ABSTRACT
In this chapter we will see that if the scenario is intrinsically inseparable from the film as a future possible cinematic world, the writing of the script is inseparable from its reading. The screenplay is addressed to a reader who has the perceptive attributes of a spectator. Each element of the story is written and oriented towards what spectators will later perceive but that as a reader, he/she receives immediately. The screenplay text features both an unfurling narrative and its future cinematic interpretation.
What scene directions contain and how they can be written to lead to a powerful film is analysed thoroughly. We also describe how and why the screenplay offers the first mise en scène of the future film and is thus its first incarnation.
We develop the idea that screenplays, just like sheet music, design blueprints and architectural plans as well as theatrical plays are written to be produced, yet remain readable and functional in and of themselves. The fact that the scenario must allow and contain the future realization of the film is the writing constraint that the film imposes on the text: this is what determines it, not what handicaps it.
