SCREENWRITING

Working across contemporary histories of film and screenwriting, and US screenwriting manuals from the 1910s and 1920s, this volume breaks new ground in thinking about the nature of scripting, and how screenwriting took shape as a particular kind of practice. It focuses on key topics such as the notion of the script as blueprint, the emergence of the screenplay and the politics of writing for the screen. Bringing an accessible academic approach to practitioner-oriented discussions of craft, the book provides a new perspective on debates to do with auteurism, funding processes, digital technology and the future of scripting. Focusing primarily on screenwriting in the US, this work builds on a wide range of writings by filmmakers and screenwriters and the work of different critics and theorists who have theorised the script, including Sergei Eisenstein, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Janet Staiger and Dudley Nichols. Arguing that Film Studies has yet to fully come to terms with screenwriting and the script, this study makes a vital contribution to debates in film study and history, and the critical analysis of screenwriting discourse.

March 2009
256 pages

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Steven Maras is a Senior Lecturer, and Chair of the Media and Communications Department, at the University of Sydney.

'In a remarkable feat of research the author sets out to problematise our understanding of what a script is and what screenwriting involves. The approach is predominantly archeological – the author searches back through history, through the manuals, guide books, publications and other documents in order to establish how many different (and often conflictual) meanings these terms have had. As such it is a study of the discourse(s) of or about screenwriting, a cinema history book, looking at the different ways the script has been positioned in the film industry from the dawn of the twentieth century to today. On this level, the book gives the reader great, exceptional insight. It is lucid and well-expressed, with an original way of dealing with its subject, building on ideas from previous scholars but elaborating them further than has been done before. This is a work of real value and importance and is a great Wallflower book.' – Adrian Martin, Monash University

'This is an invaluable text for anyone interested in this field: academic, student or scriptwriter. It is an original work … there is no contemporary text that attempts to cover the study of the screenplay and screenwriting with such depth and breadth. Interesting, substantial and a wonderful addition to academic discourse on the screenplay.' – Jill Nelmes, University of East London