Film & Television
Test your knowledge of Best Original Screenplay Academy Award Winners with a free trivia word search from thewordfind.com. Read each clue, work out the answer, then find it hidden in the letter grid — every puzzle is freshly generated, so no two plays are ever quite the same. Don't know an answer? Tap the hint button in-game to reveal the first letter, or just scan the grid — every answer is hiding in there somewhere. Between the clues and the full answer key below, this topic doubles as a quick study guide — good for a trivia night, a classroom quiz, or just picking up something new about Best Original Screenplay Academy Award Winners along the way.
Play This Puzzle →A few sample clues
This writer's screenplay for the political satire 'The Candidate' won the 1972 Oscar.
_ _ _ _ _ _
Co-writing Billy Wilder's 'Sunset Boulevard' earned this producer-writer the 1950 Oscar.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
A playwright by trade, this writer won the 1961 Oscar for 'Splendor in the Grass.'
_ _ _ _
This writer-director's script about a teen rock journalist, 'Almost Famous,' won the 2000 Oscar.
_ _ _ _ _
A suicidal chief of medicine faces a spate of mysterious deaths in this writer's 1971 winning satire, 'The Hospital.'
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
All 85 questions in this topic, with answers — use it to study, or just browse. Every actual play of the puzzle only pulls a random handful of these into one game, so knowing them all here won't spoil which ones show up or where they're hidden in the grid. Play it here.
A Swiss neutrality drama, 'Marie-Louise,' brought this writer the 1945 Original Screenplay Oscar.
SCHWEIZERThis writer's drama about a paralyzed veteran, 'Coming Home,' shared the 1978 Oscar.
SALTThis celebrated playwright co-wrote the 1998 winner 'Shakespeare in Love.'
STOPPARDThis British writer's Olympic drama 'Chariots of Fire' won the 1981 Oscar.
WELLANDThe 1943 Best Original Screenplay winner penned the wartime romantic comedy 'Princess O'Rourke.'
KRASNAThis comedian-turned-filmmaker's social thriller 'Get Out' won the 2017 Oscar.
PEELEThis Spanish filmmaker won the 2002 Oscar for the drama 'Talk to Her.'
ALMODOVARA British soldier and an IRA captive's bond drives this writer's 1992 winner, 'The Crying Game.'
JORDANA nostalgic novelist time-travels each midnight to the 1920s in this Woody Allen-written 2011 Oscar winner.
PARISA Brooklyn baker falls for her fiance's brother in this writer's 1987 winner, 'Moonstruck.'
SHANLEYThis South Korean director's class-satire thriller 'Parasite' won the 2019 Oscar.
BONGA dinner clash over interracial marriage anchors 1967's Oscar winner, 'Guess Who's Coming to Dinner.'
ROSEThis Texas-born playwright won the 1983 Oscar for 'Tender Mercies.'
FOOTETwo lonely Americans connect in this Japanese capital in the 2003 winning script, 'Lost in Translation.'
TOKYOA police lineup unravels into a legendary con in this writer's 1995 winner, 'The Usual Suspects.'
MCQUARRIEBest Original Screenplay's 1941 winner co-wrote and starred as the title tycoon in 'Citizen Kane.'
WELLESJournalists uncover a church abuse scandal in this writer-director's 2015 winner, 'Spotlight.'
MCCARTHYDecades before his hit TV shows, this writer won the 1947 Oscar for 'The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer.'
SHELDONA savant and his brother's road trip inspired this 1988 Original Screenplay Oscar, 'Rain Man.'
BASSA stripper's whirlwind marriage to a Russian oligarch's son unravels in this 2024 winner, 'Anora.'
BAKERA lonely man falls for his AI operating system in this writer-director's 2013 winner, 'Her.'
JONZEA group of working-class friends chase belonging in this writer's 1979 winner, 'Breaking Away.'
TESICHCo-writing the Doris Day-Rock Hudson comedy 'Pillow Talk' earned this writer the 1959 Oscar.
SHAPIROA suburban dad's midlife unraveling drives this 1999 winning script, 'American Beauty.'
BALLA WWII beachcomber turned coastwatcher meets a French teacher and her pupils in 1964's winning script, 'Father Goose.'
STONEThis writer's 1944 winning script chronicled Woodrow Wilson's presidency in the biopic 'Wilson.'
TROTTIThis writer-director's Texas family drama 'Places in the Heart' won the 1984 Oscar.
BENTONA Black pianist and his Italian-American driver tour the Deep South in this 2018 winner, 'Green Book.'
FARRELLYThis Italian director-writer won the 1962 Oscar for the farce 'Divorce Italian Style.'
GERMIThis anxious New York comedian won his first Oscar in 1977 for co-writing 'Annie Hall.'
ALLENCo-writing 'Good Will Hunting' with his friend Matt Damon won this actor the 1997 Oscar.
AFFLECKA botched bank robbery inspired this writer's 1975 winning script, 'Dog Day Afternoon.'
PIERSONThis actor-director's film about 1960s Northern Ireland, 'Belfast,' won the 2021 Oscar.
BRANAGHA washed-up superhero actor stages a Broadway comeback in this 2014 winner, 'Birdman.'
INARRITUCo-writing the war biopic 'Patton' earned this filmmaker (before his 'Godfather' fame) the 1970 Oscar.
COPPOLAAdapting an opera singer's true story for 'Interrupted Melody' won this co-writer the 1955 Oscar.
LEVIENA couple erases each other from memory in this 2004 winner, 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.'
KAUFMANAdapting a sprawling Western saga into 'How the West Was Won' won this writer the 1963 Oscar.
WEBBAn English country-house murder mystery, 'Gosford Park,' won this writer the 2001 Oscar.
FELLOWESThis writer's biopic about India's independence leader, 'Gandhi,' won the 1982 Oscar.
BRILEYA fashion-world comedy, 'Designing Woman,' brought this writer the 1957 Original Screenplay Oscar.
WELLSA husband-and-wife writing duo, Muriel and Sydney _ _ _, won the 1946 Oscar for the psychological drama 'The Seventh Veil.'
BOXThis writer's screenplay for 'On the Waterfront' won the 1954 Oscar and features 'I coulda been a contender.'
SCHULBERGA comic bank-heist caper, 'The Lavender Hill Mob,' won this British writer the 1952 Oscar.
CLARKEA journalist embedded with an Iraq bomb squad informed this writer's 2009 winner, 'The Hurt Locker.'
BOALThis lyricist-screenwriter won the 1951 Oscar for the Gene Kelly musical 'An American in Paris.'
LERNERThis writer's grim World War II combat drama 'Battleground' won the 1949 Oscar.
PIROSHKing George VI's stutter is the subject of this 2010 winning script, 'The King's Speech.'
SEIDLERThis French filmmaker's nearly wordless fantasy 'The Red Balloon' took the 1956 Oscar.
LAMORISSEFilmmaking siblings won the 1996 Oscar for the snowy crime comedy 'Fargo.'
COENHalf of the directing duo known as 'the Daniels' won the 2022 Oscar for 'Everything Everywhere All at Once.'
KWANInterlocking Los Angeles storylines about race won this writer's script the 2005 Oscar, 'Crash.'
HAGGISThis comedy legend won his first Oscar in 1968 for writing 'The Producers.'
BROOKSThis filmmaker's vampire-horror period piece 'Sinners' won the 2025 Original Screenplay Oscar.
COOGLERThis writer's noir mystery set in 1930s Los Angeles, 'Chinatown,' won the 1974 Oscar.
TOWNEThis writer's tale of two outlaws, 'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,' won the 1969 Oscar.
GOLDMANAn unconventional teacher inspires prep-school boys in this 1989 winner, 'Dead Poets Society.'
SCHULMANThe first-ever Best Original Screenplay Oscar, awarded in 1940, honored the satire 'The Great McGinty.'
STURGESThis director's nonlinear crime saga 'Pulp Fiction' won the 1994 Original Screenplay Oscar.
TARANTINOThis 1942 winner (with Michael Kanin) scripted the Tracy-Hepburn comedy 'Woman of the Year.'
LARDNERA grieving man becomes his nephew's guardian in this writer's 2016 winner, 'Manchester by the Sea.'
LONERGANA dysfunctional family road-trips to a beauty pageant in this 2006 winner, 'Little Miss Sunshine.'
ARNDTBlacklisted and writing under a pseudonym, this Oscar winner scripted 1958's 'The Defiant Ones.'
YOUNGA woman avenges her friend by targeting predatory men in this 2020 winner, 'Promising Young Woman.'
FENNELLWoody Allen's ensemble comedy-drama about three sisters in New York won the 1986 Oscar.
HANNAHA murdered man's ghost tries to protect his love in this 1990 winning script, 'Ghost.'
RUBINThis French director's courtroom drama 'Anatomy of a Fall' won the 2023 Oscar.
TRIETThis New Zealand filmmaker's period drama 'The Piano' won the 1993 Oscar.
CAMPIONA pregnant teenager's story won this former stripper-turned-writer the 2007 Oscar for 'Juno.'
CODYIts script coined the line 'I'm mad as hell,' and this 1976 satire about TV news won the Oscar.
NETWORKTwo friends flee across the Southwest in this writer's 1991 winner, 'Thelma & Louise.'
KHOURIA freed slave turned bounty hunter seeks his wife in this writer-director's 2012 winner.
DJANGOAn Amish murder witness drives this writer's 1985 winning script, 'Witness.'
KELLEYA pair of grifters running a long con drives this writer's 1973 winner, 'The Sting.'
WARDThis longtime Billy Wilder collaborator won the 1960 Oscar for 'The Apartment.'
DIAMONDThis 1980 Oscar-winning script tells of a gas-station owner who claimed Howard Hughes left him a fortune.
MELVINThis writer's screenplay for the London-set drama 'Darling' won the 1965 Oscar.
RAPHAELThis French director's romance 'A Man and a Woman' won the 1966 Original Screenplay Oscar.
LELOUCHOne of three credited writers on 1953's 'Titanic' script, sharing that year's Oscar.
REISCHThis writer's biopic about assassinated gay-rights leader Harvey Milk won the 2008 Oscar.
BLACK