Screenwriting vs. Playwriting

THE PLAYWRITING SEMINARS > FILM > PLAYS vs. FILM >

'. . . the purpose of a screenplay is to tell the story so the audience wants to know what happens next, and to tell it in pictures. Movies are basically about plot. They're about the structure of incidents, one incident causing the next to happen. A play doesn't have to be that. It has to have a plot as some sort of spine, but the spine can be very simple: two guys waiting for Godot to show up.'

-- David Mamet

Charlie Hamm puts it another way: Film deals with events while the novel looks at the consequences . . . of events. Substitute play for novel and we're back to the same thing Mamet's talking about.

Another way to look at this: Plays need to be about something besides what happens next.

You can write a very good film of the sort that could win an Academy Award (well, maybe just a nomination) that's only about what-happens-next. But it's tough to make a play work on that basis unless you're writing for the murder mystery dinner theatre crowd. For the theatre . . .

Consequences Are What Matter

This is what creates the real difference between playwriting and screenwriting . . .

Storytelling in Film & Theatre

But deep in your heart lurks that gnawing itch. And you just know -- along with nearly everyone else in America -- that you should be writing for . . .

The Screenplay Trade

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