Investigating the composition and format of great movies for a long time is one of the best ways to improve as a screenwriter. Fortunately, there are tons of fantastic script resources available online, many of which can be downloaded for free.

The top 20 websites for obtaining free screenplays from a wide range of movies are enumerated in the article that follows.

Learn more: Top 19 Best Websites To Download Movie/TV Scripts for Free

Where can I find scripts online?

There are many scripts available online. If you're looking for a script, the easiest way to find it is by Googling it. Title + Script (or Screenplay) + PDF, for example:

"Little Miss Sunshine screenplay pdf"

The majority of television scripts available online are pilots. To find the pilot script for Stranger Things, search "Stranger Things pilot script pdf".

If you prefer browsing, here are the best sites for finding scripts online:

Luckily, the internet has made the search for screenplays and scripts much easier. Here are six go-to resources.

Top 20 Best Websites to Read And Study Movie/TV Scripts for Free and Legal

1. Internet Movie Script Database

Visit Website: https://imsdb.com/

Internet Movie Script Database

A huge number of screenplays can be found on IMSDb. It claims to have "the largest collection of movie scripts found anywhere on the web." Along with an easy-to-use home page, IMSDb sorts scripts by genre and/or alphabetically, so you can find what you're looking for quickly. Each script has information about the cast and crew as well as fun facts for people who want to follow the rabbit even further.

2. Simply Scripts

Visit Website: https://www.simplyscripts.com/movie-scripts.html

Simply Scripts

This one resource holds thousands of scripts from a number of different hosting sites. You don't have to search the web for it; Simply Scripts does it for you. You can use the website to look at more than just basic options. It has scripts for movies and TV shows, as well as radio shows, plays, and treatments that haven't been made yet. You can read, for example, William Dozier's 1966 plan for a movie called "Batman Meets Godzilla." Dozier created the TV show "Batman."

3. Movie Scripts and Screenplays

Visit Website:http://www.moviescriptsandscreenplays.com/

Movie Scripts and Screenplays is a simple site with scripts, links, and that's it. It's like the Daily Script. If you want to find a new screenplay, you should look elsewhere since the site doesn't seem to be updated very often.

4. Drew’s Script-O-Rama

Visit Website: http://www.script-o-rama.com/

You can find screenplays at Drew's Script-O-Rama, which has been around since 1995. Plus, for those who really know their script, here's an extra: A lot of the entries have been revised more than once. Dan O'Bannon and Ronald Shusett wrote the screenplay for Ridley Scott's 1979 horror movie "Alien." You can read both a "early draft" (1976) and a "revised final draft" (1978). For new writers, it's very helpful to see how a story changes as it's being written.

5. The Script Lab

Visit Website: https://thescriptlab.com/

The Script Lab

The best thing about the Script Lab is that it has a lot of screenplays that were written recently. The site has some classics, but you can also download scripts for movies like "Oppenheimer," "Poor Things," and "American Fiction," which won the Oscar for best adapted screenplay in 2024.

There is a free account sign-up process at The Script Lab to download scripts. They have a lot of feature scripts and more TV scripts than some other sites. It was worth it.

6. The Daily Script

Visit Website: https://www.dailyscript.com/movie.html

In addition to having a large collection of scripts for movies and TV shows in many different genres, you will notice that this site uses the font Courier New. It may not seem important, but that is the font used for screenplays. It helps to be immersed in everything.

7. Screenplays for You

Visit Website: https://sfy.ru/scripts

Writing scripts for You is a script database, with only scripts. SFY has hundreds of screenplays from movies made over many years. Most of the scripts here are "shooting drafts," which means they are formatted to look like the script did during filming and not like a copy that was written after the movie came out.

8. John August

Visit Website: https://johnaugust.com/

John August

John August is a great person to know if you write comic books. You can use the scripts, schedules, breakdowns, and drafts on his website as guides. There aren't many scripts to choose from, but the ones that are there are all very good. Craig Mazin and John August are both hosts of the Scriptnotes podcast, where they talk about writing and making movies.

9. StudioBinder

Visit Website: https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/best-free-movie-scripts-online/

StudioBinder

The collection in this source is good and varied, but the entries with their own "Script Analysis" sections are what make it really useful. If you want to read more scripts, these will help you understand how the stories are put together in other movies.

Make sure that the screenplay you download or read online is a real one before you use it. Many sites offer a transcript, which is a copy of the dialogue from the movie. There is no way this could be used to teach you anything because it looks nothing like a script.

10. BBC Script Library

Website: https://www.bbc.co.uk/writers/scripts/

A nice selection of scripts you can download from the BBC. Great resource for Doctor Who scripts.

11. DEADLINE – Read the Screenplay

Visit Website: https://deadline.com/tag/read-the-screenplay/

Scripts are often put online through Deadline during the film awards season, which runs from December to March. Remember to get the scripts as soon as you see them. They are sometimes taken down when award season is over.

12. Horror Lair

Visit Website: http://www.horrorlair.com/

Horror Lair

This is the right place for you if you like scary movies. In Horror Lair, there are a lot of scripts that are all scary. If you dare, check it out.

13. NoFilmSchool

Visit Website: https://nofilmschool.com/tag/2014-screenplays-fyc

NoFilmSchool

You already know that NoFilmSchool is a great place to get news and information about making movies, but did you know that they now share screenplays too? Over the past few weeks, Christopher Boone, an NFS writer, has been putting together articles with links to movie scripts. The list is getting pretty good.

14. Old Time Radio

Website: https://otrr.org/

Old Time Radio

Tons and tons of digitized old radio scripts in PDF format.

There are a lot of passionate listeners and strong supporters of "Old Time Radio" in the OTRR Group. One of the group's goals is to restore, preserve, and share old radio shows from the 1930s to 1960s, which are often called the "Golden Age of Radio." The OTRR Group is made up of volunteers from all over the world. They are working hard to keep our wonderful radio heritage alive through many ongoing projects.

15. TV Writing

Visit Website: https://sites.google.com/site/tvwriting/

There is no better place on the web to find a huge collection of current and old TV pilots, pitches, and show bibles in PDF format.

16. Script Reader Pro

Visit Website: https://www.scriptreaderpro.com/best-screenplays-to-read/

Downloadable screenplays for current films across multiple genres.

17. Rick Garman - Personal Site

Visit Website: https://rickgarman.com/projects/tv-movies/

Rick Garman's personal website. He writes and produces music. On the site, Garman shares production scripts for recent Hallmark movies that he wrote or helped make.

18. Archive.Org

Website: https://archive.org/

Occasionally, you can find certain scripts on the Internet Archive.

19. The Script Savant

Website: https://thescriptsavant.com/

The Script Savant

Large selection of scripts and transcripts in mostly PDF format.

Anything that you try is hard to be good at. Some say that writing for movies is one of the hardest things in the world to get good at. A million people wish they could write good movies. Not many people are successful. No matter what you may have heard, if you want to be successful, you need to get better than 98% of your competitors. It takes a lot of time and work to get good at telling stories and having talent.

Give yourself a chance if you REALLY want to be a successful screenwriter by following these steps. If they look like too much trouble, choose a different job that fits your skills better.

20. Script Slug

Website: https://www.scriptslug.com/

Great site for mostly film scripts (but some TV) in PDF format.

Every famous movie or TV show starts with a screenwriter, who is often overlooked as a hero. To honor these storytellers, we've put together a treasure trove of resources that will teach and inspire.

Other Places to Find Scripts

University libraries, especially those with film or screenwriting programs, tend to have script collections. Check out our list of other libraries and institutions that collect scripts:

Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences

Margaret Herrick Library

Website: https://www.oscars.org/library

333 S. La Cienega Blvd.

Beverly Hills, CA 90211

Academy Primary Number: 310.247.3000

Telephone Reference/General Inquiries: 310.247.3020

American Film Institute (AFI)

Louis B. Mayer Library

Website: https://www.afi.com/louis-b-mayer-library/

2021 N. Western Avenue

Los Angeles, CA 90027

323.856.7654

The Autry Museum of the American West

Library and Archives

Website: https://theautry.org/research-collections

4700 Western Heritage Way

Los Angeles, CA 90027

323.667.2000

Los Angeles Public Library - Hollywood Branch

Frances Howard Goldwyn Hollywood Regional Library (HRL)

Website: https://www.lapl.org/branches/hollywood/collections

1623 N. Ivar Avenue

Los Angeles, CA 90028

323.856.8260

Thousand Oaks Public Library

American Radio Archives (some TV included) - as of 2021, is in the process of moving to UCSB Library

Website: https://www.library.ucsb.edu/special-collections

1401 E. Janss Rd.

Thousand Oaks, CA 91362

805.449.2660

University of California, Los Angeles

Special Collections

Website: https://guides.library.ucla.edu/film/screenplays

405 Hilgard Avenue

Los Angeles, CA 90024

(by appointment only)

310.825.7253

University of Southern California (USC)

Cinematic Arts Library

Website: https://libraries.usc.edu/locations/cinematic-arts-library

University Park

Los Angeles, CA 90089-0182

213.740.3994

[email protected]

Brigham Young University

L. Tom Perry Special Collections

Harold B. Lee Library

Website: https://lib.byu.edu/special-collections/

2060 HBLL

Provo, UT 84602

Indiana University

The Lilly Library

Website: https://libraries.indiana.edu/lilly-library

1200 E. Seventh St.

Bloomington, IN 47405-5500

Indiana University - Black Film Center/Archive

African American Film Script Collection

Library of Congress

Catalog

Moving Image Research Center

New York Public Library

Billy Rose Theatre Collection

40 Lincoln Center Plaza

New York, NY 10023-7498

New York State Archives - may provide photocopies for a fee

Motion Picture Scripts Collection

New York State Education Department, Cultural Education Center

Albany, NY 12230

(518) 474-8955

[email protected]

Syracuse University

Bleier Center for Television & Popular Culture

S.I. Newhouse School of Publication

Syracuse, NY 13244

University of Maryland

Library of American Broadcasting (TV and radio)

University of Pennsylvania

Annenberg School for Communication Library Archives

3620 Walnut Street

Philadelphia, PA 19104

215.573.2839

The University of Texas at Austin

Harry Ransom Center

21st and Guadalupe Streets

Austin, Texas 78712

University of Wyoming

American Heritage Center

2111 Willett Drive

Centennial Complex

Laramie, WY 82071-3924

Wisconsin Historical Society

The Wisconsin Center For Film and Theater Research

816 State Street

Madison, WI 53706

608.264.6466

In Conclusion

Ultimately, allocate time to peruse scripts of purportedly inferior films. An exceptional screenplay can devolve into a catastrophe due to inadequate execution. At other times, the narrative is inherently fraught with obstacles from the outset. Learning what to avoid is equally as valuable as studying the classics.

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