Research guides: Cinema Studies: Screenwriting Resources

Search Tips for Screenwriting & Screenplay Resources

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Subject Headings - Screenwriting & Screenplays

Motion Picture Plays
Motion Picture Authorship
Screenplays
Screenwriters
Women Screenwriters
African American Screenwriters
African American Women Screenwriters
Screen Writers' Guild
Characters and Characteristics
Characters and Characteristics in Motion Pictures
Criticism and Interpretation

Discourse Analysis
Storytelling
Film Adaptations
Film Critics
History and Criticism
Online Authorship
Narration (Rhetoric)
Plots, Themes, Etc.
Production and Direction
Special Effects
Technique

Motion Pictures Acting
Motion Pictures Industry
Motion Pictures Producers and Directors
Television Authorship
Television Plays
Television Writers

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Search by Subject Heading (Cinema Studies) includes screenshots

Film Script Database

American Film Scripts Online This link opens in a new window
The Film Scripts Online Series contains over 1,100 scripts and makes available, for the first time, accurate and authorized versions of copyrighted screenplays. Hosted on Alexander Street Platform, all scripts are text searchable and it possible to filter search results by director, performer, and writer.

American Film Scripts: Volume I contains hundreds of titles from classic American cinema, Film Scripts Online: Volume II focuses more on contemporary and international films

Resources

The Palgrave Handbook of Script Development by Craig Batty (Editor); Stayci Taylor (Editor)
Call Number: eBook
Publication Date: 2022
The Palgrave Handbook of Script Development provides the first comprehensive overview of international script development practices.
Prewriting Your Screenplay by Michael Tabb
Call Number: eBook, available at Innis
Publication Date: 2018
A Step-by-Step Guide to Generating Stories.
Analysing the Screenplay by Jill Nelmes (Editor)
Call Number: print, Innis & other UofT Libraries
Publication Date: 2010
This book highlights the screenplay as an important form in itself, as opposed to merely being the first stage of the production process. It explores a number of possible approaches to studying the screenplay and considering the depth and breadth of the subject area.
Ethics in Screenwriting by Steven Maras (Editor)
Call Number: ebook, print also available (search title in catalogue)
Publication Date: 2016
Building on a new wave of screenwriting research, as well as a ‘turn to ethics’ in humanities and media studies scholarship, this title forms a bridge between these areas in a unique analysis of a key area of media practice.
FilmCraft: Screenwriting by Tim Grierson (Editor)
Call Number: ebook
Publication Date: 2013
This book addresses dialogue, pacing, and character development as central features of screenplay success, and features in-depth interviews with modern masters of film from various national contexts.
Great Adaptations: Screenwriting and Global Storytelling by Alexis Krasilovsky
Call Number: print, Innis & other UofT Libraries
Publication Date: 2017
Great Adaptations: Screenwriting and Global Storytelling examines the technical methods of adapting various texts from one medium to another, focusing on the screenplay.
Next Level Screenwriting by David Landau; David Bennett Carren
Call Number: ebook
Publication Date: 2019
Next Level Screenwriting is an intermediate screenwriting book, for those that have already learned the basics of screenwriting, written a screenplay or two and want to bring their writing and stories to the next level. Each chapter examines a specific aspect of screenwriting, such as character, dialogue and theme, and then provides the reader with ideas, tips and inspiration to apply to their own writing.
Off the Page: Screenwriting in the era of media convergence by Daniel Bernardi; Julian Hoxter
Call Number: ebook, print also available (search title in catalogue)
Publication Date: 2017
Off the Page examines the business and craft of screenwriting in the era of media convergence. They address the conglomerate studios making tentpole movies, expanded television, Indiewood, independent animation, microbudget scripting, the video games industry, and online content creation. Designed for students, producers, and writers who want to understand what studios want and why they want it, this book also examines how scripting is developing in the convergent media, beneath and beyond the Hollywood tentpole.
The Palgrave Handbook of Screen Production by Craig Batty (Editor); Marsha Berry (Editor); Kath Dooley (Editor); Susan Kerrigan (Editor); Bettina Frankham (Editor)
Call Number: ebook
Publication Date: 2019
It covers all aspects of screen production-from conceptualizing ideas and developing them, to realizing and then distributing them-across all forms and formats, including fiction and non-fiction for cinema, television, gallery spaces and the web.
A Poetics for Screenwriters by Lance Lee
Call Number: PN1996 .L39 2001X, Robarts
Publication Date: 2001
Covering plot elements, dramatic reality, storytelling stance, character, spectacle, and more, this book offers a guide to adapting Aristotle’s Poetics for the purposes of writing for the screen.
Screen Adaptation: Beyond the Basics by Eric R. Williams
Call Number: eBook
Publication Date: 2017
Techniques for adapting books, comics and real-life stories into screenplays.
Screenwriters and Screenwriting: Putting Practice into Context by Craig Batty (Editor)
Call Number: ebook
Publication Date: 2014
Screenwriters and Screenwriting is intended for both screenwriting practice and academic study. The book contains case studies and analyses from the US, the UK, Australia, Japan, Ireland and Denmark. It focuses on how screenplays are written, developed and received. Additionally, it highlights the importance of the screenplay within the context of the filmmaking process.
Screenwriting by Andrew Horton (Editor); Julian Hoxter (Editor)
Call Number: ebook, Innis and other UofT Libraries
Publication Date: 2014
Reaching back to the early days of Hollywood, Screenwriting illuminates the screenwriter’s unique contribution to cinema. This book explores the social, political, and economic implications of the craft of American screenwriting from the silent era to the contemporary global multi-media marketplace.
Screenwriting by Felim MacDermott; Declan McGrath
Call Number: print, other UofT Libraries
Publication Date: 2003
Offering insights into the creative processes involved in being a screenwriter, this volume provides first-hand accounts of the industry from a group of 13 screenwriters. Their experiences are illustrated with script excerpts, hand-written notes, storyboards, film stills, and photographs.
Screenwriting Fundamentals by Irv Bauer; Vimi Bauer (Editor)
Call Number: ebook
Publication Date: 2016
Bauer shows the writer how to put the pieces together, taking the process of screenwriting out of the cerebral and on to the page. Part One of the book covers character, location, time-frame and dialogue, emphasizing the particularity in writing for a visual medium. Part Two of the book focuses on the narrative aspect of screenwriting.
Scriptwriting for Web Series by Marie Drennan; Yuri Baranovsky; Vlad Baranovsky
Call Number: ebook
Publication Date: 2018
Containing in-depth advice on writing both short- and long-form webisodes as part of a series, as well as standalone pieces, it goes beyond the screenwriting process to discuss production, promotion and copyright in order to offer a well-rounded guide to creating and distributing a successful web series.
Understanding Screenwriting by Tom Stempel
Call Number: print, Innis & other UofT Libraries
Publication Date: 2008
'Understanding Screenwriting' dissects 21 successful and unsuccessful screenplays, analysing why certain aspects of a screenplay work and others do not.
Women Screenwriters Today by Marsha McCreadie
Call Number: PN1998.2 .M425 2006X, Robarts
Publication Date: 2005
This study examines the contribution of female screenwriters in the development of cinema, and considers the debate that women writers bring a different sensibility to the creation of popular films. It includes interviews with contemporary female writer-directors, such as Sofia Coppola and Catherine Breillat.
The Writer's Toolkit by Paul Kalburgi
Call Number: eBook
Publication Date: 2021
Exercises, techniques and ideas for playwrights and screenwriters
Naked Screenwriting by Lew Hunter; Meg Gifford (As told to)
Call Number: eBook
Publication Date: 2021
Award-winning screenwriters reveal their Hollywood secrets in crafting brilliant stories and methodology through interviews with world-renowned UCLA screenwriting professor Lew Hunter. Naked Screenwriting includes interviews with Francis Ford Coppola, Billy Wilder, Oliver Stone, Bruce Joel Rubin, William Goldman, Julius Epstein, Alexander Payne, Jim Taylor, Alfred Uhry, Tom Schulman, Ted Tally, Ruth Prawer Jabvola, Eric Roth, Jean-Claude Carriere, Frank Pierson, David Ward, Horton Foote, Ron Bass, Alan Ball, Callie Khouri, Robert Benton, Irving Ravetch, and Harriet Frank Junior.

Journals

Journal of Screenwriting - Peer Reviewed
The Journal of Screenwriting is an international double-blind peer-reviewed journal that is published three times a year. The journal highlights current academic and professional thinking about the screenplay and intends to promote, stimulate and bring together current research and contemporary debates around the screenplay whilst encouraging groundbreaking research in an international arena. The journal is discursive, critical, rigorous and engages with issues in a dynamic and developing field, linking academic theory to screenwriting practice.
Creative Labor in Cinema and Media Industries
This bibliography addresses the rapid growth of cinema at the beginning of the 20th century and its industrialized modes of creativity. In order to serve incessant demand for new titles, Hollywood studios relied on a set of conventions that allowed them to regularize production and realize workplace efficiencies. Relying on standardization entailed a socialized mode of creativity that would later be adopted by radio and television broadcasters. This annotated bibliography contains a section on 'Blacklisting' and on 'Screenwriters.'

Writing Software

Arc Studio Pro
- Screenwriting shouldn't just be about text formatting. Our thoughtful design takes you further: Stay focused, collaborate, craft beautiful stories.
- Available for free until further notice
- Industry standard formatting, intuitive and modern interface, real-time collaboration
Celtx
This software is fee-based, but has options for scriptwriting and video production

Websites

Screenwriting Resource Page
This guide is a compilation of popular websites that promote or publish news, insights, contests, fellowships, jobs, books, blogs, and networking opportunities related to the screenwriting trade. It’s included here as a reference for students interested in writing for film and television.
Raindance - 6 Rules of Screenplay Research
Raindance is a festival and film school based out of the UK.
Internet Movie Script Database
Read or download a vast array of movie scripts for free from this unlimited access online database.

Interviews with Screenwriters (Streaming)

Screenwriting
Screenwriter Stephen Tolkin talks about his craft and writing process.
Patrick Uden - Factual Scriptwriting and Storytelling
This film interviews TV producer Patrick Uden. Patrick Uden answers questions regarding factual scriptwriting and storytelling. Examined are technological advances and filmmaking, student advice, and the craft of filmmaking.

Research Guides

Cinema Studies

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Search Tips for Screenwriting & Screenplay Resources

Subject Headings - Screenwriting & Screenplays

For additional search tips for subject headings:

Film Script Database

Resources

Journals

Writing Software

Websites

Interviews with Screenwriters (Streaming)

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