![]() Motion picture writers submit an original screenplay or adaptation of a book to a motion picture producer or studio. Broadcasting scriptwriters usually work in a team, writing for a certain audience, to fill a certain time slot. Continuity writers in broadcasting create station announcements, previews of coming shows, and advertising copy for local sponsors. They may also write scripts for continuing television series. They may write original stories, or get inspiration from newspapers, magazines, books, or other sources. Screenwriters write dramas, comedies, soap operas, adventures, westerns, documentaries, newscasts, and training films. This has created an intensely fierce marketplace with many more screenplays being rejected than accepted each year. Familiarity with these mediums has led many writers to attempt writing screenplays. Today, most Americans have spent countless hours viewing programs on television and movie screens. During the 1960s, people began to graduate from the first education programs developed specifically for screenwriting. The television industry began to thrive in the 1950s, further increasing the number of opportunities for screenwriters. ![]() Screenwriting changed dramatically to adapt to the new technology.įrom the 1950s to the 1980s, the studios gradually declined, and more independent film companies and individuals were able to break into the motion picture industry. The first sound film, The Jazz Singer, was also produced in 1927. In 1920, the first Screen Writers Guild was established to ensure fair treatment of writers, and in 1927, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was formed, including a branch for writers. The titles included dialogue, description, and historical background. By 1926, the average increased to 250 feet of title per 1,000 feet. In 1909–10, there was an average of 80 feet of title per 1,000 feet of film. Longer story films began to use titles, and as motion pictures became longer and more sophisticated, so did the titles. Some of the most popular stories in these early films were Wild West tales and comedies. There was a continuing need for scripts because usually a studio bought a story one month, filmed the next, and released the film the month after. The actor Genevieve (Gene) Gauntier was paid $20 per reel of film for her first scenarios. Stories usually came from writers, but some were purchased from actors on the lot. The story departments were responsible for writing the stories and also for reading and evaluating material that came from outside sources. The demand for original plots led to the development of story departments at each of the motion picture companies in the period from 1910 to 1915. These films eventually grew into narrative films running between nine and 15 minutes. The early films ran only about a minute and typically captured scenes of movement and exotic places. When he was employed by Biograph to write 10 scenarios, or stories, at $10 apiece, it caused a flood of newspapermen to try their hand at screenwriting. He wrote captions for photographs in a weekly entertainment publication. Newspaperman Roy McCardell was the first person to be hired for the specific job of writing for motion pictures. Even in these earliest motion pictures, the plot or sequence of actions the film would portray was written down before filming began. It was a series of acts performed by such characters as a strongman, a contortionist, and trained animals. In October of the same year, the first film opened at Hoyt’s Theatre in New York. In 1894, Thomas Edison invented the kinetograph to take a series of pictures of actions staged specifically for the camera. ![]() It is a career that requires imagination and creativity, the ability to tell a story using both dialogue and pictures, and the ability to negotiate with producers and studio executives. Screenwriting is an art, a craft, and a business. Screenwriters may choose themes themselves, or they may write on a theme assigned by a producer or director, sometimes adapting plays or novels into screenplays. Screenwriters write scripts for entertainment, education, training, sales, television, and films.
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