The 98th Academy Awards honoured Ryan Coogler for original screenplay and Paul Thomas Anderson for adapted screenplay, in a category critics called the easiest to predict
Coogler and Anderson Take the 2026 Screenplay Oscars for Sinners and One Battle After Another
The 98th Academy Awards honoured Ryan Coogler for original screenplay and Paul Thomas Anderson for adapted screenplay, in a category critics called the easiest to predict
The Winners
At the 98th Academy Awards on March 15, 2026, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Ryan Coogler won Best Original Screenplay for Sinners and Paul Thomas Anderson won Best Adapted Screenplay for One Battle After Another, according to Al Jazeera full list of winners. Anderson’s film also took Best Picture, and Anderson won Best Director.
For screenwriters the two awards are a snapshot of what the profession rewards in a given year: an original genre film with a strong authorial voice, and an adaptation by a director who writes his own scripts.
The Predictions Were Right
Awards analysts had called both categories early. A final prediction column on Awards Watch named Sinners as the favourite for original screenplay, noting wins at BAFTA, the Critics Choice Awards and the Writers Guild, and named One Battle After Another as the favourite for adapted screenplay. The author called both categories the easiest to predict and said there was virtually no room for an upset.
The column added that One Battle After Another was the first screenplay to sweep all the precursor awards since The Social Network in 2010. Precursors are the earlier guild and critics awards that tend to predict Oscar outcomes. The columnist’s list for adapted screenplay, in order, ran: One Battle After Another, Hamnet, Bugonia, Train Dreams and Frankenstein.
The Adapted Field
The adapted nominees as predicted were One Battle After Another (Warner Bros), written by Paul Thomas Anderson; Hamnet (Focus Features), by Chloe Zhao and Maggie O’Farrell; Bugonia (Focus Features), by Will Tracy; Train Dreams (Netflix), by Clint Bentley and Greg Kwedar; and Frankenstein (Netflix), by Guillermo del Toro.
These predictions are the columnist’s, written before the ceremony, and the official nominee list should be consulted for the final field. The prediction pattern is nonetheless useful: it shows that the awards season was dominated by a few films whose scripts won repeated recognition.
What the Wins Say About Craft
Coogler’s win for an original screenplay shows that voters still reward a distinct authorial concept in a film made by a major studio. Anderson’s win is a reminder of how much adapted work depends on the writer’s willingness to change the source. Both writers also direct, which gives them control over how their pages become images.
That is a useful lesson for writers who do not direct. Scripts that carry a clear sensibility and a strong sense of place are more likely to find a director who wants to make them as written.
It would be a mistake, however, to draw a rule from two winners. Many strong scripts go unrewarded, and awards reflect campaigns, release timing and voter taste as well as the writing.
Reading the Screenplays
Writers can study the winning work directly. No Film School compiled studio For Your Consideration scripts in December 2025 for educational purposes, collecting scripts that studios released as part of their Oscar campaigns. The page does not assign the scripts to Oscar categories or describe any as nominees. Reading the scripts remains one of the most direct ways to learn how published films were built on the page, though shooting scripts and final cuts can differ.
When reading, writers should look at how scene descriptions are written, how much dialogue carries information, and where the script breaks the usual rules. Each of these teaches more than a summary can.
Writers Who Also Direct
Both winning writers also direct their own scripts. When a writer is also the director, the script does not need to persuade an outside director to make it; it only needs to guide the writer’s own plan. That can allow a leaner page, with fewer instructions, and more room for the visual ideas to live in the director’s head. It also means that scripts by writer-directors can be less useful as models for writers who will hand their work to others.
A script written for someone else to direct has to carry more of the tone and intention in the text. Writers of that kind may learn more from scripts by writers who do not direct, which the studio compilations also include.
The Role of Precursors
The sweep that the Awards Watch columnist described is unusual. When every precursor points to the same script, the Oscar becomes close to a foregone conclusion, and the interest shifts to the next tier of contenders. For a writer watching the season, the lesson is to look at the whole race and not only at the winner.
Caveats
The winners are confirmed by the Al Jazeera list. The predictions and precursor notes come from Awards Watch and were published before the ceremony. This article does not describe the full nominee list, the vote totals or the campaigns. Readers who need those should consult the Academy’s official site.
For writers hoping to follow the same path, the most reliable steps are the dull ones: write often, finish scripts, and show them to readers who will be honest.
A Note From the Comic Press
Comic writers work the same news cycle from another angle. A recent run of dispatches on a property slump in Cebu shows the form: Manila News on slow condominium sales in Cebu, the London Prat on British pensioners asked for referees and a letter from the vicar (at https://prat.uk/cebu-estate-agents-demand-character-references/) and Bohiney on an Ohio realtor whose showings now last two hours. Each is anchored to a real market story and uses exaggeration openly. More is at prat.uk and bohiney.com.
For the lighter side of the news, there is always NewsThump.
SOURCE: https://bohiney.com/cebu-realtor-cant-sell-beachfront-listings/