Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are writers who practise the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media such as films, television programs, comics or video games are based.

Screenwriting is a freelance profession. No education is required to become a professional screenwriter but good storytelling abilities are required. Screenwriters are not hired employees, they are contracted freelancers. Most, if not all, screenwriters start their careers writing on speculation (spec), meaning they write without being hired or paid for it. When such a script is sold, it is called a spec script. What separates a professional screenwriter from an amateur screenwriter is that professional screenwriters are usually represented by a talent agency. Also, professional screenwriters do not work for free often, an amateur will often work for free and are considered writers "in training". Spec scripts are usually penned by unknown professional screenwriters and amateur screenwriters. There are a legion of would-be screenwriters who attempt to enter the film industry but it often takes years of trial-and-error, failure, and gritty persistence to achieve success.

A writer is a person who produces literature or nonfiction, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, essays, articles, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images.

A writer's output sometimes contributes to the cultural content of a society, and a society may value his or her work as art.

Broadly, a writer is anyone who writes, especially one who writes professionally. The term writer is customarily used as a synonym of author, although the latter term has a somewhat broader meaning.

William Goldman (born August 12, 1931) is an American novelist, playwright, and Academy Award-winning screenwriter.

Goldman grew up in a Jewish family in the Chicago suburb of Highland Park, Illinois, the son of Marion (née Weil) and Maurice Clarence Goldman, who worked in business. He obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree from Oberlin College in 1952 and a Master of Arts degree from Columbia University in 1956. Goldman lives in a penthouse apartment in New York City. His brother, James Goldman, who died in 1998, was a playwright and screenwriter.

According to his memoir, Adventures in the Screen Trade (1983), Goldman began writing when he took a creative-writing course in college. His grades in the class were "horrible". An editor of Oberlin's literary magazine, he would submit short stories to the magazine anonymously; he recalls that the other editors, upon reading his submissions, remarked "We can't possibly publish this shit." He did not originally intend to become a screenwriter. His main interests were poetry, short stories, and novels. In 1956 he completed an MA thesis at Columbia University on the comedy of manners in America.

Aaron Sorkin (born June 9, 1961) is an Academy and Emmy award winning American screenwriter, producer, and playwright, whose works include A Few Good Men, The American President, The West Wing, Sports Night, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Charlie Wilson's War, The Social Network, and Moneyball.

After graduating from Syracuse University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Musical Theatre in 1983, Sorkin spent much of the 1980s in New York as a struggling, sporadically employed actor. He found his passion in writing plays, and quickly established himself as a promising young playwright. His stage play A Few Good Men caught the attention of Hollywood producer David Brown, who bought the film rights before the play even premiered.

John Truby is a screenwriter, director and screenwriting teacher. His first feature film as writer/director was All-American Boy. He has served as a consultant on over 1,000 film scripts over the past three decades, and is also known for the screenwriting software program Blockbuster (originally "Storyline Pro").

Truby argues that most teachers of screenwriting emphasize inner transformation of the characters but not the moral effect their actions have on others. He is critical of Syd Field's three-act “Paradigm” and has instead crafted his own 22-step outline. Truby's first book The Anatomy of Story: 22 Steps to Becoming a Master Storyteller was published in October, 2007 by Faber and Faber.

John Truby is the co-writer and story consultant on the recent Disney/BBC film AFRICAN CATS.