Scriptwriter
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.
Some notable screenwriters:
- John August
- Alan Ball
- E. B. Borgman
- 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
- The Shawshank Redemption
- I.A.L. Diamond
- Nora Ephron
- Lowell Ganz and Splash, Parenthood, City Slickers, A League of Their Own
- William Goldman
- Akiva Goldsman
- 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
- 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
- Harold Pinter
- 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
- Tom Stoppard
- J. Michael Straczynski: Babylon 5
- Dalton Trumbo
- David N. Twohy
- Randall Wallace: Braveheart
- Joss Whedon: Toy Story, Speed
- Michael Wilson
- Fearless, Death and the Maiden (1994 movie), Les Miserables (1998 movie)
- Awakenings, Schindler's List, Searching for Bobby Fischer
See also: