screenwriter

American  

[skreen-rahy-ter] / ˈskrinˌraɪ tər /

noun

1. a person who writes screenplays, especially as an occupation or profession.

---

screenwriter British  

/ ˈskriːnˌraɪtə /

noun

1. a person who writes screenplays

---

Other Word Forms

• screenwriting noun

Etymology

Origin of screenwriter

First recorded in 1920–25; screen + writer

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

The actor, who was born and raised in Illinois, developed the story with “Nobody” screenwriter Derek Kolstad, best known for creating the “John Wick” franchise, and the two quickly bonded over a shared sensibility.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 15, 2026

Sydney Mitchel wanted to be a screenwriter and graduated from the dramatic writing department of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 12, 2026

Guest: Nadav Lapid, Israeli screenwriter and film director of Yes!

From Slate • Apr. 9, 2026

Two years ago, screenwriter Diablo Cody was in the middle of trying to write “a very big, commercial, four-quadrant movie” when she gave birth to her third child.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 25, 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

Related Words

• author
• biographer
• columnist
• correspondent
• critic
• dramatist
• editor
• essayist
• journalist
• novelist
• poet
• reporter