Emerald Fennell becomes the 1st woman to win a screenwriting Oscar in 13 years

(Image credit: Rich Polk/Getty Images for IMDb)

Based on her directorial debut, the Academy clearly foresees a promising filmmaking career from Emerald Fennell.

The writer and director of Promising Young Woman won the Oscar on Sunday for Best Original Screenplay, becoming the first woman to win a screenwriting Oscar since 2008, when Diablo Cody won for Juno. Diana Ossana also previously won Best Adapted Screenplay for co-writing Brokeback Mountain in 2006.

Fennell was considered the favorite to take this prize, although she had some tough competition from Aaron Sorkin, who was nominated for The Trial of the Chicago 7 and previously won a screenwriting Oscar for The Social Network. Fennell is also nominated for Best Director, making her one of only seven women to ever be up for this award in Oscars history. Since Chloé Zhao is also nominated, this is also the first year ever that more than one woman is in contention for Best Director.

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Brendan worked as a culture writer at The Week from 2018 to 2023, covering the entertainment industry, including film reviews, television recaps, awards season, the box office, major movie franchises and Hollywood gossip. He has written about film and television for outlets including Bloody Disgusting, Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Heavy and The Celebrity Cafe.