The paperless screenplay: Writing on, for and with the SCREEN

In an era of digital film-making it is possible to include many different narratives, images, video and audio recordings into the screenplay. It becomes a multimodal form that is not limited by words perfectly formatted on a printed page. Now that audiences are reaching for more portable and accessible screens, it could be time for film-makers to use these devices during the script development stage. Through the use of digital technologies, the screen practitioner is able to develop, write and view the proposed story on many different screens. It is a new practice that I have adopted as a Ph.D. candidate for my feature film screenplay in development. In this article, I will explore the stages I have taken as a writer-director who has embraced multiple ways of writing and developing the screenplay on various screens. Through a creative and critical approach, I propose that a paperless screenplay has the potential to expand the possibilities of script development and invites the reader to share the experience of the story as it unfolds on the screen.