Writing for the Screen

From Creativity to Craft in Screenwriting

▶ By Mark Readman

We talk about creativity as if it were some kind of essence. In fact, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) includes in its statement of Mission and Values: “Creativity is the lifeblood of our organization,”¹ the implication being that creativity somehow flows around the BBC body, enriching it and supplying it with oxygen.

But this rhetoric around creativity masks the fact that it is merely an idea or a concept, not a thing with universal meaning. Once we recognize that creativity is more or less subjective—and only ever meaningful in relation to other things (such as certain kinds of products or personal attributes)—we can then start to work with it in more useful ways.

As a screenwriter, ...