| Nebula Award for Best Script | |
| Awarded For: | The best science fiction or fantasy movie or television episode script released in the prior calendar year |
| Presenter: | Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association |
| Year: | 1974 |
| Year2: | 2009 |
| Website: | sfwa.org/nebula-awards/ |
The Nebula Award for Best Script was given each year by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA) for science fiction or fantasy scripts for movies or television episodes. Awards are also given out for published literary works in the novel, novella, novelette, and short story categories. The Nebula Award for Best Script was awarded annually from 1974 through 1978, and from 2000 through 2009. It was presented under several names; in 1974, 1975, and 1977 the award was for Best Dramatic Presentation, while in 1976 the award was for Best Dramatic Writing. The award was discontinued in 2010 and replaced with Ray Bradbury Nebula Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation; this award was not originally a Nebula but was made one retroactively in 2019, and is presented at the Nebula Awards Ceremony and follows Nebula rules and procedures. The Nebula Awards have been described as one of "the most important of the American science fiction awards" and "the science-fiction and fantasy equivalent" of the Emmy Awards.
Nebula Award nominees and winners are chosen by members of the SFWA, though the authors of the nominees do not need to be a member. Works are nominated each year between November 15 and February 15 by published authors who are members of the organization, and the six works that receive the most nominations then form the final ballot, with additional nominees possible in the case of ties. Members may then vote on the ballot throughout March, and the final results are presented at the Nebula Awards ceremony in May. Authors are not permitted to nominate their own works, and ties in the final vote are broken, if possible, by the number of nominations the works received. Beginning with the 2009 awards, the rules were changed to the current format. Prior to then, the eligibility period for nominations was defined as one year after the publication date of the work, which allowed the possibility for works to be nominated in the calendar year after their publication and then reach the final ballot in the calendar year after that. Works were added to a preliminary ballot for the year if they had ten or more nominations, which were then voted on to create a final ballot, to which the SFWA organizing panel was also allowed to add an additional work.
During the 15 nomination years, 14 awards for Best Script have been given, including the special award given to in 1978 but not including 1977, since no nominee was given the award. No winner was declared that year as "no award" received the highest number of votes. With three awards The Lord of the Rings film trilogy earned the most awards or nominations of any franchise. The Christopher Nolan Batman movies, Battlestar Galactica, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Doctor Who franchises have each had two nominations, but no wins. Hayao Miyazaki, Christopher Nolan, Joss Whedon, and The Lord of the Rings screenwriters have had the most nominations, with three each.
In the following table, the years correspond to the date of the ceremony, rather than when the work was first released. Entries with a blue background and an asterisk (*) next to the writer's name have won the award; those with a white background are the other nominees on the shortlist. Entries with a gray background and a plus sign (+) mark a year when "no award" was selected as the winner.
* Winners and joint winners + No winner selected| Year | Writer(s) | Work | Publisher | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (script), Harry Harrison (original novel)* | Soylent Green | |||
| Westworld | ||||
| Steambath | ||||
| (script, original novel) | Catholics | |||
| Sleeper | ||||
| and Don Bachardy (script), Mary Shelley (original novel) | ||||
| and Roland Topor (script), Stefan Wul (original novel) | Fantastic Planet | Argos Films | ||
| and Gene Wilder (script), Mary Shelley (original novel)* | Young Frankenstein | |||
| Dark Star | Jack H. Harris Enterprises | |||
| (script), Harlan Ellison (original novella) | LQ/JAF | |||
| (script, original story) | Rollerball | |||
| (no award)+ | ||||
| Harlan! Harlan Ellison Reads Harlan Ellison | Alternative World Recordings | |||
| (script), William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson (original novel) | Logan's Run | |||
| (script), Walter Tevis (original novel) | ||||
| Hollywood Pictures | ||||
| (script), Jane Yolen (original novel) | ||||
| and Tim McCanlies (script), Ted Hughes (original novel) | ||||
| Private Black Label | ||||
| and Robert Gordon* | Galaxy Quest | |||
| (script), Stephen King (original novel) | ||||
| (script) and Neil Gaiman (English translation) | Princess Mononoke | Studio Ghibli/Miramax Films | ||
| Being John Malkovich | ||||
| Unbreakable | ||||
| Dogma | ||||
| , Kuo Jung Tsai, and Hui-Ling Wang (script), Wang Dulu (original novel)* | Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon | |||
| O Brother, Where Art Thou? | ||||
| and Bryan Singer (story), David Hayter (screenplay) | X-Men | |||
| Buffy the Vampire Slayer "The Body" | ||||
| , Philippa Boyens, and Peter Jackson (script), J. R. R. Tolkien (original novel)* | ||||
| Shrek | ||||
| (script), Stephen King (original concept) | "Unreasonable Doubt" | |||
| Buffy the Vampire Slayer "Once More, With Feeling" | ||||
| , Philippa Boyens, Stephen Sinclair, and Peter Jackson (script), J. R. R. Tolkien (original novel)* | ||||
| and Jon Cohen (script), Philip K. Dick (original story) | Minority Report | |||
| Futurama | ||||
| (script), Cindy Davis Hewitt, and Donald H. Hewitt (English translation) | Spirited Away | |||
| Finding Nemo | ||||
| , Philippa Boyens, and Peter Jackson (script), J. R. R. Tolkien (original novel)* | ||||
| Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind | ||||
| Serenity | ||||
| Battlestar Galactica "Act of Contrition/You Can't Go Home Again" | ||||
| (script), Cindy Davis Hewitt, and Donald H. Hewitt (English translation) | Howl's Moving Castle | Studio Ghibli/The Walt Disney Company | ||
| Batman Begins | ||||
| Battlestar Galactica | ||||
| Doctor Who | ||||
| Pan's Labyrinth | ||||
| , Timothy J. Sexton, David Arata, Mark Fergus, and Hawk Ostby (script), P. D. James (original novel) | Children of Men | |||
| Doctor Who "Blink" | ||||
| and Jonathan Nolan (script), Christopher Priest (original novel) | ||||
| (script), David Lloyd (original graphic novel) | V for Vendetta | |||
| Star Trek: New Voyages | Cawley Entertainment Company/The Magic Time Company | |||
| , Jim Reardon and Pete Docter* | WALL-E | |||
| Stargate Atlantis |