Screen & Stories Business — B2 Essential Words

premiere /prɪˈmɪər/ noun / verb B2 Media

Meaning: The first public performance or showing of a film, play, or piece of music; also to be shown for the first time.

Example: The film's premiere was in Los Angeles.

Another example: The series premieres in March.

Collocations: the premiere · world premiere · premiere night

Synonyms: debut, opening, first showing

Word family: premieres (n pl) · premiere (v) · premier (adj — first/chief)

⚠ Common mistake: Red carpets belong to it. Its twin PREMIER (a prime minister, or 'first in importance') differs by one silent letter of class.

🗣 In spoken American English: Trailers now premiere online before films do in theaters.

Register: Formal — media essential.

sequel /ˈsiːkwəl/ noun B2 Media

Meaning: A film, book, or game that continues the story of an earlier one; also something that follows as a result.

Example: The sequel earned more than the original.

Another example: Fans waited five years for the sequel.

Collocations: the sequel · a sequel to · sequel comes out

Synonyms: follow-up, continuation, part two

Antonyms: prequel (the before-story)

Word family: sequels (n pl)

⚠ Common mistake: Its younger sibling PREQUEL tells the before-story (the word was coined for Star Wars). Franchises live on its economics.

🗣 In spoken American English: 'Sequelitis' is critics' name for its lazy version.

Register: Formal — media essential.

trailer /ˈtreɪlər/ noun B2 Media

Meaning: A short film of pieces from a movie, shown to advertise it before its release; also a vehicle pulled behind a car for carrying things, and a mobile home.

Example: The trailer got ten million views.

Another example: They pulled a trailer full of bikes.

Collocations: the trailer · watch the trailer · a trailer for

Synonyms: preview, teaser, caravan

Word family: trailers (n pl)

⚠ Common mistake: Named backwards: trailers once TRAILED the feature film in theaters — now they lead the internet. Its vehicle twin hauls the movie's stars to set.

🗣 In spoken American English: Fans dissect it frame by frame like prophecy.

Register: Neutral — media essential.

fiction /ˈfɪkʃən/ noun B2 Media

Meaning: Stories that are invented by the writer — novels, stories, and films that are not about real events; also anything untrue in a general sense.

Example: She writes science fiction.

Another example: The library separates fiction from fact.

Collocations: science fiction · fiction books · fiction and nonfiction

Synonyms: novels, stories, invention

Antonyms: nonfiction, fact

Word family: fiction (uncountable) · fictional (adj) · fictitious (adj)

⚠ Common mistake: Libraries divide the world by it: fiction left, nonfiction right. 'Stranger than fiction' is life's favorite review of itself.

🗣 In spoken American English: Its legal twin (a convenient fiction) means a polite shared untruth.

Register: Formal — media essential.

nonfiction /ˌnɒnˈfɪkʃən/ noun B2 Media

Meaning: Books and films about real facts, people, and events — biographies, history, science, and true stories.

Example: He reads mostly nonfiction.

Another example: The nonfiction section has the atlases.

Collocations: nonfiction books · nonfiction section · creative nonfiction

Synonyms: fact books, true stories, reference

Antonyms: fiction

Word family: nonfiction (uncountable) · nonfiction (adj)

⚠ Common mistake: Defined by its opposite — the 'non' says everything. True crime and memoirs made it outsell its inventive sibling in many years.

🗣 In spoken American English: Its writers still argue plot vs. accuracy nightly.

Register: Formal — media essential.

bestseller /ˌbestˈselər/ noun B2 Media

Meaning: A book (or other product) that sells in very large numbers, appearing on official lists of the most-sold items.

Example: Her novel became a bestseller.

Another example: The bestseller list changes weekly.

Collocations: a bestseller · bestseller list · bestselling author

Synonyms: hit, chart-topper, success

Word family: bestsellers (n pl) · bestselling (adj)

⚠ Common mistake: The New York Times list is its supreme court since the 1940s. 'Bestselling' on any cover sells the cover itself — the loop is famous.

🗣 In spoken American English: Its sticker goes on at the printer in hopeful print runs.

Register: Neutral — media essential.

studio /ˈstuːdiəʊ/ noun B2 Media

Meaning: A room or building where films, TV, radio, or music are recorded, or where an artist works; also a small apartment with one main room.

Example: The band recorded at the studio.

Another example: She rents a small studio downtown.

Collocations: the studio · a recording studio · studio apartment

Synonyms: workshop (art), set, one-room flat

Word family: studios (n pl)

⚠ Common mistake: Hollywood's majors are called 'the studios' as a group — the room became the industry. Its apartment sense packs a life into one room elegantly.

🗣 In spoken American English: Yoga and dance borrow it for their practice rooms.

Register: Neutral — media essential.

soundtrack /ˈsaʊndtræk/ noun B2 Media

Meaning: The music recorded for a film or game, and the album of that music; also the whole sound part of a film.

Example: The film's soundtrack won awards.

Another example: I bought the soundtrack album.

Collocations: the soundtrack · soundtrack album · the soundtrack of

Synonyms: score, music, theme songs

Word family: soundtracks (n pl)

⚠ Common mistake: Composers call their part the SCORE; shops sell the whole album as the soundtrack. One song from it can define a generation's memory of a film.

🗣 In spoken American English: Its playlists outlive many of the films.

Register: Neutral — media essential.

box office /ˈbɒks ˌɒfɪs/ noun B2 Media

Meaning: The place in a theater or cinema where tickets are sold; also the amount of money a film earns from ticket sales, used to judge its success.

Example: Buy tickets at the box office.

Another example: The film earned $200 million at the box office.

Collocations: the box office · box office success · box office hit

Synonyms: ticket office, takings, gross

Word family: box office (n) · box-office (adj)

⚠ Common mistake: Named for the little office with the window. 'Box office poison' was old Hollywood's cruelest label for stars who stopped selling tickets.

🗣 In spoken American English: Monday charts are its weekly scoreboard worldwide.

Register: Formal — media staple.

screenplay /ˈskriːnpleɪ/ noun B2 Media

Meaning: The written form of a film — the dialogue, actions, and scenes — from which the film is made; also called a script for film.

Example: She wrote the screenplay in a year.

Another example: The screenplay won an Oscar.

Collocations: the screenplay · a screenplay by · screenplay writer

Synonyms: script, screen text, shooting script

Word family: screenplays (n pl) · screenwriter (n)

⚠ Common mistake: Stage has plays, film has screenplays — one word wider for the camera. Its writers (screenwriters) are Hollywood's least photographed authors.

🗣 In spoken American English: Its format (Courier font, wide margins) has survived a century of software.

Register: Formal — media staple.