A screenplay is a script that is prepared for a motion-picture production. A screenplay script is similar to a stage script, since it includes many of the same elements. However, a screenplay script also includes specification directions for shooting or filming the production.
Screenplays typically include the same basic elements in the script. Those elements include directions or specifications regarding scene headings (also known as sluglines), action, character names, dialogue, parenthetical notes, transitions and shots. These elements follow certain rules and conventions for formatting and style, which gives some consistency to the genre, making it easy for members of the film industry to read.
A movie adaptation is a movie that has been adapted from a different form of art. Most frequently, movies are adapted from books. However, movies are also adapted from other movies, television series, plays or theater productions, short stories, comic books, or even from video games. Since a movie adaptation is a movie, it follows a script or screenplay.
A movie adaptation may be a strict or loose adaptation or interpretation of the original source. The adaptation’s loyalty to the original is reflected in the screenplay. For instance, screenplays often abridge or alter the dialogue from the original source. However, the screenplay may do more to distance the adaptation in terms of content, style, theme and other elements from the original source. In a screenplay for a movie adaptation, characters’ names may be changed or characters may be removed or added. Further, the action or plot may be subtly or substantively changed. Often, the screenplays of movie adaptations are evaluated in relation to the original form, or forms, from which they have been adapted. However, screenplays of movie adaptations constitute a form of art in their own right, and, many argue, must be evaluated based on their own merits.