With the advent of sound film, dialogue quickly dominated scripts, with what had been specific instructions for the filmmaker initially regressed to a list of master shots.
Film researcher Andrew Kenneth Gay posits that, "The process of scripting for the screen did not so much emerge naturally from other literary forms such as the play script, the novel, or poetry nor to meet the artistic needs of filmmakers but developed primarily to address the manufacturing needs of industrial production." Ince, a screenwriter himself, invented movie production by introducing an " assembly line" system of filmmaking that utilized far more detailed written materials, clearly dedicated to "separating conception from execution". Griffith's The Birth of a Nation (1915), were made without a script, preapproved " continuities" allowed the increasingly powerful studio executives to more accurately budget for film productions. These scenario scripts evolved into continuity scripts, which listed a number of shots within each scene, thus providing continuity to streamline the filmmaking process. At this time, scripts had yet to include individual shots or dialogue. Films such as A Trip to the Moon (1902) and The Great Train Robbery (1903) had scenarios consisting respectively of a list of scene headings or scene headings with a detailed explication of the action in each scene. Shortly thereafter, as films grew in length and complexity, film scenarios (also called "treatments" or "synopses" : 92 ) were written to provide narrative coherence that had previously been improvised. You can alternatively do a subject search for the name of a film or program, and this will sometimes produce a title that includes the script.In the early silent era, before the turn of the 20th century, "scripts" for films in the United States were usually a synopsis of a film of around one paragraph and sometimes as short as one sentence. However, keep in mind that many published scripts (especially for television) have no subject heading at all, and will only have the words "script," "scripts," "film script," "shooting script," "final shooting script," or "screenplay" in the title or keywords.To browse screenplays, try a more general Subject search for the term " Motion picture plays.".
This often helps narrow down hits quickly.
If you are looking for a specific title and get too many hits, also search by the name of the screenwriter or author (NOT the director).Some hints on using the U C Library Search to find titles: For scripts in Library Special Collections, please see finding aids in the box above. Due to historical inconsistencies in cataloging practice, not every script will have a uniform subject heading or any heading at all. Some scripts and screenplays will also be available at other UCLA libraries or SRLF, particularly foreign language scripts. The UCLA Library collects commercially published scripts, most of which are final shooting scripts. Many of these are housed in the Arts Library as part of the Selected Film and Television Scripts collection, which is circulating. Search Tips for Searching the UCLA Library Catalog: