Query: Screenplays as literature?

From: Henry M. Taylor <[email protected]>

A useful book which addresses many of the questions raised by this thread
is: Steven Maras: Screenwriting. History, Theory and Practice. Wallflower
Press, 2009. Two core issues concern what is meant by the term =82literatur=
e'
- i.e. do you define it in a narrower or wider sense -, and the object
problem raised by the medium of the screenplay itself, as it can be seen as
an architectural blueprint for a film, the cinematic equivalent of a
musical score, or as a conventionalized form of film script in the sense of
a work in progress, i.e. as an instance of writing film which may cover the
entire range from the first idea to a film all the way beyond the finished
movie to its being re-scripted in dubbing for foreign release. And a
screenplay is a hybrid medium, both in its historical evolution and
ontologically, with the screenwriter=92s task perhaps best summarized by
Hitchcock: many screenwriters believe they=92re putting words on paper, but
in actuality they=92re inventing images images on the screen (paraphrased).
While reading a screenplay you=92re supposed to see in your mind=92s eye th=
e
envisioned film. This is one of the main reasons why screenplays are
internationally standardized in their formatting. Finally, it should also
be mentioned that Screenplay Studies is by now an established academic
discipline, with its own publication, Journal of Screenwriting, and its own
conferences.

Henry
**********

From: <[email protected]>

I don't think anyone has said that screenplays are not literature. But I
will say that not too many people are interested in them as such because
they are overshadowed by their films.







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Ken Nolley
Professor of English and Film Studies
Willamette University
Salem, OR 97301
Phone:  503-370-6280
Fax:  503-370-6944

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