Slater, Ben2025-04-012025-04-012023-12-29Slater, B 2023, '“Sound-Conscious” screenwriting : considering sound as storytelling tool in the screenplay', International Journal of Film and Media Arts, vol. 8, no. 3, pp. 74-88. https://doi.org/10.24140/ijfma.v8.n3.052183-9271http://hdl.handle.net/10437/15207This essay considers issues relating to how sound has been treated historically by screenwriters, and advocates for a more "sound-conscious" screenwriting practice. From my own position as a screenwriter and educator of student screenwriters I begin by looking at common assumptions about the use of sound in screenplays and explore the challenges of including sound as part of a screenwriting practice; then I develop a framework by which screenwriters can identify different categories of sound in order to recognise potential for using sound as a storytelling tool within screenplays. This leads to an analysis of two examples of what could be defined as sound-conscious screenwriting, The Conversation (1974) and A Quiet Place (2018) and the framework is also applied to a sample of recent unproduced screenplays. I conclude with thoughts about how 'sound-consciousness' can be encouraged through the pedagogy of screenwriting. Keywords: Sound, screenwriting, narrative, creative writing, sound design, screenwriting historyapplication/pdfengopenAccessCINEMAAUDIOVISUALSOUND DESIGNCREATIVE WRITINGSCREENWRITINGNARRATIVESTORYTELLINGCINEMAAUDIOVISUALSONOPLASTIAESCRITA CRIATIVAGUIONISMONARRATIVASTORYTELLINGarticlehttps://doi.org/10.24140/ijfma.v8.n3.05