WARNING! SPOILERS AHEAD!
Note: The following timeline will unfold as the films are individually reviewed.
PRE-SCREAM ('96)
Circa 1964:
- Gale Weathers is born. (Referenced loosely in 'Scream', 1996 as she notes her difference in age with Dewey Riley).
- Dewey Riley is born.
- Sydney Prescott is born (17 in 'Scream', 1996).
- Sydney Prescott and Billy Loomis start dating.
- Maureen Prescott (Sydney's Mother) has several affairs, including Cotton Weary and Billy's father, Han. Nancy Loomis (Billy's Mother) learns of the affairs, and leaves Hank.
- Billy pressures Stu Macher into helping him murder Maureen Prescott, due to her infidelity leading to Billy's parents' separation. Cotton Weary is then framed for the crime.
- Cotton Weary is arrested for the murder of Maureen Prescott, and convicted of First-Degree Murder. Even though Sydney testifies in court as a key witness, Gale Weathers remains skeptical about the crime, and writes stories denying her words.
- Gale writes her first book, 'Wrongly Accused: The Murder of Maureen Prescott'.
- Gale announces plans to write a follow-up book, but it is eventually scrapped.
SCREAM
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POST-SCREAM ('96)/PRE-SCREAM 2
Immediately following 'Scream' ('96)
- Nancy Loomis, grieves the loss of her son, Billy. She drastically changes her appearance with weight loss and plastic surgery and conspires for a copycat killing spree in the Spring of 1998.
- 'Scream ('96)' survivors Sidney Prescott and Randy Meeks graduate from Woodsboro High School at 18 years old.
- Sidney and Randy decide to move to Ohio to start over, and attend school at Windsor College. Sidney gets into theatre, and Randy gets into film studies.
- Gale Weathers publishes 'The Woodsboro Murders', based on the events in 'Scream ('96)' which becomes a best-seller and leads to supposed leaked nudes which she claims are her head on Jennifer Aniston's body.
- Sunrise Studios gives the green light to a movie entitled 'Stab'; a slasher film based on the novelization of 'The Woodsboro Murders'. The film's cast includes Tori Spelling as Sidney Prescott (just as Sidney, herself, predicted), Heather Graham as Casey Becker, Luke Wilson as Billy Loomis and David Schwimmer as Dewey Cox among others.
- Nancy Loomis eventually starts using her alias, Debbie Salt. Contacting a collective of active serial killers, she eventually comes across Mickey Altieri, who she convinces to help her on her revenge killing spree.
SCREAM 2
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POST-SCREAM 2/PRE-SCREAM 3
Mid-1998:
- Sidney, now around 19, is given an honorary diploma because of the Windsor College Murders ('Scream 2').
- Sidney and Cotton Weary have an interview with Dianne Sawyer.
- Cotton Weary begins hosting his own talk show, '100% Cotton' (1998—2000). However, he eventually develops a bad reputation as a con man.
- Gale writes 'College Terror' aka 'The Windsor College Murders' as she waits for Dewey to recover from his wounds from 'Scream 2'. It gets released in late 1998.
- 'Stab 2', a sequel to 'Stab', based on the Windsor College murders is green-lit and filmed somewhere within this timeframe. It is eventually released sometime in 1999.
- Sidney relocates to Monterey, California, adopts a retriever named Cherokee, and takes a job from home as a crisis counselor. She hides her identity under her legally changed name "Laura".
- Gale abandons Dewey in Woodsboro for further career opportunities. She is offered '60 Minutes II (1999-2005), but for unknown reasons, it didn't work out. She soon becomes an anchorwoman for 'Total Entertainment'.
- 'Stab 2', based on the Windsor College murders is released.
- Immediately after the release of 'Stab 2', a 'Stab 3' project is green-lit. However, with no real-life events attached to it, the script is fictionalized. The job of directing is given to a little-known music video director, Roman Bridger.
SCREAM 3
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