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Screenwriting
Screenwriting or scriptwriting is the art and craft of writing scripts for mass media such as feature films, television productions or video games. It is often a freelance profession. Screenwriters are responsible for researching the story, developing the narrative, writing the script, screenplay, dialogues and delivering it, in the required format, to development executives. Screenwriters therefore have great influence over the creative direction and emotional impact of the screenplay and, arguably, of the finished film. 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. Types The act of screenwriting takes many forms across the entertainment industry. Often, multiple writers work on the same script at different stages of development with differ ...
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William Goldman
William Goldman (August 12, 1931 – November 16, 2018) was an American novelist, playwright, and screenwriter. He first came to prominence in the 1950s as a novelist before turning to screenwriting. Among other accolades, Goldman won two Academy Awards in both writing categories: first for  Best Original Screenplay for ''Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid'' (1969) and then for  Best Adapted Screenplay for '' All the President's Men'' (1976). His other well-known works include his thriller novel '' Marathon Man'' (1974) and his cult classic comedy/fantasy novel '' The Princess Bride'' (1973), both of which he also adapted for film versions. Early life Goldman was born in Chicago on August 12, 1931, the second son of Marion () and Maurice Clarence Goldman. He grew up in Highland Park, Illinois, and was raised Jewish. Goldman's father was a successful businessman, working in Chicago and in a partnership, but he suffered from alcoholism, which cost him his business. He "cam ...
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Screenplay
A screenplay, or script, is a written work produced for a film, television show (also known as a '' teleplay''), or video game by screenwriters (cf. ''stage play''). Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. A screenplay is a form of narration in which the movements, actions, expressions and dialogue of the characters are described in a certain format. Visual or cinematographic cues may be given, as well as scene descriptions and scene changes. History In the early silent era, before the turn of the 20th century, "scripts" for films in the United States were usually a synopsis of a film of around one paragraph and sometimes as short as one sentence.Andrew Kenneth Gay"History of scripting and the screenplay"at Screenplayology: An Online Center for Screenplay Studies. Retrieved 15 December 2021. Shortly thereafter, as films grew in length and complexity, film scenarios (also called "treatments" or "synopses"Steven Maras. ''Screenwri ...
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Screenwriter
A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television commercials, video games, and the growing area of online web series. Terminology In the silent era, screenwriters were denoted by terms such as photoplaywright, photoplay writer, photoplay dramatist, and screen playwright.Maras, Steven. ''Screenwriting: History, Theory and Practice'', Wallflower Press, 2009, pp. 82–85. Screenwriting historian Steven Maras notes that these early writers were often understood as being the authors of the films as shown, and argues that they could not be precisely equated with present-day screenwriters because they were responsible for a technical product, a brief "Film scenario, scenario", "treatment", or "synopsis" that is a written synopsis of what is to be filmed. Profession Screenwriting is a contra ...
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Steve Zaillian
Steven Ernest Bernard Zaillian (born January 30, 1953) is an Armenian-American screenwriter, film director and producer. He won an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award and a BAFTA Award for his screenplay ''Schindler's List'' (1993) and has earned Oscar nominations for the films ''Awakenings'', ''Gangs of New York'', ''Moneyball'' and '' The Irishman''. He was presented with the Distinguished Screenwriter Award at the 2009 Austin Film Festival and the Laurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement from the Writers Guild of America in 2011. Zaillian is the founder of Film Rites, a film production company. He also created, wrote and directed the limited series '' The Night Of'' (2016) and '' Ripley'' (2024), the latter for which he won a Primetime Emmy Award and a Peabody Award. Early life Steven Zaillian was born in Fresno, California, the son of Jim Zaillian, a radio news reporter. Zaillian is of Armenian descent. He attended Sonoma State University, graduated from San Francisco Sta ...
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Spec Script
A spec script, also known as a speculative screenplay, is a non-commissioned and unsolicited screenplay. It is usually written by a screenwriter who hopes to have the script optioned and eventually purchased by a producer, production company, or studio. Spec scripts which have gone on to win Academy Awards include '' Thelma & Louise'' (sold by Callie Khouri to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer for US$500,000 in 1990), '' Good Will Hunting'' (sold by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck to Miramax for US$675,000 in 1994), and '' American Beauty'' (sold by Alan Ball to DreamWorks Pictures for US$250,000 in 1998), which all won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. A spec script reads differently from a shooting script or production script in that it focuses more on the storytelling itself, while focus on cinematography and other directing aspects should rarely, if ever, be used. Videographic and technical directions are often added in the later drafts. The sole purpose of a spec script, a ...
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Robert Towne
Robert Towne (born Robert Bertram Schwartz; November 23, 1934 – July 1, 2024) was an American screenwriter and director. He started writing films for Roger Corman, including '' The Tomb of Ligeia'' in 1964, and was later part of the New Hollywood wave of filmmaking. Towne wrote and won an Academy Award for Roman Polanski's '' Chinatown'' (1974); starring Jack Nicholson, widely considered one of the greatest screenplays ever written, as well as its sequel, '' The Two Jakes'' (1990). For Hal Ashby, he penned the comedy-dramas '' The Last Detail'' (1973) and '' Shampoo'' (1975). He collaborated with Tom Cruise on the films '' Days of Thunder'' (1990), '' The Firm'' (1993) and the first two installments of the '' Mission: Impossible'' franchise (1996, 2000). Towne directed the sports dramas '' Personal Best'' (1982) and '' Without Limits'' (1998), the crime thriller '' Tequila Sunrise'' (1988), and the romantic drama '' Ask the Dust'' (2006). Early life Towne was born Robert Bert ...
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Shooting Script
A shooting script is the version of a screenplay used during the production of a film or video. It provides a plan for what footage to shoot to help tell the story. Shooting scripts are distinct from spec scripts in that they make use of scene numbers (along with certain other formatting conventions described below), and they follow a well-defined set of procedures specifying how script revisions should be implemented and circulated. Overview When a screenplay is approved for production, the scenes are assigned numbers which are included in the script alongside the scene headers. The numbers provide a convenient way for the various production departments to reference individual scenes. Also each individual shot within a scene is also assigned numbers. After a shooting script has been widely circulated, page numbers are locked, and any revisions are distributed on revision pages. Thus the production office might issue a revision containing new pages 3, 9, 17 and 45. This avoi ...
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Log Line
A log line or logline is a brief (usually one-sentence) summary of a television program, film, short film or book, that states the central conflict of the story, often providing both a synopsis of the story's plot, and an emotional "hook" to stimulate interest. A one-sentence program summary in ''TV Guide'' is a log line. "A log line is a single sentence describing your entire story," however, "it is not a straight summary of the project. It goes to the heart of what a project is about in one or two sentences, defining the theme of the project...and suggest nga bigger meaning."Perebinossoff, Philippe; Gross, Brian; and Gross, Lynne S. (2005). ''Programming for TV, Radio, and the Internet: Strategy, Development, and Evaluation'', p.73. Taylor & Francis. . "A logline is a one-sentence summary of the story's main conflict. It is not a statement of theme but rather a premise." "A logline...helps content creators simply and easily sell their work in a single sentence, because the em ...
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Script Doctor
A script doctor is a writer or playwright hired by a film, television, or theatre production company to rewrite an existing script or improve specific aspects of it, including structure, characterization, dialogue, pacing, themes, and other elements. They are usually brought in for scripts that have been almost " green-lit" during the development and pre-production phases of a film to address specific issues with the script, as identified by the financiers, production team, and cast. Script doctors generally do their work uncredited for a variety of commercial and artistic reasons. For instance, to receive credit under the Writers Guild of America screenwriting credit system requires a second screenwriter to contribute more than 50 percent of an original screenplay or 33 percent of an adaptation. As script doctors generally do not contribute enough to a screenplay to qualify to the guild, production companies are not compelled to provide them with credit. Some script doctors will ...
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Film Adaptation
A film adaptation transfers the details or story of an existing source text, such as a novel, into a feature film. This transfer can involve adapting most details of the source text closely, including characters or plot points, or the original source can serve as loose inspiration, with the implementation of only a few details. Although often considered a type of derivative work, film adaptation has been conceptualized recently by academic scholars such as Robert Stam as a dialogic process. While the most common form of film adaptation is the use of a novel as the basis, other works adapted into films include non-fiction (including journalism), autobiographical works, comic books, scriptures, plays, historical sources and even other films. Adaptation from such diverse resources has been a ubiquitous practice of filmmaking since the earliest days of cinema in nineteenth-century Europe. In contrast to when making a remake, movie directors usually take more creative liberties when c ...
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Mort Nathan
Mort Nathan is an American television producer, screenwriter and film director. He was one of the co-producers and head writers of the comedy show ''The Golden Girls''. Nathan won two Emmy awards, two Golden Globes, and a Writers Guild of America award for his work on the series. He has written and produced over 150 hours of prime time television shows and directed the feature films '' Boat Trip'', '' Van Wilder 2: The Rise of Taj'', and '' Bag Boy''. In 1989, he started out KTMB Productions with Barry Fanaro, and two alums from ''The Golden Girls'', Kathy Speer and Terry Grossman, with a deal at Touchstone Television. Both Fanaro and Nathan subsequently moved to Paramount Television The first incarnation of Paramount Television was operated as the television production division of the American film studio Paramount Pictures, until it changed its name to CBS Paramount Television on January 17, 2006. History Desilu Pro ... in 1992 to start out Fanaro/Nathan Productions. ...
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Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Jerome Tarantino (; born March 27, 1963) is an American filmmaker, actor, and author. Quentin Tarantino filmography, His films are characterized by graphic violence, extended dialogue often featuring much profanity, and references to popular culture. His work has earned a cult following alongside critical and commercial success; he has been named by some as the most influential director of his generation and has received List of awards and nominations received by Quentin Tarantino, numerous awards and nominations, including two Academy Awards, two BAFTA Awards, and four Golden Globe Awards. His films have grossed more than $1.9 billion worldwide. Tarantino began his career with the independent film, independent crime film ''Reservoir Dogs'' (1992). His second film, the crime comedy-drama ''Pulp Fiction'' (1994), was a major success and won numerous awards, including the Cannes Film Festival's and the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. He next wrote and starr ...
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