screenwriter
Americannoun
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screenwriters
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
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.
See Examples For:
But it is also about power and political ideology, explained James Schamus, a screenwriter who once ran Focus Features and is now a Columbia University professor.
From Salon ● Jul. 20, 2026
Ms. Hanssen, a screenwriter and radio host, has produced a gritty melodrama of familial love and hereditary tragedy.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026
Briefly we hope that Gillespie and screenwriter Ana Nogueira are shaking up the superhero format like a bottle of gas-station champagne.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 24, 2026
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
He had changed hands as often as a dollar bill and was now running under the colors of a Hollywood screenwriter.
From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand
There’s a comic trope beloved by playwrights, novelists and screenwriters about the fighters all suited up for battle, only to discover that their adversary refuses to play.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 30, 2026
So did I, in contemplation of all the gadgets, guest appearances and exposition dumps the film’s screenwriters, Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers, mistake for a compelling story.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 30, 2026
Hollywood screenwriters recently approved a new four-year deal.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 10, 2026
Attention screenwriters, producers and agents: The Jonah Jeovany Vasquez story continues this weekend in Clovis, and it’s giving off Disney-like vibes.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 27, 2026
The ten directors and screenwriters were thrown in prison for contempt of Congress.
From "Spies: The Secret Showdown Between America and Russia" by Marc Favreau
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.
