Members of the American Screenwriters Union voted this 2017 thriller, directed by Jordan Peele, as the best feature film of the past 21 years, topping a selection comprising 101 works in total.
"Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind", with Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet, takes second place on the podium, ahead of "The Social Network", which traces the creation of Facebook, and the South Korean film noir "Parasite", Oscar winner in 2020.
The writers' dream collection includes genres as diverse as animated films ("The Incredibles"), heist films like "Ocean's Eleven", the parody documentary "Borat" and works mixing anticipation and dreamlike like "Inception" by Christopher Nolan.
"The very concept of + writing for the big screen + is going through an existential crisis", underlines the screenwriters' union on its website.
"The studio system has given way to the streaming system where everything, whatever the source, competes for attention. This democratization of content has also changed a large number of rules," continues the site's post.
"The depth of character, once strictly reserved for drama or themed film, is not out of place in a superhero movie or in a movie featuring a misbehaving bridesmaid."
"And genres that were previously well defined, such as science fiction, horror, comedy or drama intersect freely, sometimes within a single scenario," continues the site.
This new selection of screenwriters follows on from a previous prize list, made fifteen years ago, which distinguished the legendary "Casablanca", with Humphrey Bogart, as the greatest screenplay of all time, followed by "The Godfather".
© 2021 AFP