Screenwriting
Screenwriting or scriptwriting is the art and craft of writing scripts for mass media such as feature films, television productions or video games.
Screenwriters either pitch original ideas to producers, in the hope that they will be optioned or sold; or are commissioned by a producer to create a screenplay from a concept, true story, existing screen work or literary work, such as a novel, poem, play, comic book, or short story.
The content is usually invented solely by the screenwriter, however spec screenplays can also be based on established works or real people and events.
In television writing, a spec script is a sample teleplay written to demonstrate the writer's knowledge of a show and ability to imitate its style and conventions.
The concept is usually developed long before the screenwriter is brought on, and often has multiple writers work on it before the script is given a green light.
The plot development is usually based on highly successful novels, plays, TV shows, and even video games, and the rights to which have been legally acquired.
Assignment scripts are generally adaptations of an existing idea or property owned by the hiring company,[2] but can also be original works based on a concept created by the writer or producer.
[3] Many established screenwriters, as well as new writers whose work shows promise but lacks marketability, make their living rewriting scripts.
When only small problems remain, such as bad dialogue or poor humor, a writer is hired to do a "polish" or "punch-up".
Prominent script doctors include Christopher Keane, Steve Zaillian, William Goldman, Robert Towne, Mort Nathan, Quentin Tarantino, Carrie Fisher, and Peter Russell.
Staff writers—often given other titles, such as story editor or producer—work both as a group and individually on episode scripts to maintain the show's tone, style, characters, and plots.
[7] Serialized television series will typically have a basic premise and setting that creates a story engine that can drive individual episodes, subplots, and developments.
Frequently, a creator remains responsible for the show's day-to-day creative decisions throughout the series run as showrunner, head writer, or story editor.
The process of writing for soap operas and telenovelas is different from that used by prime time shows, due in part to the need to produce new episodes five days a week for several months.
Writers may not script the dialogue used by the contestants, but they work with the producers to create the actions, scenarios, and sequence of events that support the game show's concept.
[11] Several main screenwriting theories help writers approach the screenplay by systematizing the structure, goals and techniques of writing a script.
According to this approach, the three acts are: the setup (of the setting, characters, and mood), the confrontation (with obstacles), and the resolution (culminating in a climax and a dénouement).
[23] Field noticed that in successful movies, an important dramatic event usually occurs at the middle of the picture, around page sixty.
So, the three-act structure is notated 1, 2a, 2b, 3, resulting in Aristotle’s three acts being divided into four pieces of approximately thirty pages each.
It is based in part on the fact that, in the early days of cinema, technical matters forced screenwriters to divide their stories into sequences, each the length of a reel (about ten minutes).
It is like a musical score, in that it is intended to be interpreted on the basis of other artists' performance, rather than serving as a finished product for the enjoyment of its audience.
For this reason, a screenplay is written using technical jargon and tight, spare prose when describing stage directions.
Next are action lines, which describe stage direction and are generally written in the present tense with a focus only on what can be seen or heard by the audience.
A drink is being prepared, The knife's blade shows again, juxtaposed is a shot of a chicken letting loose of its harness on its feet.
In the cinematic arts, the audience understands the story only through what they see and hear: action, music, sound effects, and dialogue.
[48] Screenwriting has been the focus of a number of films: In the United States, completed works may be copyrighted, but ideas and plots may not be.
However, since this service is one of record keeping and is not regulated by law, a variety of commercial and non-profit organizations exist for registering screenplays.
[citation needed] There is a line of precedent in several states (including California and New York) that allows for "idea submission" claims, based on the notion that submission of a screenplay—or even a mere pitch for one—to a studio under very particular sets of factual circumstances could potentially give rise to an implied contract to pay for the ideas embedded in that screenplay, even if an alleged derivative work does not actually infringe the screenplay author's copyright.
[55] In turn, agents, managers, and attorneys have become extremely powerful gatekeepers on behalf of the major film studios and media networks.
[56] One symptom of how hard it is to break into screenwriting as a result of such case law is that in 2008, Universal resisted construction of a bike path along the Los Angeles River next to its studio lot because it would worsen their existing problem with desperate amateur screenwriters throwing copies of their work over the studio wall.
