Editing Teleplay (section)

{{distinguish|Television play}}
{{short description|Screenplay for a television program or series}}
{{refimprove|date=July 2016}}
A '''teleplay''' is a [[screenplay]] or script used in the production of a [[scripted television]] program or series. In general usage, the term is most commonly seen in reference to a standalone production, such as a [[television film]], a [[television play]], or an episode of an [[anthology series]].<ref>[https://wcftr.commarts.wisc.edu/exhibits/golden-age-television/tele-playwrights "The Tele-Playwrights"]. [[Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research]].</ref> In internal industry usage, however, all television scripts (including episodes of ongoing drama or comedy series) are teleplays, although a "teleplay by" credit may be classified into a "written by" credit depending on the circumstances of its creation.<ref name=wga>[https://www.wgaeast.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/tvcredits_manual10.pdf ''Television Credits Manual''] (PDF). [[Writers Guild of America]].</ref>

The term first surfaced during the 1950s, as television was gaining cultural significance, to distinguish teleplays from [[Play (theatre)|stage plays]] written for [[Theatre|theater]] and [[Screenplay|screenplays]] written for films. All three have different formats, conventions, and constraints.