script, in motion pictures, the written text of a film. The nature of scripts varies from those that give only a brief outline of the action to detailed shooting scripts, in which every action, gesture, and implication is explicitly stated. Frequently, scripts are not in chronological order but in the order most convenient for filming. Their language approximates the patterns of ordinary speech. A script may be published as a literary work and never made into a motion picture, may be published for reading after the production is completed, or may be expanded into a novel—e.g., On the Waterfront (1954), by the American writer Budd Schulberg.

The way in which a script is used is up to the individual director. D.W. Griffith (1875–1948), the American pioneer in film technique and director of early film epics, worked virtually without a script, creating the movie as it was filmed. Mack Sennett (1880–1960) improvised slapstick on a fairly detailed script. On the other hand, the British director Alfred Hitchcock, known for his suspense thrillers, planned every detail before filming began, shooting the film almost exactly as it was written and working with the writer to obtain a precise visualization of every shot.