Imaginative, thought-provoking, high concept and, best of all, extremely funny.

Weve been strong advocates for the benefits of reading screenplays for a long time as its one of the simplest ways to learn how to write.

If youre an aspiring screenwriter trying to break into the industry with a spec, its important to ignore all the little formatting quirks that often come with shooting movie scripts.

Sluglines with periods instead of dashes, large chunks of descriptive text, excessive use of camera angles and so on, are all expressions of writers whove made it.

So, without further ado, its time to get to the first best screenplay in our list.

Watch out for the long chunks of description, though, as this style isnt recommended in spec movie scripts.

They then set about developing the story into a thriller about a young man targeted by the FBI.

It was Rob Reiner who persuaded them to turn it into a drama and focus on the relationship between Will and his psychologist.

Earned a Best Screenplay nomination and is a personal favorite of screenwriter Craig Mazin.

An excellent case study in how to make voiceover work for and not against your script.

As understated as the movie itself, this screenplay is a real lesson in how to construct small scenes that move the story forward and keep the reader interested.

The result was this blistering account of the groups rise and fall and was only Berloffs second produced feature and Hermans first.

Nominated for the best screenplay Oscar but lost out to the schmaltzy Shakespeare In Love.

Adapted from the novel by Walter Kirn, this is a modern classic and definitely one of the best screenplays to read for aspiring screenwriters.

Beautifully tight and sparse writing about a lonely professor learning to loosen up after discovering a couple of illegal immigrants living in his New York apartment.

You can really feel Andrews torment and passion in these pages.

Many of them wound up in the final draft and its this mixing of realism with its avant-garde structure that makes it a great script to read for the aspiring writer.

But beyond the infamous wedding dress scene, theres a heart to this script and a vulnerable protagonist with whom we can all identify.

Along with (500) Days of Summer, this is probably the best screenplay to come out in 2009.

The writing is just as smart, funny and relevant as when the movie first came out over ten years ago.

Without a doubt, the best screenplay to read if youre writing a comedy road trip movie.

Payne and Taylor, however, get the story moving right off the bat by opening with Miles getting ready for the trip.

And the pace doesnt let up in this darkly funny story of middle-aged angst.

Download Wonderful Life 2005