Words Before Pictures

Screenplays are vital to the making of film and TV drama, yet they're routinely obscured and misrepresented in much of what's written about film and screenwriting. Simon Passmore uses his experience in professional practice, teaching, and academia to bring together differing and often conflicting ideas about what screenplays are and how they function. Words Before Pictures throws light on the divergent views of screenplays found in screenwriting manuals, academic studies, and practitioner accounts, and proposes new ways of conceptualising screenplays that recognise their crucial role in bringing films into being.