Plays: story advances through human action in real time; confrontation, decision and speech are the engines; momentum comes from tension between people sharing space. Films: story advances through selection and juxtaposition; cuts, camera movement and image sequencing do narrative work; momentum comes from what is shown — and what is withheld. (more)

Plays are events, exist only in the moment of performance and each night is a new version; Films are objects, fixed once completed and are the same every time they're watched. Plays happen in shared physical space, actors and audience breathe the same air, and risk is visible; Films are mediated by camera and edit, the audience is removed from the act of making, and risk is erased through repetition and polish. (more)

Playwriting: The script is a blueprint for live interpretation. It assumes variation, imperfection, and presence. The text is activated by bodies in a shared space. Screenwriting: The script is a set of instructions for a fixed artifact. The final meaning is locked in the edit. The audience encounters a completed object, not an event. (more)