Screenwriter

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A screenwriter is the writer of a script that serves as the basis for producing a film . Screenwriters write for cinema , television films and television series , but also work non-fictionally on documentaries and programs . Screenwriters usually work freelance . In addition to the actual work as an author, this means the independent acquisition of orders, networking and advertising for your own projects. Screenwriters can a. to be represented by agents .

Many of the narrative materials that later become finished films are developed by scriptwriters in collaboration with a film production company or a director . A film dramaturge can also provide advice. The work on a script takes place in several stages and along different text forms (exposé, treatment) , for example for submission to production companies, television broadcasters or for film funding . Screenwriting software is sometimes used for this .

Special characteristics of the scriptwriter are the dialogue writer, the storyliner (for series) or the script doctor . In the case of series, the scriptwriter can also assume the rank of producer ( writer-producer or creative producer ), similar to the American showrunner . If a screenwriter also directs the film, or if the director of a film writes the screenplay beforehand, one often speaks of an author and an auteur film .

The training to become a screenwriter takes place in script workshops and film schools or through traineeships in production companies or television stations. Even writers and authors of other media can act as writers, as some writers also in other media, such as the literary publishing.

American screenwriters are required to be members of the Writers Guild of America (WGA), which has proven its power in the film and television industry in particular through several script strikes (1988, 2007/08). The Association of German Scriptwriters (VDD) has been campaigning for the interests of screenwriters in Germany since 1986 .

Films about screenwriters

  • Crashing Hollywood , USA 1931 - A screenwriter writes a gangster film that gangsters don't like.
  • Twilight Boulevard , USA 1950 - A screenwriter falls into the clutches of an aging silent film diva.
  • A lonely place , USA 1950 - A screenwriter desperate over the murder suspicion against him.
  • Paris When It Sizzles , USA 1964 - Desperate for a deadline, a screenwriter finds inspiration in love.
  • Barton Fink , USA 1991 - A playwright tries his hand at Hollywood and learns to despise it.
  • Mistress , USA 1992 - A screenwriter and director writes against all influences on a film that nobody wants to see.
  • The Player , USA 1992 - A film producer is threatened by a screenwriter whose material he rejected.
  • Adaptation - The Orchid Thief , USA 2002 - A screenwriter desperately tries to adapt a book about orchids into a script.
  • 7 Psychos , USA 2012 - A screenwriter seeks inspiration and finds it when he is embroiled in a gangster story.
  • Hail, Caesar! , USA 2015 - A producer needs to find an actor kidnapped by communist scriptwriters.
  • Trumbo , USA 2015 - Screenwriter Dalton Trumbo suffers from anti-communist agitation in the USA in the 1940s and 1950s.

Web links

Commons : Screenwriters  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Wiktionary: Screenwriter  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b screenwriter on Wissen.de (2nd page). Retrieved January 19, 2016.
  2. ↑ Screenwriter on Wissen.de (1st page). Retrieved January 19, 2016.
  3. ↑ Felix Huby : The Author and the Market ( Memento of the original from January 19, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Job description screenwriter on the website of the VDD . Retrieved January 19, 2016. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.drehbuchautoren.de
  4. ^ A b Jan-Christopher Horak: Screenwriter . Retrieved January 19, 2016. In: Lexikon der Filmbegriffe, Ed. Von Hans. J. Wulff and Theo Bender.
  5. ↑ Screenwriter ( memento from April 28, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) in the glossary of the German Film Academy (archived). Retrieved January 19, 2016.
  6. ↑ Jan-Christopher Horak: Dialog author . In: Lexikon der Filmbegriffe, edited by Hans. J. Wulff and Theo Bender.
  7. ^ Ansgar Schlichter: Storyliner . In: Lexikon der Filmbegriffe, edited by Hans. J. Wulff and Theo Bender.
  8. ^ Heinz-Hermann Meyer, James zu Hüningen: Writer-producer . In: Lexikon der Filmbegriffe, edited by Hans. J. Wulff and Theo Bender.
  9. ↑ How do I become a screenwriter? ( Memento of the original from February 17, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. in the FAQ of the VDD. Retrieved January 19, 2016.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.drehbuchautoren.de