A screenwriter 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.
Robert Towne is an American screenwriter and director. He started with writing films for Roger Corman including The Tomb of Ligeia (1964). Later, he was a part of the New Hollywood wave of filmmaking. He wrote the Academy Award-winning original screenplay for Roman Polanski's Chinatown (1974), which is widely considered one of the greatest screenplays. Towne also wrote the sequel, The Two Jakes (1990), and the Hal Ashby comedy-dramas The Last Detail (1973) and Shampoo (1975). He has collaborated with Tom Cruise on the films Days of Thunder (1990), The Firm (1993) and the first two installments of Mission: Impossible franchise.
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.
Sleepless in Seattle is a 1993 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by Nora Ephron, from a screenplay she wrote with David S. Ward and Jeff Arch. Starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, the film follows a journalist (Ryan) who, despite being newly engaged, becomes enamored with a recently widowed architect (Hanks), when the latter's son calls in to a talk radio program requesting a new partner for his grieving father. In addition to Bill Pullman, Ross Malinger, and Rob Reiner, the film features an ensemble supporting cast also consisting of Rosie O'Donnell, Gaby Hoffmann, Victor Garber, Rita Wilson, Barbara Garrick, and Carey Lowell.
Nora Ephron was an American journalist, writer, and filmmaker. She is best known for writing and directing romantic comedy films and received numerous accolades including a British Academy Film Award as well as nominations for three Academy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, a Tony Award and three Writers Guild of America Awards.
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.
Steven E. de Souza is an American screenwriter, producer and director of film and television. He is known for writing several high-profile action films of the 1980's and '90s, notably 48 Hrs., Commando, The Running Man, Die Hard and its first sequel, Hudson Hawk, and Judge Dredd.
Eric Andrew Heisserer is an American filmmaker, comic book writer, television writer, and television producer. His screenplay for the film Arrival earned him a Best Adapted Screenplay nomination at the 89th Academy Awards in 2016.
Bruce Joel Rubin is an American screenwriter, meditation teacher, and photographer. His films often explore themes of life and death with metaphysical and science fiction elements. Prominent among them are Jacob's Ladder, My Life and Ghost, for which he received the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. Ghost was also nominated for Best Picture, and was the highest-grossing film of 1990. He is sometimes credited as "Derek Saunders" or simply "Bruce Rubin".
Chris Terrio is an American screenwriter and film director. He is best known for writing the screenplay for the 2012 film Argo, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. Terrio also won the Writers Guild Award for Best Adapted Screenplay of 2012 and was nominated for Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay, a BAFTA, and the 2013 Los Angeles Film Critics Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for this work.
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.
Daniel J. Snyder is an American television and film producer whose feature-length documentary, Dreams on Spec, is the first documentary ever to look at Hollywood from the perspective of the much-maligned screenwriter.
Alex Tse is an American screenwriter who wrote the 2004 gangster film Sucker Free City, co-wrote the 2009 superhero film Watchmen, and wrote the 2018 film Superfly. He is also a writer and executive producer for the 2019 series Wu-Tang: An American Saga.
Pamela Wallace is an American screenwriter and author. She won an Oscar for co-writing the screenplay for the movie Witness. Wallace has also written 25 romance novels, under her own name and the pseudonyms Pamela Simpson and Dianne King.
Christopher Beau Landon is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter best known for working in the horror and comedy horror genres.
Blake Snyder was an American screenwriter, consultant, author and educator based in Los Angeles. His screenplays include the comedies Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot (1992) and Blank Check (1994).
Richard Walter is an American author, educator, screenwriter, commentator, consultant, and chairman of the University of California, Los Angeles graduate program in screenwriting.
Colin Trevorrow is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. He made his feature directorial debut with the science fiction comedy Safety Not Guaranteed (2012) to critical and commercial success. Trevorrow achieved mainstream recognition for his work on the Jurassic World entries of the Jurassic Park franchise, which began when he co-wrote and directed the eponymous first installment in 2015. After the film grossed over $1 billion, Trevorrow co-wrote the 2018 sequel Fallen Kingdom and co-wrote and directed the third installment Dominion (2022). He was also the co-writer and director of Star Wars: Duel of the Fates until his departure in 2017, although he retained story credit when the project was re-envisioned as The Rise of Skywalker (2019). On many of his projects, Trevorrow collaborates with fellow screenwriter Derek Connolly.
Tessa Jo Morris is a British screenwriter. She was named one of BAFTA's Breakthrough Brits of 2015 after her success writing the romantic comedy Man Up. She co-hosts the romantic-comedy focused podcast You Had Us At Hello, and has been referred to as a "key voice standing up for the romantic comedy genre".
Brian Duffield is an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. He wrote and directed the 2023 sci-fi horror film No One Will Save You and the 2020 dark comedy coming-of-age film Spontaneous. His previous writing credits include Love and Monsters (2020), Underwater (2020), The Babysitter (2017) and Insurgent (2015). He is known for having multiple spec scripts featured in The Black List, an industry log of highly regarded but unproduced screenplays, including his scripts for Jane Got a Gun (2015) and Your Bridesmaid is a Bitch.
