In the film industry, an auteur is essentially an “author” of a movie. If one is deemed an auteur, they likely write their own scripts while hammering into each corner of production a vision of fresh artistic values.

While powerhouse directors like John Ford, Alfred Hitchcock, and Steven Spielberg for the most part stuck to directing alone, some of the most famous directors are also screenwriters. Whether they’re writing their own scripts, which is usually the case, or penning one for another director, the following filmmakers are masters at both crafts. Here are the ten bests directors who are also talented screenwriters.

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10 The Coen Brothers

     CBS Films

Joel and Ethan Coen began their careers with Blood Simple (1984) and Raising Arizona (1987). Then, they cowrote and co-directed films like Miller’s Crossing (1990) and Barton Fink (1992) before releasing their magnum opus: Fargo (1996). It firmly established their cinematic voice, with keen ears for timing and repetition of dialogue that built a specifically stylized brand of dark and absurd humor.

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And they’ve only released top-tier films ever since. Standouts include The Big Lebowski (1998), No Country for Old Men (2007), and Inside Llewyn Davis (2013), which all set the bar for the work of a modern writer-director.

9 Stanley Kubrick

     Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

His first two films — Fear and Desire (1952) and Killer’s Kiss (1955) — were written by Howard Sackler. Then, Kubrick made Dalton Trumbo’s script for Spartacus (1960). Aside from those three and Lolita (1962), Stanley Kubrick at least cowrote every other project of his career: nine out of thirteen features.

However, each film he did have a hand in writing — 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), A Clockwork Orange (1971), and The Shining (1980) for example — are all adapted from pieces of literature. They’re also classics, though.

8 Federico Fellini

     Columbia Pictures (France)

The two most famous entries of Federico Fellini’s filmography were La Dolce Vita (1960) and 8 ½ (1963), both of which he cowrote with three other people: Tullio Pinelli, Ennio Flaiano, and Brunello Rondi. And while Fellini might just be the most talented filmmaker on the list, that’s ultimately the reason he lands here at number eight: because he cowrote all of his scripts.

Granted, a few others recruited help in the writing process as well — but only one did so to the extent of Fellini. Ultimately, though, there’s no denying his impact as a writer-director.

7 Quentin Tarantino

     Miramax

The filmography of Quentin Tarantino is uniquely his own. He directs extended scenes of dialogue and aestheticized interplays of violence. He uses recurring actors and toys with narrative structures. If you’ve seen one Tarantino movie, you’ll likely recognize the next.

Pulp Fiction (1994), Inglourious Basterds (2009), and Django Unchained (2012) were some of the biggest movies of their respective decades. But he’s also written three scripts that he didn’t direct: True Romance (1993), Natural Born Killers (1994) and From Dusk Till Dawn (1996). Tarantino knows what he’s doing, and he’ll forever see his visions into fruition.

6 Akira Kurosawa

     Toho

Like Fellini, Akira Kurosawa cowrote every major film of his career: Rashomon (1950), Seven Samurai (1954), and Yojimbo (1961), most prominently. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it does mean that he forfeited a degree of creative latitude in doing so. That said: those listed are some of the best films ever imagined.

And that list didn’t even include classics like Throne of Blood (1958), Sanjuro (1962), or High and Low (1963). Spanning multiple genres, Kurosawa and his team of screenwriters showed they had tricks up each of their sleeves.

5 Woody Allen

     TriStar Pictures

Though he peaked with Annie Hall (1977), Woody Allen has been anything but inactive since. Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) and Husband and Wives (1992) are two excellent additions to his filmography. He hasn’t had the greatest run in the twenty-first century, but Midnight in Paris (2011) is definitely noteworthy.

In the end, Woody Allen has more nominations for Best Original Screenplay than anyone else at the Oscars, and it isn’t even close. He’s in front, with fourteen, and in second place is Fellini with six. Allen also has the most wins with three, but several people are close with two. Still impressive, though.

4 Jean-Luc Godard

     Les Films Impéria

A leading figure of the French New Wave film movement, Jean-Luc Godard’s career helped popularize the term “auteur.” With innovative projects like Breathless (1960), Band of Outsiders (1964), and Week-end (1967), he inspired future generations of filmmakers like very few before him.

He wrote and directed over forty films throughout his career, but his releases from 1960-1967 — The French New Wave, roughly — were specifically for the record books. The movement at hand put its directors at the center of the map, and Godard was the “X” that marked the spot of most significance.

3 Orson Welles

     RKO Radio Pictures

With Citizen Kane (1941), Orson Welles essentially set the bar for a filmmaker penning a script that they would subsequently direct. He cowrote the film with Herman J. Mankiewicz, and they won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. But Welles tackled plenty of scripts by himself, too.

The Magnificent Ambersons (1942) and Touch of Evil (1958) are two examples. They’ve both been inducted into the National Film Registry, and helped cement his legacy as one of the greatest writer-directors to ever do it. And one of the greatest in general.

2 Ingmar Bergman

     Svensk Filmindustri

Ingmar Bergman was nominated five times at the Academy Awards for Best Original Screenplay. Each film was written by him, and no one else. Among his most famous works are The Seventh Seal (1957) and Wild Strawberries (1957), which are widely considered two of the best films ever made. Writing and directing both in the same year is one of the most impressive feats in cinema history.

And recounting those two films doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of Bergman’s legendary career. That’s all that needs to be said.

1 Billy Wilder

     Paramount Pictures

With films like Double Indemnity (1944), Some Like It Hot (1959), and The Apartment (1960), Billy Wilder released absolute classics for three decades in a row. He even helped Charles Brackett write Ninotchka (1939), the writing duo’s first of many collaborations, and they would proceed to distinguish themselves as the bests.

Brackett cowrote many Wilder films including The Lost Weekend (1945) and Sunset Boulevard (1950). And that’s not scratching the surface. They cowrote fourteen total films together, all of which Wilder directed. And what sets him apart from the other writer-directors is that the films he wrote on his own were some of the best ever made.