Screenwriter

Screenwriters are authors who write the screenplays from which films are made. Many of them also work as "script doctors," attempting to change scripts to suit directors or studios; for instance studio management may have a complaint that the motivations of the characters are unclear or that the dialogue is weak. Script-doctoring can be quite lucrative, especially for the better known writers; David Mamet and John Sayles, for instance, fund the movies they direct themselves, usually from their own screenplays, by writing and doctoring scripts for others.

Professional screenwriters are unionized and are represented by the Writers Guild of America.

Some notable screeenwriters:

• Alan Ball
• Leigh Brackett: The Big Sleep, Rio Bravo, The Empire Strikes Back
• Ray Bradbury: Moby Dick, King of Kings
• Bertrand Blier
• Francis Ford Coppola
• Nora Ephron
• Ben Hecht
• James Kearns
• David Mamet
• Harold Pinter
• Ayn Rand
• Robert Riskin: It Happened One Night, Lost Horizon
• Frederica Sagor Maas
• John Sayles
• Paul Schrader
• Aaron Sorkin: A Few Good Men, The American President, Sports Night, The West Wing
• Tom Stoppard