screenwriter
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of screenwriter
Explanation
Someone who writes movie scripts or screenplays is called a screenwriter. A novelist whose book is being made into a film might be hired to be the screenwriter. Every movie has a script, with lines for the actors to speak and directions for certain camera shots and scene changes. The person who writes the screenplay is the screenwriter. Some big-budget Hollywood films might have several screenwriters who collaborate. The word's been used since the 1920s, from the sense of screen that means "cinema world," or "surface on which a movie is projected."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Satrapi's husband, a Swedish producer, actor and screenwriter, died last year and she recently published a series of heartfelt Instagram posts saying: "For I Lost the love of my life".
From BBC • Jun. 4, 2026
Her husband, a Swedish producer, actor and screenwriter, had been a long-time collaborator.
From Barron's • Jun. 4, 2026
Michael Esser, a Los Angeles screenwriter, wrote in with a parallel story from before the AI era—one illustrating the historical asymmetries that AI is now scaling up.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 26, 2026
Nora Kletter, a freelance screenwriter who attended Crossroads, said she knew him as a bully.
From Los Angeles Times • May 21, 2026
Amelia is the director and lead vocal talent, Serenity is the screenwriter and side vocals, and I’m the animator.
From "I Can Make This Promise" by Christine Day
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
