but is screen writing the same as writing a play?

No.

Different medium, different kind of stories, different format... and different skills.

A stage play - the "medium" is the actor. The audience sees the entire stage at the same time, and the actors move on that stage.

A movie - the "medium" is the camera. The audience sees what the camera wants them to see and nothing else. The camera moves from actor to actor, or actor to object, or object to object. It "cuts" between "subjects".

A stage play is trapped on a set - and to get to another location, usually they must close the curtain (or at least dim the lights). And there are a limited number of locations.

A movie can go anywhere, any *time*, and has an unlimited number of locations. It just cuts to the next location.

Both are *dramatic mediums* - in that the story unfolds before our eyes rather than having someone tell us what happens.

But, where a stage play is all about what the actors say, a movie is all about what the camera sees. Movies began silent, so stories are told *visually*, with the dialogue (and sounds) secondary. The skills to tell a story visually are different than the skills required to write a stage play - they share some elements and have other things that are almost 180' different.

Two different mediums.

- Bill

First, there are no "dumb questions".

Secondly, in addition to the great answer you got from wcmartel above, screenplays and stage plays are written in different basic formats.

there are some more things that makes a play different from a movie.
In a play the adience is alway if a safe distance. Toy don not always see the expression of an actor. in a movie the camera can get close to a face and as a writer you can use the actors impression to tell something. It is easier to place actors around where ever you want. In a stageplay there are corners of the stage the are not visible for some people in the audience.
In a stageplay there is not much room for stunts and special effects also music plays a important rule in movies.
So generally is a stageplay limited and a screenplay not.

Technically, for your already self-cataloged "dumb" quiz, a stage-play / playwright is a literary text with many dialogs in it, aimed to be either performed / played by (usually trained) actors, or to simply be read. Take, for instance, Shaw's plays. Joyce's... :-) The list may continue on and on, as you very well know. As for the screen-play is concerned, that one is filled with choreography details for the cinema and/or for TV (= television). Of how TV actors should move, mimic and so on. And, of course, full of indications to the camera-man. How he/she should position the lights and/or the camera, how he/should zoom-in and/or out.
Some say that a screenplay is interchangeable with the term "script" because of its technicality. I tend to agree with this assertion. Oh, and a screenplay / script may be an adaptation of a stage-play / playwright, so... it may become quite confusing. Dizzying even! :P

~ S. M. ~

wcmartell gave you a lot of good direction...

Both a play and a film depend on a good story and characters -- you can tell when either medium is lacking the basic core that keeps your interest.

You can tell the very same story in either medium -- with considerations for the physical and dramatic needs of each.

Different typed formats, but the goal is the same -- tell a compelling story via people talking -- and reacting.

Not a dumb question -- a lot of people working on Broadway and in Hollywood have no idea there IS a difference...

Adapting play to film or film to play is tricky. Not as easy as executives think...

"Inherit the Wind" worked (great play to great film)

"Breakfast at Tiffany's" (popular film to bad play - closed in previews)

"The Producers" (Funny film to funny musical to bomb musical film)

Go figure...

This thread is as good as place as any for this question:
Can anyone point me to some really good resources (books, blogs, etc.) to help me get a really good feel for what it is like on the set of a Hollywood movie shoot. I'm interested in the entire process from actor readings/rehearsals, set creations, *script rewrites*, directing, etc. The daily grind.

I ask this for two reasons:
1.) as a screenwriting with limited knowledge of the entire process, I'm genuinely interested.
2.)it's research for a script idea I have, kind of a movie within a movie type of thing.

Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Mike

Well Mike,

I have been on some sets in The Netherlands where I live. It is not possible to get to know the whole process if you are not the director. The whole proces takes months so not years. There are so many more people involved then you see on the screen. Take a good look at the end credits of any movie. You may get a general idea of how things go on the set but pre production and post production are long processes and what I have done in these parts of the process was a hell of a job. Don 't go there.

Thanks for the reply. I guess I should be a little more specific... I'm more interested in all the pieces of the film that the *writer* might potentiallypotentially be involved with... I realize that many writers never even visit the set. But I'm thinking about situations where the writer is brought into sit during initial readings and is also on the set for requested rewrites. I imagine there are a lot of cases, particularly when an actor/actress is in control, when a writer is involved all the way through the shoot. I just thought I would find some really good blogs by screenwriters out on the net that would tell about their experiences, but I haven't really found any. I was wondering if anyone knew of any good resources...

I have a blog that's become quite popular. Feel free to check it out.

www.TheWorkingScreenwriter.blogspot.com

Hey, love the blog. I've been reading through the last year's posts, working my way up to the latest. Very interesting stuff. I'm writing some specs - wrote a couple ten years ago (terrible!) - tried writing a novel and have done some non-fiction writing since. I'm now getting back into screenwriting with the goal of completing three polished specs by year's end. I live in the film-making mecca of Kentucky so I'm interested in the life of the Hollywood writer. I know the odds are steep...and even moreso not being an L.A. resident. I'm hoping, one day, to have some success by working from here and traveling when needed. We'll see. But as you mentioned, I need to get the scripts written 1st and worry about the other stuff later.

Mike