screenwriter
Americannoun
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.
By the end, screenwriter Ana Nogueira tees up some compelling moral dilemmas about the ethics of revenge, but Gillespie’s direction fails to entertain them with the weight they deserve.
From Salon • Jun. 27, 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
Mr. Bentley so thoroughly researched his history that he uncovered a delicious irony previously unknown to me: The screenwriter Ring Lardner Jr. was jailed for his non-cooperation with the committee.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 18, 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
As a known member of the Communist Party, Froelick had trouble finding work as a screenwriter after 1950.
From "Spooked!" by Gail Jarrow
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.
