Comparing WGA’s 101Greatest Screenplays with IMDb Top 250 Films
Michael Hennessy did something interesting:
I put together the following list to show the overlap (sixty-four screenplays) between the WGA’s 101 Greatest Screenplays and IMDb’s Top 250 Films (as of January 1st, 2015).
(I also created a Pinterest board here with poster images to represent all the films on WGA’s list .)
So an overlaps of 64 movies. Curious as to the 37 scripts WGA members deem to be worthy of recognition not on the IMDb list? So was Michael and he put together that list. Here it is:
ADAPTATION
ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN
BEING JOHN MALKOVICH
BEING THERE
BROADCAST NEWS
CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS
DO THE RIGHT THING
E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL
FIELD OF DREAMS
HANNAH AND HER SISTERS
HAROLD & MAUDE
HIS GIRL FRIDAY
IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT
JERRY MAGUIRE
LA GRANDE ILLUSION
MANHATTAN
MIDNIGHT COWBOY
MOONSTRUCK
ORDINARY PEOPLE
PATTON
SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE
SIDEWAYS
SULLIVAN’S TRAVELS
TERMS OF ENDEARMENT
THE AFRICAN QUEEN
THE LADY EVE
THE LION IN WINTER
THE PHILADELPHIA STORY
THE PRODUCERS
THE SEARCHERS
THE SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS
THE VERDICT
THE WILD BUNCH
THELMA & LOUISE
TOOTSIE
WHEN HARRY MET SALLY
WITNESS
Notice any trends there? I see a few things:
* Two Charlie Kaufman scripts: Adaptation and Being John Malkovich.
* Three Woody Allen scripts: Crimes and Misdemeanors, Hannah and Her Sisters, Manhattan.
* A lot of comedies. And several classic movies from the 30s and 40s such as The Philadelphia Story, Sullivan’s Travels, His Girl Friday and It Happened One Night.
How to interpret this? One thing is we have to figure the writers voting for the WGA list are older than the average IMDb user, so that might explain the inclusion of some of the more classic movies. But also, I suspect the writers, more knowledgeable about the history of screenwriting, had some of that in mind with their votes. For example, His Girl Friday is thought to be the first movie in which characters used overlapping dialogue, up to that point movies were much more ‘stagey’. It Happened One Night became the inspiration for the romantic comedy sub-genre. Adaptation is not only a great movie, screenwriters would be able to relate to much of Kaufman’s experience in the story as well as appreciate his Meta approach to storytelling.
What do you make of the fact that 37 scripts appearing on the WGA list aren’t in the IMDb Top 250?
For the rest of Michael’s post, go here. Thanks, Michael, for tweeting me the link! Speaking of which, you may follow Michael on Twitter: @stories4screens.
By the way folks, why not make it a goal to watch the 287 movies from both lists (IMDb 250 + 37 WGA movies)? A great learning experience. And while you’re at it, read as many of the movie scripts as you can. Remember the mantra:
Watch Movies. Read Scripts. Write Pages.
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