The first four films follow Sidney Prescott and her struggle against a succession of murderers who adopt the guise of Ghostface to stalk and kill their victims, the killers often motivated by revenge, jealousy, and seeking notoriety.

Sidney receives support from town policeman Dewey Riley, tabloid reporter Gale Weathers, and film-geeks Randy Meeks and Kirby Reed, along with various other friends, romantic partners, and acquaintances that change as the series progresses.

Together with their friends Mindy and Chad Meeks-Martin (niece and nephew of Randy Meeks) and some of the original survivors (including Sidney, Gale, Dewey, and Kirby), they must contend with new Ghostface killers.

[51] In the same month, it was confirmed that Neve Campbell and Marley Shelton would return to reprise their roles with Dylan Minnette, Mason Gooding, Kyle Gallner, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Mikey Madison, and Sonia Ben Ammar joining the cast.

[93] On April 2, 2014, it was reported that the show would be penned by Jill Blotevogel (Ravenswood, Eureka and Harper's Island), and would focus on a YouTube video gone viral which would have adverse repercussions for teenagers of Lakewood and serve as the "catalyst for a murder that opens up a window to the town's troubled past".

[107] The new cast members for the season are RJ Cyler, C. J. Wallace, Tyga, Keke Palmer, Jessica Sula, Giullian Yao Gioiello, Giorgia Whigham and Tyler Posey.

Craven initially intended to hire talented, but relatively unknown actors who had not yet had a "big break" in the film industry, as he had done with A Nightmare on Elm Street's Johnny Depp and Shocker's Peter Berg.

Craven believed their budget was inadequate to secure the actors they were pursuing but felt that Drew Barrymore's presence made people eager to take part and accepting of a lower salary.

[125] Many of the actors involved including Campbell, Cox, Sarah Michelle Gellar and Jerry O'Connell were starring in their own television series at the time making scheduling their availability with the film difficult.

[118] For Scream 3, Craven stated in an interview that convincing the central cast to return was not difficult but their burgeoning fame and busy schedules made arranging their availability with the film's production troublesome.

[124] Emily Mortimer was cast as Angelina Tyler but shortly after filming began it was discovered she lacked the required permit to work, resulting in her being flown to Vancouver to obtain one.

[124] Kelly Rutherford was cast after filming had begun as the production was undergoing constant rewrites and the opening scene evolved from requiring only a female corpse to needing a live actress with whom Schreiber could interact.

[131] Continuing the trend started in Scream, the production cast established and popular actors Hayden Panettiere, Rory Culkin, Anna Paquin, Kristen Bell and Emma Roberts.

[117] Williamson was told early on by his agent, Rob Paris, that the saturation of violence and gore in his script would make it "impossible" to sell and following its purchase by Miramax he was required to remove much of the gorier scenes.

[120] Following the release of Scream, Williamson confirmed that he had considered a concept for a sequel where the character Sidney Prescott attends college and a copycat killer begins stalking her.

[125] The short production schedule on Scream 2 and his work on other projects meant that Williamson's final script used for the film was detailed in some areas but lacking in others, the intention being for Craven to fill out these scenes on set.

[120] Bob Weinstein disliked the Ghostface mask, believing it was not "scary", and the studio, upon reviewing the dailies footage of the opening scene, were concerned that it was progressing in a direction they did not want and there was consideration that Craven could ultimately be replaced.

[122] To assuage their concerns, the first thirteen minutes of the opening scene were compiled as a workprint, a rough version of the finished film, and upon seeing it, the studio were content to let Craven continue and Weinstein was satisfied that the mask could be scary.

[122] The scene was considered the most difficult to shoot, as it took place entirely in one location, yet featured the individual stories and deaths of multiple characters, and as it was set at night, meant that production had to halt at daybreak.

[126] After his interactions with the MPAA in Scream, Craven sent them a copy of the film that was intentionally much more graphically violent than they were planning to release, featuring Omar Epps' character being stabbed in the ear three times and an extended scene of Randy Meeks' death.

Craven sent for samples of Beltrami's work and was impressed by what he heard, bringing him to the set to view the first thirteen minutes of the film featuring the introduction and murder of the character Casey Becker.

[150] An acoustic cover of Blue Öyster Cult's "Don't Fear the Reaper" plays softly in the background to Sidney and Billy's discussion of their relationship, which analyst Jeff Smith describes as: An ironic comment on the brutality we have just seen in the opening sequence.

The test audience reaction to it influenced the studio keep the Zimmer piece, reducing "Dewey's Theme", which Beltrami had composed to fill its place, to minor use during more serious scenes involving the character.

[167] The Scream series, when compared to other top-grossing American horror series—A Nightmare on Elm Street, Child's Play, Friday the 13th, Halloween, and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre—and adjusting for 2023 inflation, takes fourth place with $779.5 million.

"[198] Williamson's script received praise for its "fiendishly clever, complicated plot" which "deftly mixes irony, self-reference and wry social commentary with chills and blood spills.

[209] Not all reviews were negative: Kevin Thomas at the Los Angeles Times called it "genuinely scary and also highly amusing"[210] and Tom Coates at the BBC stated that "as the conclusion to the trilogy it works more effectively than anyone had a right to expect".

Chicago Sun-Times's Richard Roeper gave the film three out of four stars, writing "Nevertheless, off we go on another aggressively gruesome, wickedly funny and at times cleverly staged Scream-fest that cheerfully defies logic while hitting all the right notes we've come to expect from the franchise."

[257] Included in the missing pieces was the track "Cassandra Aria" created by Danny Elfman, described by soundtrack-review site Filmtracks as "a frenzied, choral-enhanced three minutes" that remains unreleased as of March 2011[update].

The Scream 3 original soundtrack was released on January 25, 2000, by Wind-up Records featuring 18 songs consisting largely of the metal genre by artists such as System of a Down and Powerman 5000, some of which are represented in the film.

[119][284] On January 17, 1999, Ashley Murray, 13, was stabbed multiple times in the head and back before being left for dead by then-friends Daniel Gill, 14, and Robert Fuller, 15; he was later found and rescued by an elderly dogwalker.