From the BBC Writers Room, http://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom. 'Writing for film. Screenwriting is without literary merit.'
I could go on- Would anyone else like to, while I cool off?

I once read in a screenwriting manual that screenwriting was written with, nothing more than High school level English.I don't remember which one it was.(This was about ten years ago or so).Meaning, of course, the whole idea of writing for the screen is to convey the action of a scene in the simplest, right to the punch, kind of way.

So I'm not surprised when I hear comments like that.
In the literary world it is much more important to take the reader into a whole other world, through emotions. Books do that through wonderfully dramatic descriptions of the people, places and emotions that the central character experiences.

Well, writing for screen might be a more simplistic form of conveying information, it is still a rather daunting task to carefully plot your story. Having to confine your timing and actions within a set of RULES, like formatting, proper dialogue, pacing, page length restrictions, and I could go on.

So I understand what those people who have that opinion are getting at, but they're full of shit! Crafting a story, meant to be read, in any form is worthy of literary merit.In a way it could be viewed as a poem. A lot of poetic styles must conform to a template, so to does a screenplay.

Any way, those are a sample of my thoughts on this.Whether it matters or not.

Sure, some of the best written and paced works of screenwriting are not written on anymore than that of a "High School level" (what ever the eff that is), but it isn't about writing quality, it's about presentation.  All you've got to do is convey the idea.  No fluff, like most novels might give you in 800 pages that could be, and occassionally is simplified to 120 by a screenplay.

You just tell the story, you make it read fast, you dont need lengthy emotional narratives ect - just, when you visualize it in your head, it should make sense.  Few novels can be easily visualized, because they aren't supposed to be.  They're thoughts.  They're interpreted.  Half a novel isn't even literal.

A screenplay is for real.  It is now.  It is the most hardcore of all literary forms.  Ok, that was a bit much.

But you know where I'm going.

[btw thanks for the BBC link.]

I agree 100% with what Stephen has said.

I find it best to just ignore ignorant comments. There are many screenplays that are very intelligently written and thought provoking. And many are based on novels as well. It's just screenplays tend to deal with more dialogue and everyday type speach and regular language, so it seems like it's "dumbed down", but true screenwriters know that it's not, so don't pay no mind to it. There are good screenplays and crappy ones, just like books. And screenplays can be a better method to get a message across as well.