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The Role
of The Screenwriter |
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What does a screenwriter do?
Essentially the job of a screenwriter is to produce a blue-print that
can be used as the basis of a film production. Film-making itself
is a collaborative process involving many people with specialised
skills: actors, directors, designers, editors and technicians.
What distinguishes a screenwriter from these (often very talented)
individuals is the fact that their roles are interpretative . In other
words, they can only do their jobs once a script has been written.
The screenwriter, and the screenwriter alone, is the sole original
artist involved in film production. That is some responsibility.
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What is the purpose of a script?
A script has two perform two primary
functions. At its most basic, it is a set of instructions. It needs
therefore to be clear, concise and economical. You would be annoyed
if you bought an appliance and the instruction booklet spent six pages
telling you how to plug it into the socket. Well written instructions
will assume certain knowledge and skills.
But a script is also a visionary document. That means it should convey
to a reader some sense of the dramatic and emotional impact of your
story.
Film works through two of the primary senses: vision and hearing.
It tells stories by employing a flow of edited and inflected images,
sometimes combined with action and/or sound. Everything that arrives
on the screen is therefore an immediate event, taking place in the
present.
An image on the screen is always solid and specific. Your writing
should strive to be the same. You need to put your reader in front
of an imaginary screen and literally show him or her what happens
next.
Your job, and this is
the fundamental test of your skills, is to use language in a dynamic
way to tell a story that:
(a)
Has a filmic quality
(b) Involves
and excites your reader just like a good novel!
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