Diane Renee Thomas (January 7, 1946 – October 21, 1985) was an American screenwriter who wrote the 1984 film Romancing the Stone, her only produced screenplay credit.

She was also originally hired to write the third Indiana Jones film, completing a first draft set in a haunted house before George Lucas and Steven Spielberg decided on a different approach.

[4] In 1978, while writing Romancing the Stone, Thomas was a cocktail waitress at Coral Beach Cantina on the Pacific Coast Highway.

George Lucas had initially suggested this approach, but Spielberg resisted the setting feeling it too closely resembled his earlier film Poltergeist (1982).

At the time, Thomas was unavailable to write The Jewel of the Nile as she was under contract with Spielberg;[5] she nevertheless received a "Based on characters created by" credit.

Douglas turned to Mark Rosenthal and Lawrence Konner to write the script, but Kathleen Turner disapproved of the handling of her character.

Douglas hired another screenwriting team, Ken Levine and David Isaacs, to rewrite the script, but the opening act need revising.

[4] On October 21, 1985, Thomas, her boyfriend, and another friend Ian Young attended classes at Pepperdine University and stopped for drinks on the way home.

[12] Original judges included Steven Spielberg, Michael Douglas, James L. Brooks, Norman Kurland, and Kathleen Kennedy.

The first[12] recipient of the award was Randi Mayem Singer (A 22¢ Romance),[13] who later wrote Mrs. Doubtfire (1993), other first-place winners of the award include: Carol Heikkinen[12] (Center Stage (2000 film) The Thing Called Love, Empire Records) for her script Alive and Well,[14] Gavin Hood, Stuart Beattie,[15] and Carol Barbee.