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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:
- John August
- Alan Ball
- David Benioff : 25th Hour, Troy (movie)
- E. B. Borgman
- Leigh Brackett: The Big Sleep, Rio Bravo, The Empire Strikes Back
- Ray Bradbury: Moby Dick, King of Kings
- Shane Black
- Bertrand BlierBertrand Blier (born March 14, 1939) is a French screenwriter and film director. Born in Boulogne-Billancourt, France. He is the son of Bernard Blier. Filmography, as director: Les acteurs (2000) Mon homme (1996) Un, deux, trois, soleil (1993) Merci la vi
- Paddy ChayefskySidney "Paddy" Chayefsky ( January 29, 1923 August 1, 1981) was an acclaimed dramatist who transitioned from the golden age of American live television in the 1950s to have a successful career as a playwright and screenwriter for Hollywood. He was born in
- Larry Cohen
- Francis Ford CoppolaGeorge Lucas, Michael Jackson and Francis Ford Coppola filming Captain EO Francis Ford Coppola (born April 7, 1939) is an American film director. Career 1960 to 1978 Coppola studied film at UCLA and while there, he made numerous short films, including som
- Richard CurtisRichard Curtis (born November 8, 1956), a British comedy scriptwriter, is best known for the TV series Blackadder and The Vicar of Dibley and the movies Four Weddings and a Funeral and Notting Hill''. In 2003, he directed Love Actually his first outing as: Four Weddings and a FuneralFour Weddings and a Funeral is a 1994 British romantic comedy film directed by Mike Newell and starring Hugh Grant and Andie MacDowell. In 2004 the magazine Total Film named it the 34th greatest British film of all time. It featured a crowd-pleasing sound, Notting HillNotting Hill is a place in London, England in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is generally, and deservedly, known as one of the funky and trendy areas of the city, with swanky shopping and restaurants (notably, along Westbourne Grove), but, Mr. BeanBean is a British comedy television series starring Rowan Atkinson. The programme was produced by Tiger Television, later renamed Tiger Aspect productions (a company in which Atkinson has a stake), for Thames Television and originally shown on ITV. In the
- Frank DarabontFrank Darabont (born on January 28, 1959) is an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. He was born in a refugee camp in Montbeliard, France. His parents fled Hungary after the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. When he was still an infant, his family: The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile (movie)
- I.A.L. Diamond
- Nora Ephron
- Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel : Splash, Parenthood, City Slickers, A League of Their Own
- William Goldman
- Akiva Goldsman
- Ben Hecht
- Brian Helgeland
- John Hodge: Trainspotting, Shallow Grave, A Life Less Ordinary
- Sidney Howard
- James Kearns
- David Koepp
- Ring Lardner, Jr.
- Ernest Lehman: Sabrina, Executive Suite , North by Northwest, The Sweet Smell of Success
- John Logan
- Anita Loos
- Kurt Luedtke : Absence of Malice, Out of Africa
- Michael MacLennan: Queer As Folk (US), Anne of Green Gables
- David Mamet
- Herman J. Mankiewicz
- Joseph L. Mankiewicz
- 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
- Dalton Trumbo
- David N. Twohy
- Randall Wallace: Braveheart
- Joss Whedon: Toy Story, Speed
- Michael Wilson
- 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:
Screenwriter
