screenplay

[skreen-pley]

noun

1. a motion-picture or television scenario.

2. Older Use.,  a motion picture.

screenplay

/ ˈskriːnˌpleɪ /

noun

1. the script for a film, including instructions for sets and camera work

Word History and Origins

Origin of screenplay¹

First recorded in 1915–20; screen + play

Example Sentences

But for the right friend — and it’s likely that, in Los Angeles, you have a friend with an unpublished novel or screenplay — this gift could be a game-changer.

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Zemeckis, who co-wrote the screenplay with Bob Gale, must have been as much of a madman savant as Christopher Lloyd’s Doc Brown to compress so much plot into every frame.

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The screenplay isn’t curious who any of these people were at home.

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Years later, Cooper wrote the screenplay for “Out of the Furnace” while listening to that album, an unwitting prelude to what would eventually bring the pair together.

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Based on Guthrie’s 1943 autobiography and starring David Carradine as the itinerant, socially conscious musician, the movie was nominated for six Oscars, including picture, adapted screenplay and film editing.

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Related Words

• cinema 
• feature 
• film 
• flick 
• motion picture 
• picture 
• show 
• videotape