A screenplay writer, scriptwriter or scenarist, is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based.
A screenplay, or script, is a written work by screenwriters for a film, television show, or video game. A screenplay written for television is also known as a teleplay. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. A screenplay is a form of narration in which the movements, actions, expressions and dialogue of the characters are described in a certain format. Visual or cinematographic cues may be given, as well as scene descriptions and scene changes.
Screenwriting or scriptwriting is the art and craft of writing scripts for mass media such as feature films, television productions or video games. It is often a freelance profession.
Andrew Kevin Walker is an American screenwriter, producer and script doctor. He is known for having written Seven (1995), for which he earned a nomination for the BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay, as well as several other films, including 8mm (1999), Sleepy Hollow (1999) and many uncredited script rewrites.
Anthony Joseph Gilroy is an American filmmaker. He wrote the screenplays for the first four films of the Bourne series, the initial trilogy of which Matt Damon starred in, and directed the fourth film of the franchise which starred Jeremy Renner. He received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Director and for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for Michael Clayton. Gilroy wrote and directed Duplicity, starring Julia Roberts and Clive Owen, and co-wrote Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.
Minimum salaries for union screenwriters are set by the Writers Guild of America. Non-union screenwriters may write for free; an established screenwriter may write for millions of dollars.
A spec script, also known as a speculative screenplay, is a non-commissioned and unsolicited screenplay. It is usually written by a screenwriter who hopes to have the script optioned and eventually purchased by a producer, production company, or studio.
Michael Arndt is an American screenwriter. He is best known as the writer of the films Little Miss Sunshine (2006), Toy Story 3 (2010), and Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015).
Travis Beacham is an American screenwriter, best known for writing and co-writing the films Dog Days of Summer (2005), Pacific Rim (2013), Clash of the Titans (2010), and proposing the concept for the Amazon Prime fantasy TV series Carnival Row (2019-).
Allan Loeb is an American screenwriter and film and television producer. He wrote the 2007 film Things We Lost in the Fire and created the 2008 television series New Amsterdam. He wrote the film drama 21, which also was released in 2008. Among his other credits, he wrote and produced The Switch (2010). He also co-wrote Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010), and wrote The Dilemma (2011), and Just Go with It (2011). He performed a rewrite for the musical Rock of Ages (2012), and the mixed martial arts comedy Here Comes the Boom (2012).
Peter L. Steinfeld is an American screenwriter and television producer. He is best known for writing mystery film Drowning Mona, comedy film Be Cool (2005) and drama film 21 (2008).
Robert Roy Pool is an American screenwriter, best known for his authorship of the motion pictures Outbreak (1995), starring Dustin Hoffman, and The Big Town (1987), starring Matt Dillon. He also received a "story by" credit on the motion picture Armageddon (1998), which starred Bruce Willis and Billy Bob Thornton. Pool has collaborated with Laurence Dworet, a former emergency department doctor.
Arnold Kopelson was an American film producer.
Dan Mazeau is an American screenwriter. He was born and raised in Santa Rosa, California and majored in physics at the University of California, Berkeley. He then enrolled in the MFA screenwriting program at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He is also a graduate of the Professional Program in Screenwriting at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television. There he wrote a family fantasy "The Land of Lost Things" and the script was set up at Nickelodeon/Paramount Pictures, with Arnold Kopelson producing. Hired by Dan Lin and Warner Bros. to adapt Jonny Quest, he was named one of Variety's "10 Screenwriters to Watch" in 2008 and the script was on the Blacklist that same year.
Jonathan Michael Goldstein is an American screenwriter, television writer/producer, and film director. He has written for numerous situation comedies, including The PJ's starring Eddie Murphy, The Geena Davis Show, Good Morning Miami, Four Kings, and The New Adventures of Old Christine.
Evan Daugherty is an American screenwriter. He wrote the films Killing Season, Snow White and the Huntsman and the film adaptation of Divergent.
Michael H. Weber is an American screenwriter and producer from Great Neck, New York. He and his writing partner Scott Neustadter have written the original screenplays for the films 500 Days of Summer (2009) and The Pink Panther 2 (2009). They also wrote the screenplays for The Spectacular Now (2013), based on the novel by Tim Tharp, The Fault in Our Stars (2014), based on the best-selling novel by John Green and Paper Towns (2015), based on another novel by Green.
Christina Hodson is a British screenwriter, known for Bumblebee (2018) and Birds of Prey (2020). Her 2016 film Shut In appeared on the 2012 Black List, an annual list of Hollywood's best-liked unproduced screenplays, as have two of her un-produced scripts.
Geneva Robertson-Dworet is an American screenwriter. She rose to prominence after being hired in 2015 to rewrite the script for the 2018 Tomb Raider reboot, starring Alicia Vikander and directed by Roar Uthaug. She co-wrote the screenplay for Marvel Studios' Captain Marvel (2019).
Brian Duffield is an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. He directed the 2020 dark comedy Spontaneous and films he has written include Love and Monsters (2020), Underwater (2020), and The Babysitter (2017). Duffield is noted as having multiple spec scripts being named to The Black List, an industry listing of well-regarded screenplays, including Jane Got a Gun (2015) and Your Bridesmaid is a Bitch.
