Independent Spirit Award for Best Screenplay

The Film Independent's Spirit Award for Best Screenplay is one of the annual Independent Spirit Awards.

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
  • Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer – 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 (and the rest of the cast)
  • 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: (500) 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: TBA – TBA
  • 20th Century Women – Mike Mills
  • Hell or High Water – Taylor Sheridan
  • Little Men – Ira Sachs and Mauricio Zacharias
  • Manchester by the Sea – Kenneth Lonergan
  • Moonlight – Barry Jenkins and Tarell Alvin McCraney (story by)