Download scripts of award contenders
Students of screenwriting can have a field day in the height of awards season, when many studios post pdfs of screenplays online as part of their marketing for Oscar and guild award consideration.
Not every studio posts scripts online (cough Warner Bros. Paramount cough), and there are some films for which scripts appear either unavailable ("Midnight in Paris") or - given the film's editing process towards the finished product - are perhaps besides the point ("The Tree of Life").
Links of many of this year's contenders are collected and posted below. Click on them below to download pdfs.
"Anonymous" by John Orloff (Sony)
"The Artist" by Michel Hazanavicius (The Weinstein Company)
"Beginners" by Mike Mills (Focus Features)
"Bridesmaids" by Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig (Universal)
"Cars 2" by Ben Queen; Story by John Lasseter, Brad Lewis and Dan Fogelman (Disney)
"Coriolanus" by John Logan, from the play by William Shakespeare (The Weinstein Company)
"The Debt" by Matthew Vaughn & Jane Goldman and Peter Straughan (Focus Features)
"The Descendants" by Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash, based on the novel by Kaui Hart Hemmings (Fox Searchlight)
"The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" by Steven Zaillian, based on the novel by Stieg Larsson (Sony)
"Hanna" by Seth Lochhead and David Farr; Story by Seth Lochhead (Focus Features)
"The Help" by Tate Taylor, based on the novel by Kathryn Stockett (Dreamworks)
"The Ides of March" by George Clooney & Grant Heslov and Beau Williman (Sony)
"The Iron Lady" by Abi Morgan (The Weinstein Company)
"Jane Eyre" by Moira Buffini, based on the novel by Charlotte Bronte (Focus Features)
"Machine Gun Preacher" by Jason Keller (Relativity Media)
"Margaret" by Kenneth Lonergan (Fox Searchlight)
"Margin Call" by J.C. Chandor (Rope of silicon website)
"Martha Marcy May Marlene" by Sean Durkin (Fox Searchlight)
"Moneyball" by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin; Story by Stan Chervin, based on the book by Michael Lewis (Sony)
"My Week With Marilyn" by Adrian Hodges, from the book by Colin Clark (The Weinstein Company)
"Pariah" by Dee Rees (Focus Features)
"Shame" by Steve McQueen and Abi Morgan (Fox Searchlight)
"Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" by Bridget O'Cconnor & Peter Straughan, based on the novel by John le Carre (Focus Features)
"War Horse" by Lee Hall and Richard Curtis, based on the novel by Michael Morpurgo (Dreamworks)
"Warrior" by Gavin O'Connor and Anthony Tambakis & Cliff Dorfman (Lionsgate)
"Win Win" by Tom McCarthy; Story by Tom McCarthy & Joe Tiboni (Fox Searchlight)
You can also check out such sites as Simply Scripts and Daily Script.