A screenwriter is a person who writes the screenplays from which films are made. Many of them also work as "script doctors," attempting to change scripts to suit directors or studios; for instance studio management may have a complaint that the motivations of the characters are unclear or that the dialogue is weak. Script-doctoring can be quite lucrative, especially for the better known writers; David Mamet and John Sayles, for instance, fund the movies they direct themselves, usually from their own screenplays, by writing and doctoring scripts for others.
- [Alan Ball]?
- Francis Ford Coppola
- [Nora Ephron]?
- [Ben Hecht]?
- [James Kearns]?
- David Mamet
- John Sayles
- Tom Stoppard