Table of Contents

Introduction 1. Prehistory of the Screenplay 2. Copyright Law, Theatre, and Early Film Writing, 1904-1912 3. Outlines and Scenarios, 1904-1917 4. The Continuity Script, 1912-1929 5. The Silent Film Script in Europe 6. The Coming of Sound 7. The Hollywood Sound Screenplay to 1948 8. Narrative Fiction and European Screenwriting, 1948-1960 9. The master-scene Screenplay and the 'New Hollywood' 10. The Contemporary Screenplay and the Screenwriting Manual 11. Screenwriting Today and Tomorrow 12. Conclusion Bibliography

Promotional Information

'Steven Price has done a terrific job at looking at how the screenplay developed. No, it's not another collection of funny stories about drunken screenwriters,but something more revealing: the ways not only the Americans developed useful formats (yes, there have always been more than one), but how the French, Russians and the Italians dealt with the same problems. ... And Price brings us up to date with screenplays for the digital age. This is a great addition to the research being done on screenwriting.' - Tom Stempel, author of FrameWork: A History of Screenwriting in the American Film 'A fascinating study and sure to set a benchmark in our understanding of the conventions of screenwriting.' - David Bordwell

About the Author

Steven Price is Senior Lecturer in English at Bangor University. He is the author of The Screenplay: Authorship, Theory and Criticism; The Plays, Screenplays and Films of David Mamet; and (with William Tydeman) Oscar Wilde: Salome. His previous book, The Screenplay: Authorship, Theory and Criticism, was shortlisted for the American Theatre Library Association's Richard Wall Memorial Award in 2011.

Reviews

“Steven Price’s A History of the Screenplay as the work constitutes a valuable addition to reference material and has implications for the examination of textual material.” (A Year's Work in English Studies, 2015)