“Screenplays should be experienced […] as a form of cinema itself” whereby “both, although via opposite polarities, are audio-visual (the screenplay cueing the images and sounds in our mind)” (2009, p. 109). Reference: Dzialo, C 2009, ‘“Frustrated Time” narration: the screenplays of Charlie Kaufman’, in W Buckland (ed.), Puzzle films: complex storytelling in contemporary cinema, Wiley-Blackwell, Chichester, pp. 107-28.                                                                                                                                                                    The humble screenplay is often dismissed as a mere time consuming stepping stone one must engage with in order to move on in the professional filmmaking process [or was it just me, maybe it was just me and my ignorance] Yes, my limited interaction with the screenplay lead me to roll my eyes at the mention of one [gross it seems like a waste of time i just want to make things!] that it acts as more a formal document to collate ideas and inform shot lists, film scheduling, auditions, tone and editing. Whilst the latter is true I guess, these first five weeks within this studio have given me a new appreciation and understanding in exactly WHY anyone has ever bothered to type a whole lotta notes into a word document in courier new font and [spoiler alert] turns out, screenplays are ridiculously important and you may curl into a ball of stress and messy thoughts without one. It occurred to me that I had only ever thought of a screenplay, in a situation where the screenwriter was also to be the director, so in this way it would act as taking notes for later and then being able to distribute this document of ideas of other members of the crew. But this class has encouraged me to think about how a screenplay functions in other situations. One being when the screenwriter is NOT the director. This situation [depending on how much autonomy and creative license the screenwriter is willing to relinquish to the director of course] means the screenplay is the first medium to communicate the project to people who aren’t in the writers seat, and this includes the director, cinematographer, producers [can we have some money please and thank you] , marketing and so on and so forth, basically everyone else in any credits sequence of a film. A writer needs to communicate tone of the film, personality of characters, pacing and can even dictate which camera shots are used for a certain moment through the screenplay. In this way, the piece needs to be as vivid as possible when read, and should be self contained [you shouldn’t have to go call the screenwriter about what something meant is what i’m trying to say]. A director especially needs to be able to visualise the film in their head when reading, and be able to then plan out actor blocking, prop and mis en scene, lighting and so on. So a screenplay is less of just a chore to tick off the filmmaking list, it IS the film, just really flat and only currently visible in the imagination as triggered by the writer’s words. It becomes the core reference point for production to begin and isn’t a stepping stone, but more so the river [this is a gross metaphor I do apologise] surrounding them, pushing the vision forwards and communicating it from one department to another.