The British Independent Film Award for Best Screenplay is an annual award given by the British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) to recognize the best screenplay in a British independent film. The award was first presented in the 1998 ceremony with Paul Laverty being the first recipient of this award for his work in Ken Loach's My Name is Joe.
Steven Knight, Armando Iannucci and Simon Blackwell are the only nominees who have received this award more than once with two wins each while Paul Laverty has received the most nominations for this category with six followed by Lynne Ramsay with four.
Winners and nominees 1990s YearFilmRecipient(s) 1998 My Name is Joe Paul Laverty Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels Guy Ritchie My Son the Fanatic Hanif Kureishi Nil by Mouth Gary Oldman Orphans Peter Mullan 1999 East Is East Ayub Khan-Din Beautiful People Jasmin Dizdar Ratcatcher Lynne Ramsay A Room for Romeo Brass Paul Fraser and Shane Meadows This Year's Love David Kane
2000s YearFilmRecipient(s) 2000 Billy Elliot Lee Hall Gangster No. 1 Johnny Ferguson Last Resort Rowan Joffé and Paweł Pawlikowski Purely Belter Mark Herman Saving Grace Craig Ferguson and Mark Crowdey 2001 Sexy Beast Louis Mellis, David Scinto Bread and Roses Paul Laverty The Claim Frank Cottrell Boyce Jump Tomorrow Joel Hopkins 2002 Lawless Heart Tom Hunsinger and Neil Hunter Bloody Sunday Paul Greengrass Morvern Callar Lynne Ramsay and Liana Dognini Sweet Sixteen Paul Laverty 2003 Dirty Pretty Things Steven Knight Buffalo Soldiers Gregor Jordan, Eric Weiss and Nora Maccoby Calendar Girls Tim Firth and Juliette Towhidi The Magdalene Sisters Peter Mullan Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself Anders Thomas Jensen and Lone Scherfig 2004 Shaun of the Dead Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg Ae Fond Kiss... Paul Laverty Dead Man's Shoes Paddy Considine and Shane Meadows The Life and Death of Peter Sellers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely Vera Drake Mike Leigh 2005 Millions Frank Cottrell Boyce A Cock and Bull Story Martin HardyThe Constant Gardener Jeffrey Caine Kinky Boots Tim Firth and Geoff DeaneMrs Henderson Presents Martin Sherman 2006 The Queen Peter Morgan The History Boys Alan Bennet The Last King of Scotland Jeremy Brock and Peter Morgan This Is England Shane Meadows Venus Hanif Kureishi 2007 Notes on a Scandal Patrick Marber And When Did You Last See Your Father? David Nicholls Control Matt Greenhalgh Eastern Promises Steven Knight Hallam Foe David Mackenzie and Ed Whitmore 2008 In Bruges Martin McDonagh Hunger Enda Walsh and Steve McQueen Slumdog Millionaire Simon Beaufoy Somers Town Paul Fraser Son of Rambow Garth Jennings 2009 In the Loop Armando Iannucci, Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell and Tony Roche An Education Nick Hornby Fish Tank Andrea Arnold Moon Nathan Parker Nowhere Boy Matt Greenhalgh
2010s YearFilmRecipient(s) 2010 The King's Speech David Seidler Four Lions Jesse Armstrong Kick-Ass Jane Goldman Made in Dagenham William Ivory Never Let Me Go Alex Garland 2011 Submarine Richard Ayoade The Guard John Michael McDonagh Kill List Ben Wheatley Shame Steve McQueen and Abi Morgan We Need to Talk About Kevin Lynne Ramsay and Rory Stewart Kinnear 2012 Sightseers Alice Lowe, Steve Oram and Amy Jump Berberian Sound Studio Peter Strickland Broken Mark O'Rowe The Iron Lady Abi Morgan Song for Marion Paul Andrew Williams 2013 Locke Steven Knight Le Week-End Hanif Kureishi Philomena Jeff Pope and Steve Coogan The Selfish Giant Clio Barnard Starred Up Jonathan Asser 2014 Frank Jon Ronson, Peter Straughan '71 Gregory Burke Calvary John Michael McDonagh The Imitation Game Graham Moore Pride Stephen Beresford 2015 Ex Machina Alex Garland 45 Years Andrew Haigh Brooklyn Nick Hornby High-Rise Amy Jump The Lobster Yorgos Lanthimos and Efthimis Filippou 2016 Under the Shadow Babak Anvari Adult Life Skills Rachel Tunnard American Honey Andrea Arnold I Am Not a Serial Killer Christopher Hyde and Billy O'Brien I, Daniel Blake Paul Laverty 2017 Lady Macbeth Alice Birch The Death of Stalin Armando Iannucci, David Schneider and Ian Martin God's Own Country Francis Lee I Am Not a Witch Rungano Nyoni Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri Martin McDonagh 2018 The Favourite Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara American Animals Bart Layton Beast Michael Pearce Disobedience Sebastián Lelio and Rebecca Lenkiewicz You Were Never Really Here Lynne Ramsay 2019 The Personal History of David Copperfield Armando Iannucci and Simon Blackwell In Fabric Peter Strickland Sorry We Missed You Paul Laverty The Souvenir Joanna Hogg Wild Rose Nicole Taylor
2020s YearFilmRecipient(s) 2020 The Father Florian Zeller and Christopher Hampton His House Remi Weekes Mogul Mowgli Bassam Tariq and Riz Ahmed Rocks Theresa Ikoko and Claire Wilson Saint Maud Rose Glass 2021 After Love Aleem Khan Ali & Ava Clio Barnard Benediction Terence Davis The Nest Sean Durkin The Souvenir Part II Joanna Hogg 2022 Aftersun Charlotte Wells Blue Jean Georgia Oakley Good Luck to You, Leo Grande Katy Brand Living Kazuo Ishiguro The Wonder Sebastián Lelio, Alice Birch and Emma Donoghue 2023 All of Us Strangers Andrew Haigh Femme Sam H. Freeman and Ng Choon Ping How to Have Sex Molly Manning Walker Rye Lane Nathan Bryon and Tom Melia Scrapper Charlotte Regan 2024 Santosh Sandhya Suri Kneecap Rich Peppiatt Love Lies Bleeding Rose Glass and Weronika Tofilska On Becoming a Guinea Fowl Rungano Nyoni The Outrun Nora Fingscheidt and Amy Liptrot 2025 The Ballad of Wallis Island Tom Basden, Tim Key On Falling Laura Carreira My Father's Shadow Wale Davies I Swear Kirk Jones Pillion Harry Lighton
Multiple nominations
6 nominations Paul Laverty 4 nominations Lynne Ramsay 3 nominations Armando Iannucci Steven Knight Hanif Kureishi Shane Meadows
2 nominations Jesse Armstrong Andrea Arnold Clio Barnard Alice Birch Simon Blackwell Frank Cottrell Boyce Tim Firth Paul Fraser Alex Garland Rose Glass Matt Greenhalgh Andrew Haigh Joanna Hogg Nick Hornby Amy Jump Sebastián Lelio John Michael McDonagh Martin McDonagh Steve McQueen Abi Morgan Peter Morgan Peter Mullan Peter Strickland
Multiple wins
2 wins Simon Blackwell Armando Iannucci Steven Knight
References
External links Official website