Are script and screen writers the same thing?

Answer 1

A script -- film script, screenplay -- is a document written by a storyteller in a tight and specific format. (Script [writer] also has other meanings: see below.)

One page of a screenplay is about one minute of film time. Every person involved in the collaborative process of telling stories on film uses that page as a guide for their work. Collaborators include not only producers, actors and directors, but set designers, costume staff, prop people, lighting, sound and camera experts and so forth: everyone listed in the rolling credits when the film ends.

When one describes his or her avocation as a 'script writer', in the context of telling stories on film, then, yes it is the same as describing oneself as a 'screenwriter', which is a more specific term.

• Note that a script writer can write a script for a stage play. That format is different from the one used for film and is not so finitely envisioned as is a film script. A stage play script leaves lots of room for interpretation. That's why you've seen Shakespear's plays set in different time periods and interpreted differently depending on the desired audience.

• Scripts are also written for public appearances, celebration events, corporate executives, governmental spokes persons and so forth.

• Finally, people who write computer code also write scripts.