Scriptwriter - Definition and Overview

Screenwriters, or script writers, are authors who write the screenplays from which movies are made. Many of them also work as "script doctors," attempting to change scripts to suit directors or studios; for instance, studio management may have a complaint that the motivations of the characters are unclear or that the dialogue is weak.

Script-doctoring can be quite lucrative, especially for the better known writers. David Mamet and John Sayles, for instance, fund the movies they direct themselves, usually from their own screenplays, by writing and doctoring scripts for others. In fact, some writers make very profitable careers out of the script doctoring food chain, being the ninth or tenth writer to work on a piece. In many cases, working on projects that never see exposure to an audience of any size.

Most professional screenwriters are unionized and are represented by organisations such as the Writers Guild of America. The WGA is final arbiter on awarding writing credit for projects under its jurisdiction. (See screenwriting credit.)

Some notable screenwriters:

• John August
• Alan Ball
• David Benioff: 25th Hour, Troy (movie)
• Leigh Brackett: The Big Sleep, Rio Bravo, The Empire Strikes Back
• Ray Bradbury: Moby Dick, King of Kings
• Shane Black
• Bertrand Blier
• Paddy Chayefsky
• Larry Cohen
• Francis Ford Coppola
• Richard Curtis: Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill, Mr. Bean
• Frank Darabont: The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile (movie)
• I.A.L. Diamond
• Nora Ephron
• Hampton Fancher: Blade Runner
• Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel: Splash, Parenthood, City Slickers, A League of Their Own
• William Goldman
• Akiva Goldsman
• Shinobu Hashimoto, favorite screenwriter of Akira Kurosawa
• Ben Hecht
• Brian Helgeland
• John Hodge: Trainspotting, Shallow Grave, A Life Less Ordinary
• Sidney Howard
• James Kearns
• David Koepp
• Ring Lardner, Jr.
• Ernest Lehman: Sabrina, Executive Suite, North by Northwest, The Sweet Smell of Success
• John Logan
• Anita Loos
• Kurt Luedtke: Absence of Malice, Out of Africa
• Michael MacLennan: Queer As Folk (US), Anne of Green Gables
• David Mamet
• Herman J. Mankiewicz
• Joseph L. Mankiewicz
• Nancy Meyers
• Walter Newman
• David Webb Peoples: Blade Runner, Twelve Monkeys, Ladyhawke
• Harold Pinter
• Robert Riskin: It Happened One Night, Lost Horizon
• Bruce Robinson: The Killing Fields, Withnail and I
• Frederica Sagor Maas
• John Sayles
• Paul Schrader
• Rod Serling
• Aaron Sorkin: A Few Good Men, The American President, Sports Night, The West Wing
• Oliver Stone: JFK, The Doors, Alexander
• Tom Stoppard
• J. Michael Straczynski: Babylon 5
• Quentin Tarantino: Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, True Romance, Jackie Brown
• Dalton Trumbo
• David N. Twohy
• Randall Wallace: Braveheart
• Joss Whedon: Toy Story, Speed
• Michael Wilson
• Rafael Yglesias: Fearless, Death and the Maiden (1994 movie), Les Miserables (1998 movie)
• Steven Zaillian: Awakenings, Schindler's List, Searching for Bobby Fischer

See also:

• Lists of authors
• screenplay