Resources

Screenwriting

This list includes recommended movies, books, periodicals, and web sites.

Movies

Action/Adventure

48 Hours
Beverly Hills Cop
Dark Knight (series)
DC movies
Die Hard
Dirty Harry
Girl With the Dragon Tatoo
Gunga Din
James Bond (series)
Jaws
John Wick (series)
Jurassic Park (series)
Kill Bill
King Kong (1933)
Lethal Weapon
Mad Max: Fury Road
Marvel movies
Midnight Run
Mission Impossible (series)
Pirates of the Caribbean (series)
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Romancing the Stone
Speed
Superman (1978)
The Fast and the Furious (series)
The Hunt for Red October
The Poseidon Adventure (1972)
The Untouchables
Top Gun
True Lies

Crime

American Hustle
Badlands
Bonnie and Clyde
Boyz n the Hood
Catch Me If You Can
Cool Hand Luke
Dead Man Walking
Dog Day Afternoon
Fargo
Get Shorty
Goodfellas
In Bruges
Inside Man
Jackie Brown
Mean Streets
Mystic River
No Country For Old Men
Ocean's 11 (2001)
Out of Sight
Papillon
Prizzi's Honor
Pulp Fiction
Reservoir Dogs
Scarface (1983)
The Departed
The French Connection
The Godfather
The Godfather: Part II
The Shawshank Redemption
The Thomas Crown Affair (1968)
The Usual Suspects
Training Day
White Heat

Comedy

40-Year-Old Virgin
9 to 5
A Fish Called Wanda
Adaptation
After Hours
Airplane!
American Pie
Anchorman: Legend of Ron Burgundy
Animal House
Barbie
Being John Malkovich
Being There
Big
Blazing Saddles
Bridesmaids
Broadcast News
Broken Flowers
Caddyshack
Clerks
Clueless
Coming to America
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Dumb and Dumber
Easy A
Election
Elf
Enough Said
Everything Everywhere All at Once
Fast Times at Ridgemont High
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
Flirting With Disaster
Galaxy Quest
Ghost World
Ghostbusters (1984)
Grand Budapest Hotel
Groundhog Day
Hairspray
Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle
Harold and Maude
High Fidelity
Lady Bird
Legally Blonde
Little Miss Sunshine
Mean Girls
Meet the Parents
Melvin and Howard
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
My Favorite Year
Napoleon Dynamite
National Lampoon's Vacation
Planes, Trains, and Automobiles
Postcards From the Edge
Raising Arizona
Risky Business
Rushmore
School of Rock
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
Shampoo
Sideways
Silver Linings Playbook
Slap Shot
Stranger Than Paradise
Superbad
Swingers
The Bad News Bears
The Devil Wears Prada
The Hangover
The In-Laws (1979)
The Lobster
The Royal Tenenbaums
The Ruling Class
This Is Spinal Tap
Tiny Furniture
Tootsie
Waiting for Guffman
White Men Can't Jump
Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
Withnail and I
Working Girl
Young Frankenstein
Zoolander

Comedy - Classic

A Night at the Opera
A Shot in the Dark
Arsenic and Old Lace
Dr. Strangelove
Duck Soup
Father of the Bride (1950)
His Girl Friday
Kind Hearts and Coronets
Miracle of Morgan's Creek
My Man Godfrey
Some Like It Hot
Sullivan's Travels
The Fortune Cookie
The Graduate
The Great Dictator
The Ladykillers (1955)
The Producers
To Be Or Not To Be (1942)
Twentieth Century
Unfaithfully Yours (1948)

Drama

12 Years a Slave
500 Days of Summer
A Beautiful Mind
About Schmidt
All the President's Men
American Beauty
An Officer and a Gentleman
An Unmarried Woman
Apollo 13
Away From Her
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Before Sunrise
Betrayal
Big Night
Billy Elliot
Blue Valentine
Boogie Nights
Boyhood
Boys Don't Cry
Breaking Away
Brokeback Mountain
Crimes and Misdemeanors
Dirty Dancing
Do the Right Thing
Erin Brockovich
Field of Dreams
Fight Club
Five Easy Pieces
Forest Gump
Glengarry Glen Ross
In the Bedroom
Juno
Kramer vs. Kramer
Leaving Las Vegas
Lincoln
Lolita (1968)
Lone Star
Lost in Translation
Marriage Story
Marty
Million Dollar Baby
Moonlight
My Left Foot
Network
On Golden Pond
One Flew Over the Cukoo's Nest
Ordinary People
Past Lives
Quiz Show
Raging Bull
Rain Man
Rocky (series)
Saturday Night Fever
Selma
Serpico
sex, lies, and videotape
Sling Blade
Slumdog Millionaire
Spotlight
Stand and Deliver
Stand By Me
Straight Outta Compton
Tangerine
Taxi Driver
Tender Mercies
Terms of Endearment
The Black Stallion
The Conversation
The Cooler
The Fabulous Baker Boys
The Great Santini
The Ice Storm
The Karate Kid (1984)
The Kids Are All Right
The Killing Fields
The Last Picture Show
The Piano
The Player
The Quiet American
The Social Network
The Station Agent
The Sweet Hereafter
The Verdict
The Wrestler
Thelma and Louise
There Will Be Blood
Trainspotting
Up In the Air
Wall Street
What's Eating Gilbert Grape
Whiplash
Witness
You Can Count on Me

Drama - Classic

12 Angry Men
A Face in the Crowd
A Place in the Sun
A Streetcar Named Desire
All About Eve
Brief Encounter
Casablanca
Citizen Kane
East of Eden
In the Heat of the Night
It's a Wonderful Life
Midnight Cowboy
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
On the Waterfront
Sunset Boulevard
The African Queen
The Apartment
The Best Years of Our Lives
The Days of Wine and Roses
The Grapes of Wrath
The Heiress
The Misfits
The Red Shoes
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
To Have and Have Not
To Kill a Mockingbird
Two for the Road
Zorba the Greek

Epic

A Passage to India
Around the World in Eighty Days
Ben-Hur
Braveheart
Dr. Zhivago
Gandhi
Gladiator
Gone With the Wind
Lawrence of Arabia
Reds
Schindler's List
Spartacus
Titanic

Ensemble

American Graffiti
Choose Me
Diner
Gosford Park
Love Actually
MASH*
Magnolia
Nashville
Short Cuts
Smoke
Syriana
The Big Chill
Traffic

Film Noir

Body Heat
Double Indemnity
Drive
Kiss Me Deadly
Night and the City
Out of the Past
The Big Sleep
The Lady from Shanghai
The Last Seduction
The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946)
The Sweet Smell of Success
Touch of Evil

Fantasy

Excalibur
Ghost
Harry Potter (series)
Jason and the Argonauts
Lord of the Rings (series)
Lost Horizon
Pan's Labyrinth
The 7th Voyage of Sinbad
The Princess Bride
The Shape of Water
Time Bandits

Horror

28 Days Later
A Quiet Place
Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein
An American Werewolf in London
Barbarian
Beetlejuice
Bride of Frankenstein
Cabin in the Woods
Carrie
Cat People (1942)
Dead Ringers
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931)
Dracula (1931l)
Eraserhead
Frankenstein (1931)
Freaks
Get Out
Halloween
Hereditary
Interview With the Vampire
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
It Follows
Midsommar
Night of the Living Dead (1968)
Nightmare on Elm Street (series)
Poltergeist
Psycho
Rosemary's Baby
Saw (series)
Scream (series)
Shaun of the Dead
The Babadook
The Birds
The Blair Witch Project
The Conjuring
The Descent
The Exorcist
The Innocents
The Mummy
The Omen (1976)
The Ring
The Sixth Sense
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
The Thing (1982)

Musical

A Hard Day's Night
All That Jazz
An American in Paris
Cabaret
Chicago
Funny Girl
Gigi
Grease
La La Land
Les Miserables
Little Shop of Horrors
Mary Poppins
My Fair Lady
Pennies From Heaven
Purple Rain
Singin' in the Rain
Sweeney Todd
The Sound of Music
The Wizard of Oz
Top Hat
Victor/Victoria
West Side Story (1961)
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
Yankee Doodle Dandy

Period

A Room With a View
Amadeus
Chariots of Fire
Dangerous Liasons
Elizabeth
Enchanted April
Gods and Monsters
Great Expectations (1946)
Hope and Glory
Julia
Little Women (1994)
Master and Commander
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Out of Africa
Paper Moon
Places in the Heart
Quest for Fire
Sense and Sensibility
Shakespeare in Love
Sophie's Choice
Sounder
The Adventures of Robin Hood
The Elephant Man
The English Patient
The Favourite
The French Lieutenant's Woman
The King's Speech
The Last of the Mohicans
The Last Temptation of Christ
The Lion in Winter
The Magnificent Ambersons
The Man Who Would Be King
The Mission
The Remains of the Day
The Sting
The Three Musketeers (1973)
Tom Jones

Romantic Comedy

A Touch of Class
Adam's Rib
Annie Hall
Breakfast at Tiffany's
Bringing Up Baby
Bull Durham
Duplicity
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Four Weddings and a Funeral
Green Card
Hannah and Her Sisters
Heaven Can Wait
Hit Man
How Stella Got Her Groove Back
It Happened One Night
It's Complicated
Jerry Maguire
Knocked Up
Manhattan
Moonstruck
My Best Friend's Wedding
My Big Fat Greek Wedding
Pretty Woman
Roman Holiday
Sabrina (1954)
Say Anything
Sleepless in Seattle
Sliding Doors
Something Wild
Something's Gotta Give
Splash
The Awful Truth
The Big Sick
The Goodbye Girl
The Lady Eve
The Palm Beach Story
The Philadelphia Story
The Purple Rose of Cairo
The Spectacular Now
There's Something About Mary
Tin Cup
Train Wreck
Trouble in Paradise
Truly, Madly, Deeply
What's Up Doc?
When Harry Met Sally

Science Fiction

2001: A Space Odyssey
A Clockwork Orange
Alien
Aliens
Arrival
Avatar
Back to the Future
Blade Runner
Brazil
Children of Men
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Cocoon
District 9
Donnie Darko
E.T.
Forbidden Planet
Gravity
Guardians of the Galaxy
Her
Hunger Games (series)
Inception
Independence Day
Looper
Men in Black
Planet of the Apes (1968)
Star Trek (series)
Star Wars (series)
Terminator 2
The Day the Earth Stood Still
The Fly (1986)
The Matrix
The Terminator
The Time Machine (1960)
Total Recall
Under the Skin

Silent

Battleship Potemkin
Birth of a Nation
City Lights
Greed
Intolerance
Metropolis
Modern Times
Napoleon
Nosferatu
Safety Last
Sherlock Jr.
Sunrise
The Artist
The General
The Gold Rush
The Navigator
The Passion of Joan of Arc
The Phantom of the Opera

Thriller

A Simple Plan
Angel Heart
Argo
Arlington Road
Basic Instinct
Black Swan
Blue Velvet
Bound
Cape Fear (1962)
Cape Fear (1991)
Charade
Chinatown
Day of the Jackal (1973)
Dead Calm
Deliverance
Don't Look Now
Duel
Fail-Safe
Fatal Attraction
House of Games
In the Line of Fire
Klute
L.A. Confidential
Laura
Memento
Michael Clayton
Munich
Night of the Hunter
North by Northwest
Open Water
Play Misty for Me
Rear Window
Sea of Love
Seven
Shadow of a Doubt
Strangers on a Train
The 39 Steps
The Bourne Identity
The Firm
The Fugitive
The Game
The Maltese Falcon
The Manchurian Candidate
The Parallax View
The Prestige
The Silence of the Lambs
The Third Man
Three Days of the Condor
Tightrope
Transsiberian
Vertigo
Wait Until Dark
WarGames
Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?
Wind River
Young Sherlock Holmes

Unclassifiable

Barton Fink
Carnal Knowledge
Ed Wood
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Mulholland Dr.
My Dinner With Andre
The Cook, the Thief, His Wife, and her Lover
The Crying Game

War

300
A Few Good Men
All Quiet on the Western Front
Apocalypse Now
Black Hawk Down
Breaker Morant
Coming Home
From Here to Eternity
Full Metal Jacket
Gallipoli
Glory
Henry V
Inglourious Basterds
Letters from Iwo Jima
Paths of Glory
Patton
Platoon
Saving Private Ryan
Stalag 17
The Big Red One
The Deer Hunter
The Dirty Dozen
The Great Escape
The Hurt Locker
The Thin Red Line
Three Kings
Zero Dark Thirty

Western

3:10 to Yuma (2007)
Bad Day at Black Rock
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Dances With Wolves
El Mariachi
Hell or High Water
High Noon
Jeremiah Johnson
Little Big Man
Lonely Are the Brave
McCabe & Mrs. Miller
Once Upon a Time in the West
Red River
Shane
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
Silverado
Stagecoach
The Assassination of Jesse James...
The Good, the Bad, the Ugly
The Magnificent Seven
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
The Outlaw Josey Wales
The Searchers
The Shootist
The Wild Bunch
True Grit (2010)
Unforgiven

Short Films

Film Shortage
Films Short
Funny or Die
Short of the Week
Shorts Bay
Sundance
The Smalls

Magazine/Website - General

Entertainment Weekly
Paste

Magazine/Website - Industry News

Deadline
Filmmaker
Hollywood Reporter
Variety

Podcast - Scriptwriting

Bullet Proof Screenplay
Indie Film Academy
Scriptnotes
The Q&A
Writers Panel

Magazine/Website - Scriptwriting

Creative Screenwriting
Hollywood Scriptwriter
Movie Maker
Script
Written By

Business Books

Adams, Max. The New Screenwriter's Survival Guide
Breimer, Stephen F. The Screenwriter's Legal Guide
De Abreu, Carlos and Smith, Howard Jay. Opening the Doors to Hollywood
Lennon, Thomas and Garant, Robert B.. Writing Movies for Fun and Profit

Craft Books

The Dialogue
Aristotle. Poetics
Egri, Lajos. The Art of Dramatic Writing
Field, Syd. Four Screenplays
Field, Syd. Screenplay
Goldman, William. Adventures in the Screen Trade
Goldman, William. Which Lie Did I Tell?
Gotham Writers' Workshop. Writing Movies
Gulino, Paul. Screenwriting: Sequence Approach
Hauge, Michael. Writing Screenplays that Sell
Hitchcock, Alfred and Truffaut, Francois. Hitchcock/Truffaut
Mamet, David. On Directing Film
Marks, Dara. Inside Story
McKee, Robert. Story
Riley, Christopher. The Hollywood Standard
Seger, Linda. Making a Good Script Great
Snyder, Blake. Save the Cat
Trottier, David. The Screenwriter's Bible
Vogler, Christopher. Writer's Journey

Helpful Places

Ain't It Cool
All Movie Guide
AV Club
Box Office Mojo
CineStory
Film Site
Filmmaker IQ
Filmmaking Net
IMDbPro
IndieWire
Internet Movie Database
John August
Luminate Film & TV Newsletters
MovieBytes
No Film School
Rotten Tomatoes
Screenwriters Utopia
Script Pipeline
Sundance Institute
The Blacklist
The Launch Pad
They Shoot Pictures, Don't They?
Who Represents
Women and Hollywood
Wordplay
Writer's Store

Organizations

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
American Film Institute
Directors Guild
Producers Guild
Writers Guild of America

Online Script Marketing

Inktip

Scripts

Daily Script
Drew's Script-O-Rama
Internet Movie Script Database
Script City

Software

Celtx
Final Draft

Link List

Gotham Reading/Resources Lists
New York Times Navigator

Publishing Platforms

Medium
Substack

Inspirational

Cameron, Julia. The Artist's Way
Gilbert, Elizabeth . Big Magic
Pressfield, Steven . The War of Art

Reference

Directory of Conferences and Centers
Encyclopedia Britannica
Fact Check
First Chapters
Google
Google Books
Google Earth
Google Maps
Info Please
Lexis/Nexis
Library of Congress
New Pages
New York Public Library
Snopes
US Copyright Office
Wikipedia
WorldCat

Software

Final Draft

Words/Usage

American Heritage Dictionary
Associated Press Stylebook
Chicago Manual of Style
Merriam-Webster Dictionary/Thesaurus
Oxford English Dictionary
Purdue Writing Lab
Roget's International Thesaurus (categorized)
Thesaurus (alphabetized)
Bryson, Bill. Bryson's Dictionary for Writers and Editors
Fogarty, Mignon. Grammar Girl
Strunk and White. Elements of Style
Zinsser, William. On Writing Well