Is there a difference between scripts vs. screenplays?

As working in the bizz over the years I have come to treat them as one in the same yet a question was brought forward by a PA the other day as to the verbiage.

So is there a difference?

I don't think there is any difference.

I would only specifically use 'screenplays' if there is a confusion between scripts in programming and screenplays. I guess if I was writing a screenplay for use in a video game, then I would probably stick to the term screenplay.

All screenplays are scripts.

Not all scripts are screenplays. They might be stage plays, or computer programming scripts, or radio programs....

Follow?

I always looked at this way....

Let’s say you have a book, or story of some kind or there is a stage play like you said. In someway this is your story to be told yet to bring it to the cast and crew you would convert it to a script.

Am I getting warmer or colder…..

A screenplay is simply a type of script.

There are many types of scripts, as I said. You could take your book for instance, and turn it into a radio script, a stageplay (Which again, is a type of script), an interactive computer game...

I don't want to make this complicated, but a screenplay is simply one form of script. It is correct to refer to it as either a script, or a screenplay. Just as it is correct to refer to a station wagon and a sedan as "automobiles"... got it? Just don't call a porche a pickup truck - or a Stageplay a Screenplay.

Just to throw another variation at you. The occupations are Screenwriter and Playwright. Both of them write "scripts".

I think I am getting it....

Thank you for your time.

I could be wrong in this; but I thought that the screenplay was
the one actually be used to shoot the movie (the finished one)
where the script might be the original version and the screenplay
may even include extra stuff for directing etc.? (not sure)

Again, under the generic heading "SCRIPT" one finds "Screenplay"

Under the heading of "Screenplay" one finds "Spec scripts" "Shooting Scripts" and less common, "Conformed Scripts" or "Final Scripts" not to be confused with a final draft.

Spec Scripts are just that. Scripts written on speculation... hoping to get sold and produced. They virtually never include shot angles and descriptions. They are written primarily from a master viewpoint. See any good screenwriting guide for format instructions. From spec to "final draft" can take many, many MANY rewrites.

Shooting scripts are the scripts used on the set. These will be broken down into numbered shots. Often containing specific shot angles and directions for the director and DP to reference. Just to add to the mix, shooting scripts are "locked." This does not mean they cannot be changed. What it means is that all changes will be reflected on the script with sub-notations to scenes deleted and added. Pages are changed as needed, and color coded so everyone knows they have the right page that day.

A conformed or "Final Screenplay" - often the one "published' after the movie is out - is just that. It is a screenplay written to conform to the actual footage that appears on the screen. Since the final movie might be edited differently than written, lines added during shooting, even improvised and kept... this is the script as it appears on the screen.

Everyone confused enough now?

Great post Richard.
Thanks.

Great explenation Richard, thanks!

More confusion. Screenplay refers to something more than the physical thing . . .

Screenplay is also often used to denote what the division of creatrive/writing labor was on a project. In movie titles, for example, there are "story by", "written by" and "screenplay by" credits, sometimes all three.

Was there a "screenplay" for Elia Kazan's film version of Tennesse Wiliams' play A Streetcar Named Desire? -- the words of the play and the film are almost the same. Surely there was shooting script of some kind, but Zazan is not going to get the major writing credit.

There were screenplays for the Harry Potter films that were works of much greater independent creation, skillful adaptations, but the "story" is still A.K. Rowling's.

You'll get the idea . . .