This article discusses and evaluates the definition of the film script as a blueprint which has come to play a prominent role in organising the relations between different film workers, as well as the ‘conceptual’ and ‘practical’ aspects of production. The article examines the implications of this idea in thinking about the process of production, its planning and execution, and its collaborative dimension. First formulated in a period of centralised ‘scientific management’, the article argues that, despite changes in the production context of film making, the blueprint idea continues to have a key place in narratives about creative control, and the organisation of work and materials. As a way of focusing the issues further, the strategic use of this idea in the context of an Australian Writers' Guild submission on moral rights is explored.
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