Screenwriter

Screenwriters, scenarists 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.

Related Topics:
Authors - Screenplays - Movies - Studios

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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.

Related Topics:
David Mamet - John Sayles

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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.)

Related Topics:
Unionized - Writers Guild of America - Screenwriting credit

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Some notable screenwriters:

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• JJ Abrams: Mission Impossible III, Armageddon, Regarding Henry, Alias, Lost, Felicity
• John August: Go, Titan A.E., Charlie's Angels, '
• Alan Ball
• David Benioff: 25th Hour, Troy
• Robert Benton: Bonnie and Clyde, Kramer vs. Kramer, Places in the Heart
• Leigh Brackett: The Big Sleep, Rio Bravo, '
• Ray Bradbury: Moby Dick, King of Kings
• Shane Black : Lethal Weapon, The Last Boy Scout, Last Action Hero
• Bertrand Blier
• Paddy Chayefsky
• Larry Cohen : Phone Booth, Cellular
• Francis Ford Coppola
• Richard Curtis: Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill, Mr. Bean
• Frank Darabont: The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile
• I.A.L. Diamond
• Nora Ephron
• Hampton Fancher: Blade Runner
• Ernesto Gastaldi
• Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel: Splash, Parenthood, City Slickers, A League of Their Own
• William Goldman
• Akiva Goldsman
• David S. Goyer: Dark City, Blade series, Batman Begins
• James Gunn: Dawn of the Dead (2004), Scooby-Doo
• Adam Hackbarth
• Shinobu Hashimoto, favorite screenwriter of Akira Kurosawa
• Ben Hecht
• Brian Helgeland
• John Hodge: Trainspotting, Shallow Grave, A Life Less Ordinary
• Sidney Howard
• Lawrence Kasdan: ', The Big Chill
• Charlie Kaufman
• James Kearns
• David Koepp
• Kadri Kousaar
• Hanif Kureishi: My Beautiful Laundrette
• 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
• Herman Miller (writer)
• Walter Newman
• David Peoples: Blade Runner, Twelve Monkeys, Ladyhawke
• Harold Pinter
• Michael Radford
• 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
• Peter Stone
• Tom Stoppard
• J. Michael Straczynski: Creator and writer of most of Babylon 5. He also wrote The Complete Book of Scriptwriting, a well regarded and often used guide for beginning screenwriters.
• Quentin Tarantino: Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, True Romance, Jackie Brown
• Dalton Trumbo
• David N. Twohy: The Fugitive, G.I. Jane, Pitch Black
• Randall Wallace: Braveheart, Pearl Harbor, We Were Soldiers
• Joss Whedon: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Toy Story, Titan A.E.
• Michael Wilson
• Rafael Yglesias: Fearless, Death and the Maiden, Les Miserables
• Steven Zaillian: Awakenings, Schindler's List, Searching for Bobby Fischer

See also:

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• Lists of authors
• screenplay
• screenwriting