help	Tate Taylor
The Ides of March	George Clooney, Beau Willimon, and Grant Heslov
Moneyball	Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin
	Silver Linings Playbook	David O. Russell
Argo †	Chris Terrio
Beasts of the Southern Wild	Lucy Alibar and Benh Zeitlin
Life of Pi	David Magee
Lincoln	Tony Kushner
	Philomena	Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope
12 Years a Slave †	John Ridley
Behind the Candelabra	Richard LaGravenese
Captain Phillips	Billy Ray
The Wolf of Wall Street	Terence Winter
	The Theory of Everything	Anthony McCarten
American Sniper	Jason Hall
Gone Girl	Gillian Flynn
The Imitation Game †	Graham Moore
Paddington	Paul King
	The Big Short †	Adam McKay and Charles Randolph
Brooklyn	Nick Hornby
Carol	Phyllis Nagy
Room	Emma Donoghue
Steve Jobs	Aaron Sorkin
	Lion	Luke Davies
Arrival	Eric Heisserer
Hacksaw Ridge	Andrew Knight and Robert Schenkkan
Hidden Figures	Allison Schroeder and Theodore Melfi
Nocturnal Animals	Tom Ford
	Call Me by Your Name †	James Ivory
The Death of Stalin	Armando Iannucci, Ian Martin, and David Schneider
Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool	Matt Greenhalgh
Molly's Game	Aaron Sorkin
Paddington 2	Simon Farnaby and Paul King
	BlacKkKlansman †	Charlie Wachtel, David Rabinowitz, Kevin Willmott, and Spike Lee
Can You Ever Forgive Me?	Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty
First Man	Josh Singer
If Beale Street Could Talk	Barry Jenkins
A Star Is Born	Eric Roth, Bradley Cooper, and Will Fetters
	Jojo Rabbit †	Taika Waititi
The Irishman	Steven Zaillian
Joker	Todd Phillips and Scott Silver
Little Women	Greta Gerwig
The Two Popes	Anthony McCarten

2020s

Year	Film	Nominee
	The Father †	Christopher Hampton and Florian Zeller
The Dig	Moira Buffini
The Mauritanian	Rory Haines, Sohrab Noshirvani, and M.B. Traven
Nomadland	Chloé Zhao
The White Tiger	Ramin Bahrani
	CODA †	Sian Heder
Drive My Car	Ryusuke Hamaguchi and Takamasa Oe
Dune	Eric Roth, Jon Spaihts, and Denis Villeneuve
The Lost Daughter	Maggie Gyllenhaal
The Power of the Dog	Jane Campion
	All Quiet on the Western Front	Edward Berger, Lesley Paterson, and Ian Stokell
Living	Kazuo Ishiguro
The Quiet Girl	Colm Bairéad
She Said	Rebecca Lenkiewicz
The Whale	Samuel D. Hunter
	American Fiction †	Cord Jefferson
All of Us Strangers	Andrew Haigh
Oppenheimer	Christopher Nolan
Poor Things	Tony McNamara
The Zone of Interest	Jonathan Glazer
	Conclave †	Peter Straughan
A Complete Unknown	James Mangold and Jay Cocks
Emilia Pérez	Jacques Audiard
Nickel Boys	RaMell Ross and Joslyn Barnes
Sing Sing	Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar, Clarence 'Divine Eye' Maclin, and John 'Divine G' Whitfield
	The Ballad of Wallis Island	Tom Basden and Tim Key
Bugonia	Will Tracy
Hamnet	Chloé Zhao and Maggie O'Farrell
One Battle After Another	Paul Thomas Anderson
Pillion	Harry Lighton

Multiple wins and nominations

Multiple wins

Wins	Screenwriter
2	Christopher Hampton
Peter Straughan

Multiple nominations

Nominations	Screenwriter
4	Ronald Harwood
Ruth Prawer Jhabvala
Eric Roth
Aaron Sorkin
3	Christopher Hampton
Anthony Minghella
Oliver Stone
Steven Zaillian
2	Paul Thomas Anderson
Simon Beaufoy
Alan Bennett
Philippa Boyens
Jean-Claude Carrière
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
David Hare
Brian Helgeland
Nick Hornby
Armando Iannucci
Peter Jackson
Paul King
Baz Luhrmann
David Magee
Anthony McCarten
Patrick Marber
Peter Morgan
Alexander Payne
Craig Pearce
Willy Russell
James Schamus
Jim Sheridan
Peter Straughan
Fran Walsh
Chloé Zhao

References

"Shrek – Awards". [[The New York Times]].
"BAFTA Awards".
"1985 Film Adapted Screenplay{{!}}BAFTA Awards".
(9 April 2000). "American Beauty shines at Baftas". [[BBC News]].
(31 January 2001). "Gladiator, Crouching Tiger do battle in Bafta nominations". [[The Guardian]].
(25 February 2001). "Gladiator conquers the Baftas". [[BBC News]].
(22 February 2002). "'Lord of the Rings' dominates BAFTAs, wins best film award". [[The Irish Times]].
Hernandez, Eugene. (24 February 2003). "Top BAFTA Awards For "The Pianist"". [[Indiewire]].
(16 February 2004). "Rings rule at Bafta film awards". [[BBC News]].
(13 February 2005). "Aviator flies off with Bafta for Best Film". [[The Scotsman]].
Hernandez, Eugene. (20 February 2006). ""Brokeback Mountain" Wins 4 BAFTA Awards, Including Best Picture". [[Indiewire]].
(11 February 2007). "Baftas 2007: The winners". [[BBC News]].
Dawtrey, Adam. (10 February 2008). "'Atonement' tops BAFTA Awards". [[Variety (magazine).
Turner, Mimi. (8 February 2009). "'Slumdog Millionaire' wins 7 BAFTA nods". [[The Hollywood Reporter]].
King, Susan. (21 February 2010). "'Hurt Locker' wins big at BAFTA Awards". [[Los Angeles Times]].
Brown, Mark. (14 February 2011). "Baftas 2011: The King's Speech sweeps the board". [[The Guardian]].
Reynolds, Simon. (12 February 2012). "Orange BAFTA Film Awards 2012 winners list - in full". [[Digital Spy]].
Brooks, Xan. (11 February 2013). "Baftas 2013 – as it happened". [[The Guardian]].
(17 February 2014). "Baftas: Gravity and 12 Years a Slave share glory". [[BBC News]].
Brown, Mark. (8 February 2015). "Baftas 2015: Boyhood wins top honours but Grand Budapest Hotel checks out with most". [[The Guardian]].
Lodderhose, Diana. (14 February 2016). "'The Revenant,' Leonardo DiCaprio Dominate BAFTA Awards". [[Variety (magazine).
Grater, Tom. "Baftas 2017: 'La La Land' scoops five as 'Moonlight', 'Nocturnal Animals' are shutout". [[Screen International.
(19 February 2018). "Bafta Film Awards 2018: Three Billboards wins top prizes". [[BBC]].
"Meet LGBT History Month icon James Ivory{{!}}San Diego Gay and Lesbian News".
Nordine, Michael. (10 February 2019). "BAFTA Awards 2019: 'Roma' Wins Best Film as 'The Favourite' Takes Home the Most Prizes". [[IndieWire]].
[https://metro.co.uk/2019/02/11/rami-malek-olivia-colman-favourite-bag-top-awards-baftas-2019-8517790/ Bafta winners 2019: Rami Malek, Olivia Colman and The Favorite bag top awards at Baftas 2019. Metro]
(2 February 2020). "Baftas 2020: Sam Mendes film 1917 dominates awards". [[BBC]].
"Taika Waititi wins Bafta for best adapted screenplay{{!}}Star News".
Shoard, Catherine. (12 April 2021). "Baftas 2021: Nomadland wins big as Promising Young Woman and Anthony Hopkins surprise". [[The Guardian]].
(3 February 2022). "Baftas 2022: the full list of nominations". [[The Guardian]].
(19 January 2023). "BAFTA Awards 2023: See the full list of nominees". [[CNN]].
Sandwell, Ian. (19 February 2023). "Netflix's All Quiet on the Western Front has set a new BAFTA record". [[Digital Spy]].
(15 January 2025). "BAFTA Film Awards Nominations: 'Conclave' and 'Emilia Pérez' Lead While 'Wicked' Shut Out of Best Film".
Wiseman, Andreas. (27 January 2026). "BAFTA Nominations Snubs & Suprises: Chase Infiniti, Odessa A’zion & Brit Indie ‘I Swear’ Feel The Love But ‘Wicked’s Tough Awards Run Continues". [[Deadline Hollywood.

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

british-academy-film-awards best-adapted-screenplay-bafta-award-winners screenwriting-awards-for-film

Want to explore this topic further?

Ask Mako anything about BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.

Research with Mako

Free with your Surf account

Content sourced from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This content may have been generated or modified by AI. CloudSurf Software LLC is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content. Always verify important information from primary sources.

Report