Could screenplays be literature?

[victortiti89]

I read on several websites that you can't write a screenplay and shelf it, and consider your job done. It's just the beginning. But could you write them just for the sake of it? I submitted some screenplays on various websites where people offer reviews. Before that, I wrote non-screenplay fiction(short stories). There are some websites dedicated to them. And for a short story I wrote, I barely got a reply with 2-3 sentences of comments. Many other stories, although they had thread views, didn't receive any feed-back. With screenplays, I use to get reviews that span almost half a page each. And you can get as many reviews as you'd like. So, could these screenplays be seen as just another type of storytelling, or this vision would be wrong, and you should use these reviews, improve your work, then submit it, as their purpose is more than being literary creations? Thanks for answering!

 

[sonickinetic]

I think you're basing alot of the integrity of these screenplays and short stories you're writing on how many reviews and critical exposure they obtain. Sure, you CAN write a screenplay as a solid piece of literature - but isn't going to get the exposure you seem to be looking for. Surely, if you're in it for purely writing the story/narrative why not just write in short story or play format. All that's different is the formatting.

 

[IndiePaul]

My answer: it takes an immense skill - often honed over decades of work - to write a great screenplay.

But screenwriting is very different from novel writing. You need to write tightly yet convey visually everything you need.

Novels are often 400+ pages of beautifully flowing, often verbose text.

Screenplays are typically max 110 pages of tightly written, visually and emotionally impacting work that pack a hell of a punch for their small size.

 

[Jack Lynt]

Without googling the definition of literature, and I'm guessing that there are multiple definitions, I think that you certainly can, if you like, think of them as literature...in the sense that I think you mean here.

I'm also guessing that there are probably those who might like to tell you whether you -may- consider them to be literature.

I've thought some about this too.

Anyway, it's certainly possible for someone to write a screenplay without having a need for it to ever actually be made into a film.

In which case, a story is still being told. And the reader might still be able to "see" that would-be film with his or her mind's eye, not so unlike reading a novel or a short story.

And in which case, it's all telepathy, as Stephen King might say. But in both cases, the novel and the unproduced screenplay, story is king. Well, okay, there are experimental or nonconformist novels and films that couldn't care less about story. But usually...

And also, by the way, I think it's quite possible for a writer to aim for making a screenplay that's beautifully flowing, no, probably not verbose, but still as much of a pleasure to read as a screenplay can be a pleasure to read, as well as being a piece of finely crafted writing for anyone...not only for filmmakers.

And hey, since the vast majority of screenplays will never be produced, isn't that kind of what most screenwriters are, to some degree or other, de facto, and most of the time doing?