Definition:
Before the film, there is the screenplay. Also called the script, it is the written blueprint of the production: all the dialogue, scene descriptions, character actions, and structural elements that will eventually be translated into the finished film. It is the document from which everything else is built.
What It Means in Movies:
The screenplay describes what is seen on screen and what is heard, without dictating how the director or cinematographer should realise it. It is not a novel. It is not a play. It is its own form, with specific conventions, a specific format, and a specific economy of language that takes years to master. One page of a properly formatted screenplay equals approximately one minute of screen time.
Why It Matters:
Every film starts as a screenplay. Development, financing, casting, production design, and marketing decisions are all made in response to it. A weak screenplay rarely produces a strong film. But the screenplay is always the foundation, and foundations matter.
Example:
Charlie Kaufman's screenplay for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is so structurally audacious and emotionally precise that it works as a piece of writing before it works as a film. That is the truest test of a screenplay's strength.