SP - Reading Screenplays (Lesson)
Reading Screenplays
Introduction
Dramatic writing is created for the purpose of others interpreting the work for some style of performance. In this way, both theatrical scripts and screenplays are similar. According to Robert Cohen theatrical literature contains the following paradoxes:
It is unique to the moment, yet it is repeatable.
It is spontaneous, yet it is rehearsed.
It is participatory, yet it is presented.
It is real, yet it is simulated.
It is understandable, yet it is obscure.
The actors are themselves, yet they are characters.
The audience believes, yet it does not believe.
The audience is involved, yet it is apart.
-From the introduction to Robert Cohen’s Theatre, fourth edition
Screenplays are much the same except for a few major differences:
- Theatre is for a live audience which as an effect on the performance whereas a film is complete prior to the audience every seeing it.
- Film is primarily a visual medium. Understanding these differences is important for understanding the function of the screenplay and how to write for it.
Differences Between Plays and Screenplays
A Script is not a play.
A play in a book is only the shadow of a play and not even a clear shadow of it… The printed script of a play is hardly more than an architect's blueprint of a house not yet build or [a house] built and destroyed. The color, the grace and the levitation, the structural pattern in motion, the quick interplay of live beings, suspended like a fitful lightning in a cloud, these things are the play, not words on paper nor thoughts and ideas of an author.
-Tennessee Williams
In the videos below, we will learn about the differences between screenplays and theatrical plays and how to read screenplays.
Below the video, you will find a notes document including a script of the presentation.
Reading Screenplays
Reading Screenplays Review
IMAGES & VIDEOS CREATED BY GAVS