a word or short phrase that can stand for “a book, play, or film/movie”

Question

In Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary, the first definition of the word dialogue is as follows.

conversations in a book, play, or film/movie

In that specific dictionary, the phrase, a book, play, or film/movie is used a lot to describe many words' definitions.

As it seems that a book, play, or film/movie all share some quality in their nature, I've thought that the phrase can be substituted by other expressions.

What I came up with are as follows.

1. conversations in art
2. conversations in a piece of art or literature
3. conversations in a produced content with imaginary characters in it

I would like to ask you how correct those are and ask for your guides.

Answer 1

Your suggestion are close, but might be misleading to a native speaker. Art, on its own, most usually means painting, drawing, sculpture and similar -- things which don't have dialogue. ("Conversations in art" could easily be understood as meaning Picasso and Matisse "conversing" through their paintings.) Produced content would not have a specific meaning without more context.

To includes novels, films and plays we would be much more likely to say

• ... in a work of fiction
• ... in any kind of fiction

You'll notice your original definition includes "book", which doesn't necessarily mean a work of fiction -- many biographies have dialogue in them.

Answer 2

The alternatives you have suggested are too abstract. One definition of "dialog" IS a conversation within the context of a book, play, or movie. That is very clear. The other three phrases are not as easily understood. Always strive for clarity, not ambiguity.