List of Most Famous Screenwriters

The film screenwriter's role is an essential blueprint for building every other movie aspect.

In alphabetical order:

Ben Affleck (1972-) - Good Will Hunting, Gone Baby Gone, The Town

Ben Hecht (1894-1964) - His Girl Friday, Some Like it Hot, Underworld (1927), Wuthering Heights, Scarface

Billy Wilder (1906 - 2002) - The Lost Weekend, Some Like It Hot, The Apartment, Sunset Boulevard

Cameron Crowe (1957-) - Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Say Anything, Jerry Maguire

Charlie Kaufman (1958-) - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Adaptation, Being John Malkovich, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind

Christopher Nolan (1970-) - Memento, Batman franchise, The Prestige, Inception

David Mamet (1947-) - The Untouchables, The Verdict, The Postman Always Rings Twice

Ernest Lehman (1915 - 2005) - North by Northwest, West Side Story, The Sound of Music, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolfe?

Francis Ford Coppola (1939-) - Patton, Godfather Part I and II, Apocalypse Now

James Cameron (1954-) - Titanic, Terminator, Aliens, Avatar

Joel and Ethan Coen - Fargo, Burn After Reading, The Big Lebowski, No Country for Old Men, Burn After Reading, True Grit

John Logan (1961-) - Gladiator, The Aviator, Hugo, The Last Samurai, Skyfall

John Huston (1906 - 1987) - The Maltese Falcon, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The African Queen

Kevin Smith (1970-) - Clerks, Dogma, Red State

Melissa Mathison (1950-) - E.T the Extraterrestrial, Kundun

Michael Mann (1943-) - Ali, The Last of the Mohicans, Public Enemies, Heat, Collateral

Nora Ephron (1941 - 2012) - You've Got Mail, Sleepless in Seattle When Harry Met Sally

Oliver Stone (1946-) - Platoon, Born on the Fourth of July, JFK, Scarface, Conan the Barbarian (with John Milius), Wall Street

Paul Schrader (1946-) - Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, American Gigolo, The Last Temptation of Christ, Affliction

Quentin Tarantino (1963-) - Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, Inglourious Basterds, Django Unchained

Robert Benton (1932-) - Bonnie and Clyde, Superman, Kramer vs. Kramer

Shane Black (1961-) - Lethal Weapon, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Last Boyscout

Stanley Kubrick (1928 - 1999) - The Shining, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Dr. Strangelove, Full Metal Jacket, The Shining, Eyes Wide Shut

Steven Zaillian (1953-) - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Moneyball, Schindler's List, Clear, and Present Danger

William Goldman (1931-) - Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, All the President’s Men, A Bridge Too Far, The Princess Bride, Misery

Woody Allen (1935-) - Midnight in Paris, Manhattan, Annie Hall, Take the Money and Run Manhattan