A screenplay or script is a blueprint for producing a motion picture. It can be adapted from a previous work such as a novel, play or short story, or it may be an original work in and of itself. A screenplay differs from a script in that it is more specifically targeted at the visual, narrative arts, such as film and television, whereas a script can involve a blueprint of "what happens" in a comic, an advertisement, a theatrical play and other "blueprinted" creations. Film is a term that encompasses motion pictures as individual projects, as well as the field in general. ... Film is a term that encompasses motion pictures as individual projects, as well as the field in general. ...

The major components of a screenplay are action and dialogue, with the "action" being "what we see happening" and "dialogue" being "what the characters say". The characters, when first introduced in the screenplay, may also be described visually. Screenplays differ from traditional literature conventions in ways described below, and in not involving emotion-related descriptions and other aspects of the story that may not be visually apparent in the end-product.

Every year, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences hands out Oscars in both Original Screenplay and Adapted Screenplay categories. In the United States of America, the Writers Guild of America has final control on who may be awarded screenwriting credit for a screenplay in a union production. Founded on May 11, 1927 in California, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) is a professional honorary organization dedicated to the advancement of the arts and sciences of motion pictures. ... Although he never won an Oscar for any of his movie performances, the comedian Bob Hope received two honorary Oscars for his contributions to cinema. ... The Academy Award for Writing Original Screenplay is the Academy Award for the best script not based upon previously published material. ... The Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay is one of the Academy Awards, the most prominent film awards in the United States. ... The Writers Guild of America (WGA) is the collective bargaining representative, or labor union, for writers in the motion picture and television industries in the United States. ... Screenwriting credit for motion pictures and television programs under its jurisdiction is determined by the Writers Guild of America (WGA). ... A Trade Union (Labour union) ... is a continuous association of wage-earners for the purpose of maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment. ...

A script for a television program is sometimes called a teleplay. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

Someone who writes screenplays is a screenwriter. Screenwriters, scenarists or script writers, are authors who write the screenplays from which movies and television programs are made. ...

The art of writing a screenplay is known as screenwriting and is dealt with separately. Screenwriting refers to the art and craft of writing screenplays. ...

Screenplay format

There is no unique "rule" for the writing of a screenplay, but throughout the world, within the relevant industries, several conventions are adhered to.

Film

Motion picture screenplays intended for submission to mainstream studios, whether in the US or elsewhere in the world, are expected to conform to a standard typographical format known widely as studio format which stipulates how elements of the screenplay such as scene headings, action, transitions, dialog, character names, shots and parenthetical matter should be presented on the page, as well as the font size and line spacing. Typography (from the Greek words typos = form and grapho = write) is the art and technique of selecting and arranging type styles, point sizes, line lengths, line leading, character spacing, and word spacing for typeset applications. ...

One reason for this is that, when rendered in studio format, most screenplays will transfer onto the screen at the rate of approximately one page per minute. This rule of thumb is widely contested -- a page of dialog usually occupies less screen time than a page of action, for example, and it depends enormously on the literary style of the writer -- and yet it continues to hold sway in modern Hollywood. Most experienced readers of screenplays can judge simply by weight and thickness whether the screenplay is 'too long' or 'too short'.

After weighing it in the hand, the next act of a harried reader or executive will be to flick to the last page to see the page count. Ideally a screenplay should be 90-130 pages long. Comedies and children's films tend to weigh in at the lower end. Anything more than 130 pages might set off alarm bells unless there is a substantial balancing factor (for example, a major director is attached to direct). Some of the most well regarded screenwriters such as Quentin Tarantino, often turn in screenplays with lengths exceeding 130 pages. While length is important, it isn't always necessarily indicative of quality and is something that can more readily be resolved with the final process of post-production, film editing. Quentin Jerome Tarantino (born March 27, 1963) is an American film director, actor, and Oscar-winning screenwriter. ... Film editing, also called montage, is the connecting of one or more shots to form a sequence, and the subsequent connecting of sequences to form an entire movie. ...

Most experienced readers can tell instantly whether a script is in standard studio format or not simply by looking at a couple of pages. If it is not, they will assume that the writer is inexperienced and may not read any further. Therefore it is important to know the rules.

Unfortunately, there is no single canonical standard for 'studio format' although the definitions of the format are mostly very similar. Some studios have definitions of the required format written into the rubric of their writer's contract. The Nicholl Fellowship, a screenwriting competition run under the auspices of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, has a useful and accurate guide to screenplay format. A more detailed reference is The Complete Guide to Standard Script Formats (Cole and Haag, SCB Distributors, 1980, ISBN 0-929583-00-0). There is also a compact, quick-reference chart with format specifications and examples called the Screenplay Format Guide from ScriptBuddy. Most screenwriting software comes with a set of templates for various screenplay formats which are more or less standard. Founded on May 11, 1927 in California, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) is a professional honorary organization dedicated to the advancement of the arts and sciences of motion pictures. ...

Screenplays are almost always written using a monospaced font, often a variant of Courier although other fonts are sometimes seen, including special bitmapped fonts intended to resemble the output of an old battered typewriter such as a Remington Portable. Courier is a monospace font that resembles the output from a typewriter. ...

Detailed computer programs designed specifically for screenplays, and many have templates for teleplays and stageplays. These programs have been designed to create industry standard screenplays and are used by professional screenwriters. A number of these programs offer access to online screenwriter communitys where you can publish your work for feedback from fellow screenwriters. Furthermore, screenwriting software is available for handheld devices (Palm OS, and Windows Mobile / Pocket PC). A list of screenwriting software can be found at the bottom of this article.

Television

For American TV shows, the format rules for hour dramas, like CSI, and single-camera sitcoms, like Scrubs, are essentially the same as for motion pictures. The main difference is that TV scripts have act breaks. Multi-camera sitcoms, like Two and a Half Men, use a different, specialized format that derives from radio and the stage play. In this format, dialogue is double-spaced, action lines are capitalized, and scene headings are capitalized and underlined. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation is a popular Alliance Atlantis/CBS police procedural television series, running since October 2000, about a team of forensic scientists. ... Scrubs is an American sitcom that premiered on October 2, 2001, on NBC. It was created by Bill Lawrence, who also co-created Spin City. ... Two and a Half Men is an Emmy Award nominated television sitcom centered around a hip single bachelor whose lifestyle is interrupted when his newly separated brother moves in. ...

The script format for documentaries and audio-visual presentations which consist largely of voice-over matched to still or moving pictures is different again and uses a two-column format which can be particularly difficult to achieve in standard word processors, at least when it comes to editing.

Physical format

American screenplays are printed single-sided on three-hole-punched letter sized (8.5 x 11 inch) paper, and held together with an industry standard of not three but two brass brads. In the UK, double-hole-punched A4 paper is often used, although some UK writers use the US letter paper format, especially when their scripts are to be read by American producers, since otherwise the pages may be cropped when printed on US paper. Despite the use of double-punched paper, it is common to see scripts in the UK held together by a single brad punched in the top left hand corner. This makes it easy to flip from page to page during script meetings and may have something to do with the taller page of A4. Comparison of the most common paper sizes. ... Piece of Letter paper Paper is a thin material produced by the amalgamation of plant fibres, which are subsequently held together without extra binder, largely by hydrogen bonds and fiber entanglement. ... For other uses, see Brass (disambiguation). ... This page meets Wikipedias criteria for speedy deletion. ... A comparison of different paper sizes A4 is a standard paper size, defined by the international standard ISO 216 as 210×297 mm (roughly 8. ...

Screenplays are usually bound with a light card stock cover and back page, often showing the logo of the production company or agency submitting the script.

Increasingly, reading copies of screenplays (that is, those distributed by producers and agencies in the hope of attracting finance or talent) are distributed printed on both sides of the paper (often professionally bound) to cut down on paper waste out of environmental concerns. Occasionally they are reduced to half-size to make a small book which is convenient to read or put in a pocket; this is generally for use by the director or other production crew during shooting.

Although most writing contracts continue to stipulate physical delivery of three or more copies of a finished script, it is common for scripts to be delivered electronically via email. Although most production companies can handle scripts in most formats, it is better practice to supply scripts as a PDF file where possible. This is because it gives the writer final control over the layout of the script, which may otherwise vary depending on what fonts and/or paper size the recipient uses to print the script out. The formatting software programs listed at the bottom of this article produce industry formatted standard screenplays in PDF. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

A detailed description of correct screenplay format can be found here.

Writing on spec or assignment

Screenplays can be written either on "spec" or as assignment.

Writing on assignment

Assignments are commissioned by production companies or studios on the basis of pitches from producers or writers, or literary properties they already own. Most established writers do most of their work on assignment and will only "spec" scripts which they think no-one will pay them to write, or if they cannot find assignment work.

There are exceptions: some very famous writers only write on spec because they know that they can get a better price for their work this way. Other writers spec scripts that they care deeply about so that they do not have to bend to the whims of executives and producers.

An assignment may be for an original screenplay, or for a screenplay based on another work such as a novel, film, short story, magazine article, non-fiction book or, increasingly, computer game. It may also, however, be for a rewrite of an existing script, and in fact this is how a large proportion of writers in the modern studio system make their living. Rewriting scripts is an art in itself and an extremely lucrative one at that: it is not unknown for trusted writers in the higher echelons of the industry to receive $200,000 a week (2004 numbers) for their efforts. $50,000 per week is not uncommon.

Rewriting is difficult because executives often have very clear ideas about what is wrong with a script, however, they are usually unable to provide detailed prescriptions for ways it can be fixed. This is not surprising, because screenwriting is not the expertise of the executive, but of the screenwriter. The writer is therefore usually expected to come up with a detailed prescription for how the script can be improved, and then execute this in a timely fashion. During the process of choosing a writer to rewrite a script the executives may ask several writers for their 'take' and choose the one who appears to have the greatest likelihood of moving the script forward to the point where it may be greenlit for production. To greenlight a project, in the context of the movie business, is to formally approve production finance, thereby allowing the project to move forward from the development phase to pre-production and, barring disasters, principal photography. ...

Before 'going to script' a writer may be asked to write a treatment, an outline, or a step outline describing the script in various granularities of detail. Some writers resist this process and will do anything to avoid it and get down the writing the script itself; others embrace the process. It is fair to say that producers tend to be wary of the former and pleasantly surprised by the latter. A treatment or more properly film treatment is a short piece of prose intended to be turned into a screenplay for a motion picture. ... Look up outline in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... A step outline is a detailed telling of a story intended to be turned into a screenplay for a motion picture. ...

Spec scripts

Many Spec scripts (short for speculative) are written independently by screenwriters in hopes of optioning and eventually outright selling them to producers or studios. Other spec scripts are written by writer-directors who plan to direct the film themselves. Many so-called "arthouse" films fall into this latter category, whereas the former category tends to be filled with "high-concept" scripts - mostly action or comedy, to which a star or A-list director can be attached. In the film industry, an option is a contractual agreement between a movie studio, a production company, or a producer (henceforth called the producer) and a writer, in which the producer obtains the right to buy a screenplay from the writer, before a certain date. ...

The process of 'going out' with a spec script can be an extremely tense and nerve-wracking one for a writer. The writer's agent will identify a number of prospective buyers who may range from small independent producers to executives working in the major studios, and attempt to build up 'heat' under the script. The script is sent out simultaneously to all the prospective buyers, usually to be read over the weekend, in the hope of attracting a bidding war.

Within a few days it is abundantly clear whether the script is going to sell or not. If it does, the writer may receive a payment of anything from a few tens of thousands of dollars to several million. If not, the script is often dead in the water because it is now in the databases of the studios and development executives, and has been marked as having being 'passed' on.

It is almost impossible to get a studio to read a script again which they have already turned down, even if it has been entirely rewritten. A popular vignette has an executive glancing at the title, saying "I read that", and tossing it in the trash. One strategy employed by some writers when resubmitting a script is to change the title, page count and the names of the major characters so that the script is not flagged up when the database is checked.

Sample scripts are not (usually) intended for production, but to showcase the writing skills of the screenwriter, in hopes of coaxing an agent to represent the screenwriter or a producer to hire the writer. Very often a spec script which fails to sell goes on to be a sample script.

See also: Highest-priced speculative screenplays // Notes The price given in trade papers for the sale of a screenplay reflects the overall total that the screenwriter could make from the deal rather than the amount he has actually been paid. ...

Script costs

Whether written on spec or on assignment, a ballpark figure is that 'script costs' should constitute no more than 5% of a film's budget. So the total remuneration for all the writers involved in the script for a $10 million movie should generally be no more than $500,000.

For the above movie, written on assignment, the payments might typically break down as follows.

First draft: $150,000

First draft revisions: $50,000

Second draft: $75,000

Second draft revisions: $25,000

Production bonus: $500,000 minus the total of the above payments

The first four payments are paid half on commencement of the writing step and half on completion. The final payment, the production bonus, is paid ONLY if the script goes into production and becomes due on the first day of principal photography. If a script is approved for production before all the steps have been completed, the production bonus is therefore bigger. This means there is an incentive for the writer not to drag out the process.

The above deal is referred to as "300,000 against 500,000", a form of words you will often see used in the business. Alternatively, one might say "low six figures against mid six figures" (these vague terms are usually used to keep writers from squabbling over minor differences in pay for similar projects).

The development process

Once a studio has purchased or commissioned a script, it goes through the process of revisions and rewriting until all stakeholders are satisfied and ready to proceed. It is not uncommon for a script to go through many, many drafts on its journey to production. Very few scripts improve steadily with each draft, and when a certain avenue has been exhausted the writer will often be replaced and another brought in to do a rewrite.

Occasionally it becomes impossible to satisfy all such parties, and the project enters "development hell". This article or section may contain original research or unverified claims. ...

If a studio decides it does not wish to proceed to production with the script, the project enters 'turnaround'. Another studio may purchase the script from its original owner, but the script is encumbered with the development costs the studio has already incurred. At a certain point, it may simply be uneconomic for anyone to purchase the script, even if it is a very good one. This goes part of the way to explaining why some of the best scripts in Hollywood remain unproduced.

The shooting script

Main article: Shooting script

A shooting script is a version of a script from which a movie is actually shot; it includes scene numbers, camera angles and certain directors' notes -- and it is generally fiercely marked up by the script supervisor and other production workers, while the writer's draft is simply the skeleton around which the production is built. A shooting script is a version of a script from which a movie is actually shot; it includes scene numbers, camera angles and certain directors notes -- and it is generally fiercely marked up by the script supervisor and other production workers, while the writers draft is simply the skeleton... A shooting script is a version of a script from which a movie is actually shot; it includes scene numbers, camera angles and certain directors notes -- and it is generally fiercely marked up by the script supervisor and other production workers, while the writers draft is simply the skeleton...

Sometimes, it is far more practical and economical to shoot some scenes consecutively on the same day, even though the scenes appear in the original script far apart from each other. For example, consider two scenes from Jurassic Park: the first near the beginning in which a helicopter is used to bring the scientists to Jurassic Park and the second at the end of the movie when the scientists escape from Jurassic Park aboard the same helicopter. Even though the first and the second scenes appear far apart from each other in the original movie, in the shooting script for Jurassic Park, they probably appear consecutively with one another, with one benefit being the cost savings related to renting the helicopter for only a single day rather than two different days. At other times, the benefit may be that the location for the shoot is only available for a limited time in which all the scenes must be shot, even though they are not consecutive in the original script. Thus, once again, the scenes will be rearranged in the shooting script so that they may be shot consecutively on the same day. This is a main benefit of shooting scripts: they allow the best possible utilization of all available resources. Jurassic Park is a 1993 film directed by Steven Spielberg, based off the novel written by Michael Crichton. ...

Once a script is approved for production, and pre-production begins, it is scene-numbered and page-locked. Scenes are numbered for easy reference, and page-locking allows everyone to keep the same copy of the script even if the script changes. Changes are supplied as colored pages which people involved in production insert in their script, replacing or adding to the pages already there. Since writing often goes on even during production itself, most real shooting scripts are a rainbow of gold, pink, blue, green and other colors.

The order in which colored pages (often referred to as pink pages regardless of their actual color) are introduced into the script is rigidly fixed for a particular production.

Transcripts

A screenplay is different from a transcript. A transcript is simply a copy of what dialogue finally appeared onscreen, without regard to the original script, the stage directions or action. A full post-production transcript may also include descriptions of the action on-screen, but since it is generally not written by a professional writer but either a production assistant or a fan, it may not be particularly entertaining to read.

Many published screenplays available at booksellers or downloaded from the internet are in fact glorified post-production transcripts rather than shooting scripts. Transcripts and screenplays often differ radically because scenes are frequently re-ordered or dropped entirely during the editing process. Moreover, actors may change lines or simply improvise dialog, and many directors will make their own changes to the script on the fly during rehearsal or shooting.

It can be extremely revealing to compare a shooting script with the film as finally distributed.

Screenwriting software

Main article: Screenwriting software

Various pieces of software are available to help screenwriters adhere to the strict formatting conventions (as described above): Screenwriting software programs are aimed at screenwriters and sometimes novelists to help brainstorm ideas, structure plots and format text. ...

• Celtx - Free, Open Source scriptwriting software. Linux version available.
• DreamaScript - All in one Screenwriting Software.
• Final Draft - Integrated professional scriptwriting software.
• Montage Screenwriting Software for Mac OS X.
• Movie Magic Screenwriter - Integrated professional screenwriting software.
• Practical Scriptwriter - Requires no knowledge of script formats.
• RoughDraft - A simple script and creative writing word processor. Free (donationware).
• Scriptbuddy - Web-based screenwriting software.
• ScriptRight Mobile Edition - screenwriting software for Pocket PC and Palm OS
• Scriptware - The first scriptwriting word processor with real-time formatting/pagination
• Sophocles - Script and creative writing professional software.
• Script Smart - Microsoft Word templates.
• TotallyWrite Development Suite - A four-module program created by professional writer Jeffrey Alan Schechter to streamline the story development and screenplay structure process
• Writers Store - screenwriting software retailer.
• Hollywood Screenwriter - A cheap, but efficient, program that anyone can use for screenplaus, teleplays, and stage plays made by Write Brothers.

The first screenwriting software was SmartKey, a macro program that sent strings of commands to existing word processing programs, such as WordStar, WordPerfect and Microsoft Word. SmartKey was popular with screen writers from 1982-1987, after which word processing programs had their own macro features. Celtx is a free, open source software tool for writing and formatting a screenplay to meet the exacting screenplay submission standards set by the theater and film industries. ... This article should appear in one or more categories. ... Final Draft is a word processing software program designed for writing screenplays, teleplays and Stageplays. ... Mac OS X (official IPA pronunciation: ) is a line of proprietary, graphical operating systems developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Computer, the latest of which is pre-loaded on all currently shipping Macintosh computers. ... Movie Magic Screenwriter is a word processing program sold by Write Brothers, Inc. ... There are very few or no other articles that link to this one. ... SmartKey Sometime between 1998 and 1999, Mercedes-Benz introduced the SmartKey, a plastic key fob to be used in place of the traditional metal key. ... WordStar was a word processor application, published by MicroPro, originally written for the CP/M operating system but later ported to DOS, that enjoyed a dominant market share during the early-to-mid-1980s. ... This article or section is not written in the formal tone expected of an encyclopedia article. ... Microsoft Word, or Microsoft Office Word, is Microsofts flagship word processing software. ...

See also

• Screenwriting
• Storyboard
• List of motion picture-related topics
• Highest-priced speculative screenplays
• Guide to Literary Agents
• Writer's Digest

Screenwriting refers to the art and craft of writing screenplays. ... A storyboard for an 8-minute animated cartoon. ... This is a list of film-related topics. ... // Notes The price given in trade papers for the sale of a screenplay reflects the overall total that the screenwriter could make from the deal rather than the amount he has actually been paid. ... Guide to Literary Agents The Guide to Literary Agents (GLA) is a book that compiles hundreds of listings for literary agents and script (screenplay) agents. ... Writers Digest, established in 1920, is a United States publication devoted to both beginning and established writers, offering interviews, classifieds, market listings, calls for manuscripts, and tips. ...

References

• David Trottier (1998). The Screenwriter's Bible: A Complete Guide to Writing, Formatting, and Selling Your Script. Silman-James Press. ISBN 1-879505-44-4. - Paperback

• Judith H. Haag, Hillis R. Cole (1980). The Complete Guide to Standard Script Formats: The Screenplay. CMC Publishing. ISBN 0-929583-00-0. - Paperback

External links

• Screenplays at the Open Directory Project

The Open Directory Project (ODP), also known as dmoz (from directory. ...