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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/10360
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

The main difference between the terms script and screen play (or screenplay as one word) is that typically people think of a script as for theater whereas a screenplay is clearly for the film industry. However, since a script can also be a screen play, it is interchangeable in that way.

Screenplays are also usually subject to a script formatting rules. There are many examples of this and it is easy to find. Industry people who would read your screen play tend to be very particular about proper formatting. Bad formatting is clear evidence of a beginner.

Theater scripts are not nearly so fussy about format. Often unpublished theater scripts look like screenplays in format while published plays look very different. This is because script writing software tends to use the screen play format but publishers of plays use a tighter format to save paper and costs to publish. This can be confusing because a writer will use the publishers tight formatting scheme thinking it is a generally accepted format.

See [http://www.playwriting101.com/](http://www.playwriting101.com/) for a detailed discussion of formatting.

Original score: 2