screenplay

"Screenplay" is a specific, focused word with essentially one main meaning, though it's worth understanding both what it is and how it's used in the world of film and television.

1nounthe written script of a film

A screenplay is the written document that tells the story of a movie or TV show. Think of it as the blueprint of a film — it contains all the dialogue (what the characters say), the action (what happens on screen), and descriptions of the scenes. Before any movie is made, someone has to write a screenplay first.

film and television · Modern, widely used

The director read hundreds of screenplays before choosing one to turn into a film.

She spent two years writing her first screenplay, which was later made into a successful movie.

The screenplay for 'Parasite' won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.

2nounscreenplay as a craft or profession

When people talk about 'screenplay' in a broader sense, they often mean the art or skill of writing for the screen. It is a specific type of writing with its own rules and format — very different from writing a novel or a play. The person who writes a screenplay is called a screenwriter.

film and television / education · Modern, widely used

He studied screenplay at film school for three years.

Writing a screenplay requires a very different skill set than writing a novel.

She took an online course in screenplay to learn how to format her script correctly.