The Oscars: The Scripts That Shaped My Love of Storytelling

A personal reflection on the films I rooted for, and what they reveal about the stories we celebrate

Every year, the Oscars arrive with their familiar mix of anticipation, debate, celebration, and controversy. But for me, the ceremony has always felt more personal than political. I see it as a creative checkpoint. A reminder of the stories that shaped me, the scripts that made me sit up straighter, and the writers who showed me what was possible on the page.

When I look back at the years I’ve watched the Oscars - longer than I care to admit - certain films stand out. Not just because they won or lost, but because I rooted for them. These were the scripts that made me feel something unexpected, think differently, or fall deeper in love with the craft.

And when I trace that list, a pattern emerges. The films I championed reveal the kind of storytelling I value most: bold, human, surprising, emotionally intelligent, and unafraid to take risks.

The Films That Made Me Lean Forward

Some scripts didn’t just win awards, they won me over long before the envelopes were opened.

Promising Young Woman

Emerald Fennell’s screenplay was a jolt to the system. Sharp, provocative, and unapologetically original. Proof that a script can be confrontational and compassionate at the same time.

Anatomy of a Fall

A masterclass in ambiguity and psychological depth. Justine Triet and Arthur Harari's script trusts the audience to sit with uncertainty. Something I deeply admire in writing.

Parasite

Bong Joon-ho’s genre-defying masterpiece didn’t just win Best Picture, it shifted the global conversation. It proved that bold, socially incisive storytelling travels across borders, and that subtitles are no barrier to impact. Its victory changed the awards landscape, and my sense of what audiences will embrace.

Get Out

Jordan Peele’s script felt like a cultural earthquake. Precise, daring, and unforgettable. A reminder that horror can be a scalpel, not just a scare machine.

CODA

A quietly extraordinary screenplay. Tender, funny, and deeply human. Siân Heder shows that so-called “small” stories are never small when written with clarity and heart. Its win felt like a victory for sincerity.

Django Unchained

Tarantino at his most operatic and confrontational. Genre used as both entertainment and excavation.

American Fiction

Sharp, funny, and furious. Cord Jefferson's script is about authorship, identity, and the stories the market wants versus the stories we need. Satire with a pulse.

The Usual Suspects

A structural landmark. Whatever else has aged around it, the narrative construction remains a touchstone. A fantastic example of Christopher McQuarrie's restraint.

Women Talking

Sarah Polley’s screenplay is a masterclass in contained, idea-driven drama. Thoughtful, urgent, and deeply humane. It proves that conversation itself can be cinematic, and that moral debate, when written with precision and empathy, can be just as gripping.

Spotlight

Brutally honest. Proof that immaculate craft beats spectacle. Tom McCarthy and Josh Singer's script contains no flash, just precision. The kind of script that elevates an actors performance.

The Descendants

Beautifully restrained and character-driven. Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, and Jim Rash's script act as a reminder that quiet writing can carry enormous emotional weight, and collaboration can produce magic.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Charlie Kaufman showed me that structure can be emotional, and surrealism can be intimate.

Juno, Little Miss Sunshine, Good Will Hunting

Scripts where humour and heart coexist effortlessly. Warm, human, deceptively simple, endlessly resonant. Diablo Cody's irreverence, Matt Damon & Ben Affleck's heart and Michael Arndt's simple sweetness stayed with me and continue to be favourites for a rewatch.

The Social Network, The Departed, LA Confidential

Engineered screenplays with tight, muscular writing that wastes nothing. Aaron Sorkin’s precision and velocity, William Monahan’s hard-edged crime architecture, and Brian Helgeland & Curtis Hanson’s layered adaptation craft produced scripts I genuinely coveted. What an achievement to say you wrote one of these.

Brokeback Mountain, Sense and Sensibility, Schindler’s List, The Silence of the Lambs

Era-defining scripts and cultural landmarks. Written by Larry McMurtry & Diana Ossana, Emma Thompson, Steven Zaillian, and Ted Tally. These screenplays prove cinema can be art and reckoning at once. Intimate, literary, and unflinching in their emotional and historical weight.

The Ones That Didn’t Win, But Won Me Anyway

Awards are not the final word on greatness. Some scripts leave a deeper mark regardless of outcome. Bold, strange, tender, or simply ahead of their time. These scripts and their writers will always be winners to me.

Martin McDonagh: The Poet of the Profane

Brutal and tender, hilarious and heart-breaking. Often within a single scene.

• In Bruges

• Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

• The Banshees of Inisherin

His scripts don’t just land, they bruise.

Frank Darabont: The Master of Hope and Humanity

Emotionally resonant storytelling anchored in moral clarity.

• The Shawshank Redemption

• The Green Mile

His work reminds me that sincerity endures. Especially if Shawshank's IMDb score is any indication.

Greta Gerwig — The Voice of Intimate Universality

Warm, witty, and deeply observant.

• Lady Bird

• Little Women

• Barbie

Scripts that feel alive in the mouth and honest in the heart. Full disclosure, I did watch Barbie three times at the cinema. Couldn't help myself.

Christopher Nolan — The Architect of Narrative

Structure as emotional experience.

• Memento

• Inception

Precision with ambition. Never afraid to test his audience.

Randall Wallace's Braveheart. A sweeping, mythic, emotionally direct script. Epic storytelling that endures.

Neill Blomkamp's District 9. Sci-fi with political teeth and raw originality. Years after this film I have struggled to find something even remotely comparable.

Wes Anderson & Hugo Guinness's The Grand Budapest Hotel. Whimsy layered over melancholy. Style with soul.

Taylor Sheridan's Hell or High Water. Lean, soulful, quietly furious. This man's talent know no bounds.

Not to mention Saving Private Ryan, Foxcatcher, The Holdovers, Triangle of Sadness, Fences, Logan, Million Dollar Baby, Scent of a Woman. These films prove that longevity, impact, and emotional resonance outlive trophies.

What These Films Reveal About the Stories I Value

Looking across this list, clear threads emerge.

• I love scripts that take risks in structure, tone, or genre.

• I’m moved by emotional honesty and stories that understand people at their most vulnerable.

• I admire precision, writing built like a watch.

• I gravitate toward moral complexity, stories that refuse easy answers.

• I believe humour and heartbreak belong together, and the bittersweet films always land deepest.

• I value stories that say something about the world, not through lectures but reflections.

Why This Matters During Awards Season

The Oscars are imperfect, always have been. But they serve a purpose: they spark conversation about the stories we elevate, the voices we champion, and the craft we celebrate.

Every so often, a win like Parasite reminds us that bold storytelling can break through every barrier. From language, genre and expectation. It reminds us that originality travels, and risk resonates.

For me, awards season is less about prediction and more about reflection. These scripts shaped my taste, my standards, and my love of screenwriting.

They shaped how I read scripts. How I write them. How I think about story.

As another ceremony approaches, I’m thinking less about who will win and more about the scripts that already won me over.

Those are the ones that matter most.