Independent Spirit Award for Best Screenplay

Winners and nominees

1980s

1985

• The Trip to Bountiful – Horton Foote
• After Hours – Joseph Minion
• Blood Simple – Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
• Smooth Talk – Tom Cole

  1986

• Platoon – Oliver Stone
• Blue Velvet – David Lynch
• A Great Wall – Peter Wang and Shirley Sun
• Salvador – Oliver Stone and Richard Boyle
• Stand by Me – Raynold Gideon and Bruce A. Evans

  1987

• River's Edge – Neal Jimenez
• Anna – Agnieszka Holland
• The Dead – Tony Huston
• Matewan – John Sayles
• Swimming to Cambodia – Spalding Gray

  1988

• Stand and Deliver – Ramon Menendez and Tom Musca
• Five Corners – John Patrick Shanley
• Hairspray – John Waters
• The Moderns – Alan Rudolph and John Bradshaw
• Patti Rocks – John Jenkins, Karen Landry, David Burton Morris, and Chris Mulkey

  1989

• Drugstore Cowboy – Gus Van Sant and Daniel Yost
• 84 Charlie Mopic – Patrick Sheane Duncan
• Heathers – Daniel Waters
• Miracle Mile – Steve De Jarnatt
• Mystery Train – Jim Jarmusch

  1990s

1990

• To Sleep with Anger – Charles Burnett
• – John McNaughton and Richard Fire
• Metropolitan – Whit Stillman
• The Plot Against Harry – Michael Roemer
• Pump Up the Volume – Allan Moyle

  1991

• My Own Private Idaho – Gus Van Sant
• Hangin' with the Homeboys – Joseph Vasquez
• Kafka – Lem Dobbs
• Mindwalk – Floyd Byars and Fritjof Capra
• The Rapture – Michael Tolkin

  1992

• The Waterdance – Neal Jimenez
• Gas Food Lodging – Allison Anders
• Light Sleeper – Paul Schrader
• A Midnight Clear – Keith Gordon
• One False Move – Billy Bob Thornton and Tom Epperson

  1993

• Short Cuts – Robert Altman and Frank Barhydt
• Combination Platter – Edwin Baker and Tony Chan
• Household Saints – Nancy Savoca and Richard Guay
• Ruby in Paradise – Victor Nuñez
• The Wedding Banquet – Ang Lee, Neil Peng, and James Schamus

  1994

• Pulp Fiction – Quentin Tarantino and Roger Avary
• Bullets over Broadway – Woody Allen and Douglas McGrath
• Eat Drink Man Woman – Hui-Ling Wang, James Schamus, and Ang Lee
• Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle – Alan Rudolph and Randy Sue Coburn
• Red Rock West – John Dahl and Rick Dahl

  1995

• The Usual Suspects – Christopher McQuarrie
• Leaving Las Vegas – Mike Figgis
• Living in Oblivion – Tom DiCillo
• Safe – Todd Haynes
• The Secret of Roan Inish – John Sayles

  1996

• Fargo – Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
• Dead Man – Jim Jarmusch
• Flirting with Disaster – David O. Russell
• The Funeral – Nicholas St. John
• Lone Star – John Sayles

  1997

• Chasing Amy – Kevin Smith
• The Apostle – Robert Duvall
• Touch – Paul Schrader
• Ulee's Gold – Victor Nuñez
• Waiting for Guffman – Christopher Guest and Eugene Levy

  1998

• The Opposite of Sex – Don Roos
• Affliction – Paul Schrader
• Blind Faith – Frank Military
• Gods and Monsters – Bill Condon
• The Spanish Prisoner – David Mamet

  1999

• Election – Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor
• Dogma – Kevin Smith
• Guinevere – Audrey Wells
• The Limey – Lem Dobbs
• SLC Punk! – James Merendino

  2000s

2000

• You Can Count On Me – Kenneth Lonergan
• Chuck & Buck – Mike White
• Love & Sex – Valerie Breiman
• Two Family House – Raymond De Felitta
• Waking the Dead – Robert Dillon

  2001

• Memento – Christopher Nolan
• The Believer – Henry Bean
• In the Bedroom – Robert Festinger and Todd Field
• Monster's Ball – Milo Addica and Will Rokos
• Waking Life – Richard Linklater

  2002

• The Good Girl – Mike White
• Lovely & Amazing – Nicole Holofcener
• Roger Dodger – Dylan Kidd
• Thirteen Conversations About One Thing – Jill Sprecher and Karen Sprecher
• Tully – Hilary Birmingham and Matt Drake

  2003

• Lost in Translation – Sofia Coppola
• American Splendor – Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini
• A Mighty Wind – Christopher Guest and Eugene Levy
• Pieces of April – Peter Hedges
• Shattered Glass – Billy Ray

  2004

• Sideways – Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor
• Baadasssss! – Mario Van Peebles and Dennis Haggerty
• Before Sunset – Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy, and Ethan Hawke
• The Door in the Floor – Tod Williams
• Kinsey – Bill Condon

  2005

• Capote – Dan Futterman
• Nine Lives – Rodrigo García
• The Squid and the Whale – Noah Baumbach
• The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada – Guillermo Arriaga
• The War Within – Ayad Akhtar, Joseph Castelo, and Tom Glynn

  2006

• Thank You for Smoking – Jason Reitman
• Friends with Money – Nicole Holofcener
• The Illusionist – Neil Burger
• The Painted Veil – Ron Nyswaner
• Sorry, Haters – Jeff Stanzler

  2007

• The Savages – Tamara Jenkins
• The Diving Bell and the Butterfly – Ronald Harwood
• Starting Out in the Evening – Fred Parnes and Andrew Wagner
• Waitress – Adrienne Shelly
• Year of the Dog – Mike White

  2008

• Vicky Cristina Barcelona – Woody Allen
• Sangre de Mi Sangre – Christopher Zalla
• Savage Grace – Howard A. Rodman
• Sugar – Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck
• Synecdoche, New York – Charlie Kaufman

  2009

• Days of Summer – Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber
• Adventureland – Greg Mottola
• The Last Station – Michael Hoffman
• The Messenger – Alessandro Camon and Oren Moverman
• The Vicious Kind – Lee Toland Krieger

  2010s

2010

• The Kids Are All Right – Stuart Blumberg and Lisa Cholodenko
• Life During Wartime – Todd Solondz
• Please Give – Nicole Holofcener
• Rabbit Hole – David Lindsay-Abaire
• Winter's Bone – Debra Granik and Anne Rosellini

  2011

• The Descendants – Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, and Jim Rash
• The Artist – Michel Hazanavicius
• Beginners – Mike Mills
• Footnote – Joseph Cedar
• Win Win – Tom McCarthy

  2012

• Silver Linings Playbook – David O. Russell
• Keep the Lights On – Ira Sachs and Mauricio Zacharias
• Moonrise Kingdom – Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola
• Ruby Sparks – Zoe Kazan
• Seven Psychopaths – Martin McDonagh

  2013

• 12 Years a Slave – John Ridley
• Before Midnight – Richard Linklater, Ethan Hawke, and Julie Delpy
• Blue Jasmine – Woody Allen
• Enough Said – Nicole Holofcener
• The Spectacular Now – Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber

  2014

• Nightcrawler – Dan Gilroy
• Big Eyes – Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski
• Love Is Strange – Ira Sachs and Mauricio Zacharias
• A Most Violent Year – J. C. Chandor
• Only Lovers Left Alive – Jim Jarmusch

  2015

• Spotlight – Tom McCarthy and Josh Singer
• Anomalisa – Charlie Kaufman
• Bone Tomahawk – S. Craig Zahler
• Carol – Phyllis Nagy
• The End of the Tour – Donald Margulies

  2016

• Moonlight – Barry Jenkins and Tarell Alvin McCraney
• 20th Century Women – Mike Mills
• Hell or High Water – Taylor Sheridan
• Little Men – Ira Sachs and Mauricio Zacharias
• Manchester by the Sea – Kenneth Lonergan

  2017

• Lady Bird – Greta Gerwig
• Beatriz at Dinner – Mike White
• Get Out – Jordan Peele
• The Lovers – Azazel Jacobs
• Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri – Martin McDonagh

  2018

• Can You Ever Forgive Me? - Nicole Holofcener & Jeff Whitty
• Colette - Richard Glatzer, Rebecca Lenkiewicz & Wash Westmoreland
• First Reformed - Paul Schrader
• Private Life - Tamara Jenkins
• Sorry to Bother You - Boots Riley

  2019

• Marriage Story - Noah Baumbach
• Clemency - Chinonye Chukwu
• High Flying Bird - Tarell Alvin McCraney
• To Dust - Jason Begue & Shawn Snyder
• Uncut Gems - Ronald Bronstein, Safdie brothers

  2020s