Way before I ventured into screenwriting, a friend said something about the difference between a script and screenplay. He defined a script as having the actual storytelling and descriptive qualities. A screenplay according to him is just a directive of the picture which the camera captures. Here in S32, these terms are almost synonymous... What is/are the difference(s).
Thanks!
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They're the same thing, there is no difference.
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Screenplay is a document writers use to convey the story to movie people. Directors then break it into a longer shooting "script" as the document to follow when filming.
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We use the terms interchangeably - same basic thing although I personally prefer "script".
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Someone else who needs to be hit in the face as hard as you can.
A screenplay and a scripts are the same. As someone who has written the shooting scripts for many of my films, the director told me what he wanted and that's what I did - usually just highlighting something he though might get lost in the shuffle. The ones I didn't write the shooting scripts for - whatever screenwriter was last on the project did (you tend to get replaced by a string of other writers along the way).
Your screenplay is the movie until they actually make the movie. It needs to give the reader the same experience as the movie will give the audience.
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Wow, William, these last 2 sentences... very well said.
I heard the same thing from somebody supposedly and in actuality turned out to be was schooled in screenwritng years back. Perhaps it was a slip in terminology.
I will say I've read many, many, many stories put in a format resembling a screenplay that weren't screenplays. Mine resembled many of these not all that many years ago as well.
"Show don't tell" is probably the three most powerful words in screenwriting and it really isn't a screenplay until it is at very least that but I wouldn't exactly call it a "script" without "show don't tell" either.
I remembering telling myself for the first few years writing yeah, yeah I get it when it come to "show don't tell" but I really didn't until the last few years I've been doing it.
Your not telling a story when writing a screenplay in my opinion. You should be conveying only by showing your story which in turn tells it. I quit telling my stories even in my own personal first drafts and started showing from the get-go and man do things go easier now.
Every once in a while I'll see people say on here say "just tell your story" and I want to shout NO! You have to "show" your story but I dismiss this or just don't reply because its just part of process and we all do it in the beginning. I'm a story shower, I'm a screenwriter. Someday "I'm going to tell you about an awesomely shown story I know." when I "pitch" it or "Can I tell you about this story that shows so much "
William - you talkin' to me? (I'm against dope slaps as a general rule, but if you want to start some little dustup - just take it outside, please.)
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Christian:
WM is 100 percent correct. Your friend is quite the opposite. A writer should endeavor to write the movie he wants to see and help the reader visualize it. If someone has just jumped off a bridge, I want the reader to see the terror on his face. For example, one of the things that made Butch and Sundance jumping off the cliff into the river so great was Sundance refusing to go and finally disclosing he couldn't swim and Butch assuring him "the fall will probably kill you." And of course, the oh shit!! on the way down.
If guys are fighting in your story, I want to see punches flying and blood spattering. Imagine if Paul Schrader wrote "they fight" for this scene in "Raging Bull" as opposed to this:
INT. OLYMPIC STADIUM - DETROIT (FEB. 26, 1943)
This is JAKE's rematch with SUGAR RAY (their 3rd fight). AN
ANNOUNCER's VOICE gives a blow by blow description.
THE FOURTH ROUND: JAKE is in serious trouble. SUGAR RAY
knocks him with a hard right, then a series of rights and
lefts. JAKE is punched all the way across the ring, but stays
in there.
THE SEVENTH ROUND: JAKE, coming on strong, forces SUGAR RAY
into his own corner, then lands a left hook to his chin.
SUGAR RAY drops, and takes a nine count. This time, however,
the blow does not have a crippling effect on SUGAR RAY;
instead, he comes back and outboxes JAKE.
TIME CUT: THE ANNOUNCER calls out the decision: SUGAR RAY is
the winner. JAKE is stunned. The CROWD boos so loud and for
so long that THE ANNOUNCER is unable to introduce the
fighters in the next bout.
Or this for "Rocky I"
The BELL RINGS... Rocky makes the sign of the cross. The
fighters engage in battle. The other fighter grabs Rocky in
a clinch and purposely butts him... The butt opens a bleeding
cut on the corner of Rocky's eye.
Rocky becomes furious over the foul and drives a flurry into
the man's body... Rocky slams the man on the jaw and the
fighter is out for the night. The fans throw rubbish into
the ring. Rocky ignores it.
The fans loudly go about collecting bets. The referee does
not bother to even count the fighter out and drags him under
the ropes where he is placed on a stretcher. Two new fighters
enter the ring. Rocky slips on a tattered robe. Embroidered
clumsily on the back is, "The Italian Stallion."
When a spec script is given a green light, its pages are locked. But moving on thru production hell to a final production script requires many changes and modifications. Often these changes are color coded (I've seen scripts written in Technicolor.) You'll also see scene numbers followed by the word "Omitted" and duplicate pages labeled a, b... It's very rare to find a published true spec script. Almost every script published is a finished shooting script although I have seen a few "in progress". A lot of this relates to the protection of the writer's work
There are definite differences between a spec script and shooting script. The most significant things being camera angles, cuts and things the director wants to do. And there can be omitted scenes. For example, in Dalto Trumbo's version of "Spartacus", he wrote a scene where Marcellus challenges gladiator trainee Spartacus to attack him. Marcellus then proceeds to open up a can of whoop ass on Spartacus. In the film, director Stanley Kubrick had Spartacus hesitate and not try to attack Marcellus, to which Marcellus answers, "You're smarter than you look, you may even be intelligent." IMHO this turned out to be a way more effective scene to demonstrate that Spartacus is a real thinker.
Sam Peckinpah also did a major rewrite on the script for "The Wild Bunch" and Alexjandro Innarrito made significant changes to the Revenant screenplay written by Mark L. Smith. However, Smith's screenplay is a spectacular visual screenplay. What separates the pros from the hacks is the ability to write something that is visually impressive to your reader. And I mean that which helps your reader conceptualize what your story is about.
That means being able to do this:
The other men don’t even notice. Then an ARROW WHIZZES THROUGH THE AIR from behind Boone... THWACK... it hits him in the back of the neck... erupts out the front of his throat.
Boone stands frozen... confused... reaches up and grabs the bloody arrow... finally drops to his knees. And that’s when a TRAPPER looks up... sees Boone on his knees, holding that arrow, his mouth open like a dying fish.
And beyond Boone are THIRTY ARIKARA WARRIORS CHARGING THROUGH
THE TREES... FEATHERS RISING FROM THE MOHAWKS SPLITTING THEIR
SHAVED HEADS... FACES PAINTED FOR BATTLE.
TRAPPER
‘REE!
WHOOSH... AN ARROW SAILS INTO THE TRAPPER’S CHEST, sending him flying backward. The camp explodes into chaos... men YELLING... grabbing for weapons... stumbling over each other as they duck behind trees.
HENRY - PULLING THE PISTOLS FROM HIS BELT...
...taking nervous aim at the attacking figures.
The Arikara leader, (ELK’S TONGUE), animal bones braided into his mohawk, a NECKLACE OF HUMAN EARS around his neck, heads the attackers... pouring into camp, arrows flying... knives and hatchets swinging.
And this is a massacre... the Arikara wading through the trappers... stabbing... clubbing... scalping. This once peaceful world is filled with a sickening mix of war cries and screams of death.
HORSES AND MULES break loose of their ties... take off in all directions.
Fitzgerald rises up from behind a log... aims his rifle...
BOOM... takes down one of the warriors. He starts reloading
as ANOTHER WARRIOR charges him... draws back his knife.
Fitzgerald pours the powder, but knows he isn’t going to make
it in time. The Warrior leaps toward him...
...BOOM... and it’s like the Warrior hits an invisible wall... flies back to the ground, very dead. Fitzgerald spins... sees Glass and his Anstadt right behind him.
GLASS
GET TO THE BOAT!
Fitzgerald takes off... but he's a skilled fighter... flips his rifle around, swings it like a club across a WARRIOR'S head... WHACK... swings again... TAKES OUT ANOTHER WARRIOR... buries his knife into an ATTACKER's belly.
GLASS
THE BOAT, CAPTAIN!
Henry shoves a TRAPPER toward the water. An arrow drives into the Trapper’s leg... he goes down. Henry lifts him, but several more arrows bury in the man’s back... he falls dead.
Bridger and Pig join Glass... splash into the river, SHOOTING back at the attacking Arikara.
A WARRIOR LEAPS FROM THE SHADOWS... tackles Bridger to the shallows... pins him underwater... raises his hatchet high to slam down... just as Glass dives into him, knocking the Warrior off Bridger. Glass and the Warrior wrestle in the surf, until Glass finally overpowers him... stabs his knife deep into the Warrior’s stomach.
Bridger kneels in the shallows, frozen in shock.
GLASS
GO!
Pig drags Bridger to his feet... they swim toward the boat. ARROWS hiss into the water all around them.
Glass pulls his pistol... BAM... shoots an oncoming WARRIOR... spins after the others... joins them as they near the flatboat.
A final TRAPPER charges down the shore after them. SEVERAL WARRIORS pursue him.
TRAPPER
WAIT!
He aims his pistol over his shoulder as he runs... pulls the trigger... CLICK... pulls it again... CLICK. But he’s too scared to stop his finger... CLICK... CLICK... CLICK...
THUD... as a hatchet buries in his back. He crashes face first into the shallows.
Elk's Tongue straddles the dying man... grabs the Trapper by the hair, and CUTS OFF HIS LEFT EAR, then holds it up to Glass and the others, as he SCREAMS HIS WAR CRY.
Glass and the men shove the flatboat off the sandbar. Arrows dart past them... drive into the wooden boat. They scramble aboard as the current carries them away.
Pig reaches over the side, pulls the frantic WILLIAM ANDERSON up onto the boat. Fitzgerald and Glass grab LONGPOLES...
shove them against the river’s bottom to pick up speed.
Henry stands on deck, watching as Elk’s Tongue yanks a DYING TRAPPER’s head back by his hair to peel away his scalp. Henry drops his eyes... can’t watch. The TRAPPER’S
SCREAM ECHOES OVER HIM.
^^^That's how it's done!
Excerpt from "The Revenant" by Mark L. Smith
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Dan M:
Thanks my friend. The initial statement about a difference between a script and screenplay is incorrect. Again, I think the guy was just confusing a spec script with a shooting script. A simple misunderstanding. The main point here, is that any script without good visuals is destined for the trash pile.
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Excellent example of selective best words, the fewest possible, to describe the action. Then it become the director's vision from blocking to shooting, and everything else to make it all worth doing the best film possible.
Thanks everyone for your replies! I thought as much, there are no distinctions between a script and screenplay. But it seems we all now agree of a difference...
"Spec scripts and shooting scripts". Its true a script can undergo some changes on set.
Doug Nelson With the punch William referred to another comment he wrote minutes before. See here: https://www.stage32.com/lounge/screenwriting/Please-point-me-in-the-right-direction
Elisabeth, Thanx for clearing up what William said. I've taken no personal offence whatsoever but I'd rather hear it from William than you - unless you are his personal representative. All's well.
Claude: Strictly speaking, you should capitalize the introduction of speaking characters, sound effects and camera directions. Smith does also capitalize certain character actions he wants to emphasize like A WARRIOR LEAPS FROM THE SHADOWS. I do that sometimes to emphasize the something that's abrupt or a surprise. Formatting, not necessary to do.
Dan G I'm pretty sure he wasn't, but since his post followed so close to my own - I just thought I'd ask. Remember that I'm a cantankerous old hermit out in the woods.
Dan - No big deal. Think the OP has had is question answered, so I'm outta here
Doug Nelson Sorry, I just read both threads in quick succession and by this understood the comment and found both funny. I do not want to represent anyone or speak for anybody. Never would do that, have enough to do with myself. Period. Elisabeth out. :)