Got some time off over the holidays? ’Tis the season for screenplays — that period when film scripts from 2019’s leading awards contenders are uploaded by their respective studios in hopes of bolstering the projects’ chances of receiving Academy Award nominations in the screenwriting categories. If you work in this business, you already know that seeing a project on screen is much different from perusing it in text form on a printed page, and reading the scripts of your favorite films can yield valuable insight into how dialogue is crafted, how character details are revealed, and how a cinematic story is structured. They’re free, for a limited time only, so there’s no day like today to take a look at some of these. And watch this site — we’ll update it if and when we see new titles go online.
The Aeronauts
Amazon Studios
The Aeronauts
Written by Jack Thorne
Amazon Studios
After the Wedding
Screenplay by Bart Freundlich
Sony Pictures Classics
Avengers: Endgame
by Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely
Disney
Booksmart
by Emily Halpern & Sarah Haskins and Susanna Fogel and Katie Silberman
Annapurna
Dolemite Is My Name
Netflix
Dolemite Is My Name
Written by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski
Netflix
Downton Abbey
Screenplay by Julian Fellowes
Focus Features
The Farewell
by Lulu Wang
A24
Frankie
by Mauricio Zacharias & Ira Sachs
Sony Pictures Classics
Harriet
Screenplay by Gregory Allen Howard & Kasi Lemmons from a story by Gregory Allen Howard
Focus Features
Her Smell
by Alex Ross Perry
Gunpowder & Sky
A Hidden Life
Fox Searchlight
A Hidden Life
by Terrence Malick
Fox Searchlight
Honey Boy
Written by Shia Labeouf
Amazon Studios
How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World
Written by Dean DeBlois, inspired by the novels by Cressida Cowell
Universal Pictures
Hustlers
Written by Lorene Scafaria, based on the article “The Hustlers at Scores” by Jessica Pressler
STX Films
I Lost My Body
Written by Jérémy Clapin and Guillaume Laurant
Netflix
The Irishman
Netflix
The Irishman
Screenplay by Steven Zaillian
Netflix
Joker
written by Todd Phillips & Scott Silver
Warner Bros.
Just Mercy
written by Destin Daniel Cretton & Andrew Lanham, based on the book by Bryan Stevenson
Warner Bros.
The King
by David Michôd & Joel Edgerton
Netflix
Knives Out
Lionsgate
Knives Out
A Murder Mystery by Rian Johnson
Lionsgate
The Last Black Man in San Francisco
Screenplay by Joe Talbot & Rob Richert, from a story by Joe Talbot & Jimmie Fails
A24
The Lighthouse
by Robert Eggers, Max Eggers
A24
Little Women
Written by Greta Gerwig, based on the novel by Louisa May Alcott
Sony Pictures
Marriage Story
by Noah Baumbach
Netflix
Midsommar
A24
Midsommar
Written by Ari Aster
A24
Motherless Brooklyn
Written for the Screen by Edward Norton, from the Novel by Jonathan Lethem
Warner Bros.
Pain and Glory
Original script by Pedro Almodóvar
Sony Pictures Classics
Queen and Slim
Screenplay by Lena Waithe
Universal Pictures
The Report
Amazon Studios
The Report
Written by Scott Z. Burns
Amazon Studios
Richard Jewell
Written by Billy Ray, based upon the article “American Nightmare: The Ballad of Richard Jewell” and the book The Suspect by Kent Alexander and Kevin Salwen
Warner Bros.
Rocketman
Written by Lee Hall
Paramount
The Song of Names
Screenplay by Jeffrey Caine, adapted from the novel by Norman Lebrecht
Sony Pictures Classics
The Two Popes
Written by Anthony McCarten
Netflix
Us
By Jordan Peele
Universal Pictures
Waves
by Trey Edward Shults
A24
