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Film Studies Research Guide: Screenplays/Filmscripts

A guide to conducting research in Film Studies at Yale University, including key resources and crucial search strategies.

Screenplays in Print

There is no completely accurate way to locate screenplays in Orbis.  In many cases you can simply search the film's title. The results may include a novel (if the film is an adaptation) or even titles that aren't relevant to the film at all, but you can browse the list for the screenplay.

However, that approach won't work well if you're looking for scripts of highly popular films such as the Star Wars series: a search for the title Star Wars brings up over 100 entries, including videos, novels, scholarly analyses, and so forth.

Consequently you may find it more effective to do an Advanced Keyword search that excludes videos.  You can click the links in the examples below in order to see the search results (will open a new window or tab).

 

You can narrow the search still further by including terms that might capture works with "screenplay" or "script" in the Orbis record.  Be aware that "screenplay" might be written as "screen play."  However, if the record doesn't include either term, this approach will miss it.

 

You can narrow even further by performing an Advanced search in Orbis.

Resources of Screenplays and Screenwriting

For books about screenplays in the Yale Library, including guides to writing screenplays, try these subject searches:

 

Some books about screenplays are also under these subject headings:

Additional Resources for Screenplays in Print

You can find more screenplays (including collections) in the Yale Library by using these subject searches: