Best Adapted Screenplay

Out of 558 nominees for Best Adapted Screenplay, 12% were women. Of the 65 women nominated, 9 have won.* The category reached gender parity in 1992 when half the nominees (4 in total) were women. The only other year when 4 women were nominated was in 2021. That year, 3 of those 4 women co-wrote the same film (Borat Subsequent Moviefilm). Only 4 women of color have been nominated in this category. Three were nominated in or after 2018. All 9 women who won this award were white. 

Men and women were equally likely to be nominated only once in this category (82% of men vs. 84% of women). However, the numbers for those with multiple nominations diverge notably. Nine women and 72 men were nominated more than once in this category. The most-nominated woman (Ruth Prawer Jhabvala) earned 3 nods while the most-nominated man had 6 (Eric Roth). In 2024, Greta Gerwig became the 8th woman to be nominated twice in this category– only 3 of those women have won an Oscar. There have been 55 men nominated twice, 20 of whom have won at least once.

Thirty-six nominees for Best Adapted Screenplay were from underrepresented racial/ethnic groups.* This is 6% of all 558 nominees. There were 51 years when no underrepresented nominee appeared in this category. The first underrepresented nominee was named in 1970 (Jorge Semprún), with the first winner in 1974 (William Peter Blatty). More than half of the nominations for underrepresented screenwriters in this category have occurred since 2014, including 7 of the 9 winners. Only 1 underrepresented individual has been nominated more than once in this category: Barry Jenkins (2017, 2019). There were 80 white nominees who have more than one nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay.