Alfred Hitchcock said, “Drama is life with the dull bits cut out.” One college professor was fond of saying, with apologies to Kahlil Gibran, “Drama is humanity looking at itself in a mirror.” While scholars have pondered the exact nature of drama for centuries, both of these statements are insightful and accurate. In addition to stage plays, most movies and television shows are drama. So, if one hopes to write a screenplay, becoming a “drama queen” is a step in the right direction.

Drama consists of actors imitating human behavior to present a story that touches the audience and stirs their emotions. Although cultures sometimes force people to suppress their feelings, human beings want and need emotional stimulation. They love to laugh, to cry, and, sometimes, to be scared silly. “Reality” TV shows, such as Fear Factor, and action films, such as Terminator, go for emotions on a gut level. But plays and screenplays can add dimensions of aesthetics, intellect and, yes, morality.

Screenwriters Are Playwrights

For beginning screenwriters, it is crucial to know that the name of the game is screenplay and screenwriting is drama. This is perhaps the most misunderstood aspect of screenwriting. Too often people try to write screenplays as if they were writing novels. It doesn’t work. It can’t work.

Novels and plays are different art forms. They have different requirements. Novels are literature, “creative writing with recognized artistic value” that, typically, appears in print. Novelists write for publication. They describe and explain human behavior, forging a story for people to sit and read. Which is wonderful. to curl up with a good book is one of life’s great pleasures.