screenplay

noun screen·play \ ˈskrēn-ˌplā \

|Updated on: 7 Aug 2018

Examples: screenplay in a Sentence

Definition of screenplay

: the script and often shooting directions of a story prepared for motion-picture production

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Examples of screenplay in a Sentence

an award for best screenplay
each actor will be given a copy of the screenplay to study

Recent Examples of screenplay from the Web

Riley, who both directed the film and wrote the screenplay, was open to the change, even suggesting rubber gloves as an alternative.

— anna moeslein, Glamour, "Tessa Thompson's 'Sorry to Bother You' Costumes Are a Wardrobe Road Map to Fighting the Patriarchy," 6 July 2018
The late Texas writer Horton Foote won an Oscar for adapting the screenplay for the 1962 movie, in which Gregory Peck played Atticus Finch, a lawyer who defends a black man accused of raping a white woman in the South.

— don maines, Houston Chronicle, "Teen had to choose: Disney trip or key role in ‘Mockingbird’ production," 15 June 2018
After working on the original trilogy, Kasdan wrote and directed a wide swath of films, from Grand Canyon to The Accidental Tourist (both of which earned him Oscar nods, for best original and best adapted screenplay, respectively).

— yohana desta, HWD, "Star Wars Scribe Lawrence Kasdan Wanted to Kill Han Solo in Return of the Jedi," 30 May 2018
Celebrated as a pyrotechnic writer of short fiction, screenplays, comic books and criticism, Mr Ellison was as prodigious a source of anecdote, vendetta and litigation.

— The Economist, "Harlan Ellison died on June 27th," 5 July 2018
Over a 60-year writing career, Ellison penned 1,700 short stories, screenplays, and comic books.

— darren orf, Popular Mechanics, "Harlan Ellison Turned Star Trek Into Something More. Could It Happen Again?," 29 June 2018
This was all on top of writing the screenplay, a process that has been refined since Benjamin's last 2016 splash.

— sam machkovech, Ars Technica, "This wild, AI-generated film is the next step in “whole-movie puppetry”," 11 June 2018
Gisler wrote the screenplay with Thomas Hess (Monkey King) and Frederic Moriette, Christian Petzold’s regular script supervisor who here makes his debut as a screenwriter.

— boyd van hoeij, The Hollywood Reporter, "'Mario': Film Review," 31 May 2018
Marc Munden will direct the screenplay, which was penned by Jack Thorne (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child).

— caroline rogers, Southern Living, "The Secret Garden Is Returning to the Big Screen," 1 May 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'screenplay.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.