A movie being a team effort does attract people of diverse backgrounds and they keep on learning what they do not know. A story of a film unfolds more visually. Cinema is more about images than language. Ultimately, it is storytelling through images.

It is possible that the script undergoes several revisions before the film is made. It is not a bad thing. Some ideas emerge when the director and writer sit together. A script that is too long will be shortened by the director. Sometimes the actors convey differently what the writer has in mind. Script may be revised by the original writer or by the script doctors.

Bruce Beresford is planning to make a film on  Indira Gandhi who stood up to Yahya Khan and took the bold decision of military intervention in the then East Pakistan which later became Bangala Desh. Tentatively it is called Birth of a Nation. Bruce received the script by email and read it and sought clarifications and put questions while responding. The script he read was its 27th draft. The first draft was written by Krishna Shah in 1986. He was the producer of Shalimar. This illustrates the substantial revision work some scripts entail.

If the script writer wants to exercise more control, then he has to assume the role of a director too.

Screenwriting is a craft that can be learnt just like carpentry and car repairing.