Film and Theater

To understand the way a screenplay works, you must understand, first, the way film works and, second, the way it works differently from other forms of dramatic performance.

True, on a simplistic level, film and theater are similar. Both are interpretative. The writer doesn’t speak directly to the audience, relying instead on actors, directors, and designers to present and enhance (and sometimes distort) the meaning of the written text. The overall structure of plays and screenplays also shares certain common elements: character, conflict, and dramatic action. There, the similarity ends.