Despite extensive scholarship on Irish film, the study of Irish screenwriting is underrepresented. This study seeks to address this gap via a qualitative case study. The data for this study consists of interviews with 19 participants who intersect with the practice of screenwriting in Ireland: screenwriters, academics, directors, producers, and teachers. The study focuses on film screen production; while some participants also work in television, the primary concern is with the Irish film industry. It employs a theoretical approach, first developed by Pierre Bourdieu, and subsequently applied to UK screenwriting by Macdonald, utilising the framework of doxa, orthodoxy, and heterodoxy as an analytical tool. For Bourdieu ‘doxa’ refers to the taken-for-granted assumptions that shape a field of practice. In the case of Irish screenwriting this study finds that at the heart of the doxa of Irish screenwriting there are a series of tensions. The fundamental tension is between orthodoxy and heterodoxy. There is a tension between acceptance of a traditional, orthodox approach to screenwriting that aligns with commercial practice and a more heterodox view that questions the orthodoxy and strives for a more artistic practice. By orthodox is meant a traditional view on the importance of commerciality, structure, drama, conflict and change. By heterodox is meant an arthouse, experimental approach to these ideas. This tension between orthodox/heterodox is the doxa of Irish screenwriting. The tension between orthodoxy and heterodoxy manifests in several thematic areas such as approaches to learning the craft, attitudes toward formal rules, views on distinctly Irish narrative styles, and relationships with funding institutions such as Screen Ireland (Fís Éireann). The framework of doxa, orthodoxy, and heterodoxy is significant as it reveals how unquestioned assumptions influence Irish screenwriting practice, shaping not just screenwriters, but the ecosystem of Irish filmmaking and its place in the wider global industry. This study builds upon previous work by Bourdieu (1977), Schultz (2007), and Macdonald (2013), extending their frameworks to the context of Irish screenwriting.