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Screenwriters, or script writers, are authors who write the
screenplays from which movies are
made. Many of them also work as "script doctors," attempting to change scripts to suit directors or studios; for instance, studio
management may have a complaint that the motivations of the characters are unclear or that the dialogue is weak.
Script-doctoring can be quite lucrative, especially for the better known writers. David Mamet and John Sayles, for instance, fund the movies
they direct themselves, usually from their own screenplays, by writing and doctoring scripts for others. In fact, some writers
make very profitable careers out of the script doctoring food chain, being the ninth or tenth writer to work on a piece. In many
cases, working on projects that never see exposure to an audience of any size.
Most professional screenwriters are unionized and are represented by
organisations such as the Writers Guild of
America.
Some notable screenwriters:
- Alan Ball
- Leigh Brackett: The Big Sleep, Rio Bravo, The Empire Strikes Back
- Ray Bradbury: Moby Dick, King of Kings
- Bertrand Blier
- Paddy Chayefsky
- Francis Ford Coppola
- Richard Curtis: Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill, Mr. Bean
- Frank Darabont:
The Shawshank Redemption
- Nora Ephron
- William Goldman
- Ben Hecht
- Brian Helgeland
- Sidney Howard
- James Kearns
- Ernest Lehman: Sabrina, Executive Suite, North by
Northwest, The Sweet Smell of Success
- Anita Loos
- Kurt Luedtke: Absence of Malice, Out of Africa
- David Mamet
- Nancy Meyers
- Walter Newman
- Harold Pinter
- Robert Riskin: It Happened One Night, Lost Horizon
- Bruce Robinson: The Killing Fields, Withnail and
I
- Frederica Sagor
Maas
- John Sayles
- Paul Schrader
- Rod Serling
- Aaron Sorkin: A Few Good Men, The American
President, Sports Night, The West Wing
- Tom Stoppard
- J. Michael Straczynski: Babylon 5
- Randall Wallace: Braveheart
- Joss Whedon: Toy
Story, Speed'
- Rafael Yglesias:
Fearless, Death and the Maiden (1994 movie), Les
Miserables (1998 movie)
- Steven Zaillian:
Awakenings, Schindler's List, Searching for Bobby Fischer
See also: Lists of authors
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