4 Screenwriters in Toronto: Centre, Periphery, and Exclusionary Networks in Canadian Screen Storytelling

Davis, Charles H.; Shtern, Jeremy; Coutanche, Michael; Godo, Elizabeth

doi:10.3138/9781442667938-009

Cited by 6 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…Figure 5 Just as is the case in traditional film and television (Coutanche & Davis, 2013;Davis, Shtern, Coutanche, & Godo, 2014;Kaye & Davis, 2011;WIFT, 2012), visible minorities continue to be underrepresented in the key roles of writer and director, although again, self-funded web series appear to provide significant inroads toward their participation in these categories. According to a firm-level survey of the Canadian…”

Section: Racementioning

confidence: 96%

“…Women and visible minorities are also underrepresented behind the Canadian screen in all aspects of the field, especially in top creative decision-making roles (Coutanche & Davis, 2013;Coutanche, Davis & Zboralska, 2015;Davis, Shtern, Coutanche, & Godo, 2014;Kaye & Davis, 2011;WIFT, 2012;WIV, 2015), have been shown to earn less on average than their non-minority counterparts (CMG, 2013b;WIFT, 2012), and their growth in representation in the Canadian screen industries has lagged behind their growth in the general workforce (WIFT, 2012). The Canadian television industry has historically been, and continues to be, dominated by white males.…”

Section: Institutional and Socialmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The Canadian television industry has historically been, and continues to be, dominated by white males. The lack of risk-taking in Canadian media firms exacerbates the situation, with those in hiring positions relying on established professional networks, which tend to exclude women and visible minorities (WIFT, 2012;Davis, Shtern, Coutanche, & Godo, 2014). This perpetuates the problem of underrepresentation, and leads to the maintenance of the status quo.…”

Section: Institutional and Socialmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Canadian broadcasters' forays into original programming have been characterized as extending from their regulatory requirement to do so, rather than from genuine and deep desires to excel in the art and craft of storytelling, and to push either forward. In addition to this, the Canadian television industry has been shown to suffer from an inequitable organizational structure in which there is an underrepresentation of women and visible minorities 1 in key creative roles both on and behind the screen (CMG, 2013b;Coutanche & Davis, 2013;Coutanche, Davis & Zboralska, 2015;Davis, Shtern, Coutanche, & Godo, 2014;Kaye & Davis, 2011;WIFT, 2012;WIV, 2015). Through the assumptions they make, broadcasters act as gatekeepers to both jobs and the stories that get told.…”

Section: Chapter 1 -Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Telling our stories on the web: Canadian English-language web series and the production of culture online

Zboralska¹

2021

Preprint

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This dissertation presents the first critical scholarly analysis of the Canadian English-language scripted web series industry, its cultural practices, industrial dynamics and texts. Through in-depth interviews with 48 individuals active in the production of Canadian online scripted content, participant observation, and a benchmark quantitative analysis of gender and race in key creative roles in 175 seasons of Canadian web series, the dissertation investigates the web as an alternative space for Canadian scripted audiovisual content, and the actors and forces that have shaped and are shaping its development, including its emergent patterns of inclusion. By developing a novel theoretical framework that combines the critical political economy of communication with entrepreneurship studies, the dissertation is able to mediate effectively between structure and agency to reveal how Canadian web series creators are interpreting, internalizing and resisting larger institutional dynamics and discourses in their cultural practices and texts. Through their entrepreneuring, Canadian web creators are reacting to a variety of rigidities within the contextual dimensions in which they are embedded, including the absence of meaningful opportunities to practice their crafts, the persistence of networks of exclusion, and inaccurate or missing on-screen representations of themselves or others in mainstream media. Through their work, they desire to achieve freedom from these constraints. The challenge of disrupting the status quo is then revealed through an examination of the domestic and extra-national structural factors that act as impediments to their agency. The dissertation problematizes ideas of participation and access on the web, and introduces new conceptual terminology through the Participatory Culture Paradox, to encapsulate the contradictory set of relations that on the one hand, enables creators’ activities in the online space, and at the same time, constrains their capacity to find audiences and monetize their work. The findings here demonstrate that as much as internet-based distribution has expanded opportunities for participation for regular users, who you are, and where you are based, continue to be salient mediators of both participation and success in the development of professional scripted screen careers in the digital age. The dissertation culminates in actionable priorities for Canadian policy that aim at change.

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Section: Racementioning

confidence: 96%

Section: Institutional and Socialmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Institutional and Socialmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Chapter 1 -Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Telling our stories on the web: Canadian English-language web series and the production of culture online

Zboralska¹

2021

Preprint

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“…Researches distinguish between the old industrial area such as Italy's Emilia-Romagna and new industrial area such as Silicon Valley (Scott, 1988;Saxenian, 1994;Castells & Hall, 1994). There are varieties of research that work out the new and old social network theory in the direction of social capital, creativity and space (Glaeser et al 2000;Glaeser et al 2002, Caves, 2000Davis et al 2012;Florida 2002;Scott, 1998aScott, , 2000.…”

Section: -Introduction To Media Cluster and Knowledge Dynamicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Media clusters and metropolitan knowledge economy

Karlsson¹,

Rouchy²

2015

Handbook on the Economics of the Media

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Large media clusters have emerged in a limited number of large cities, characterizing the geographical concentration of the global media industry. This paper starts by exploring the effect of the rapid advancement of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) had on the media economy. I t c o n c l u d e s t h a t t h e r o l e o f t h e " w e i g h t l e s s e c o n o m y" o n m e d i a c l u s t e r has enhanced its production and distribution functions. We review the specificities of media cluster that ties agglomeration to creative, diversified attributes of production and distribution. The implication is that m e d i a f i r m s h o l d s t r o n g t e n d e n c i e s t o c l u s t e r i n urban regions since they make full usage of its resources, namely its export capabilities and import transformation strength. Finally, we invite researchers to consider Jacobs' metropolitan and global reciprocating system of city growth as a valid unit for analysing media clusters. The question leads envisaging if media clusters' strong metropolitan base allows them to grow further through globalised circuits. The paper concludes that large, media clusters drive on intellectually dense network of information, which can only be cultivated through large agglomerations existing capabilities. Consequently, the research question focuses upon the economic role of knowledge in media creation and export replacement. We emphasize the strength of Jacob's model of media cluster for understanding its mechanism of value creation and endogenous system of globalisation.

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Telling Our Stories: Screenwriters and the Production of Screen-Based Culture in English-Speaking Canada

Coutanche

Davis

Zboralska

2015

Canadian Journal of Communication

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Screenwriters are a vital part of the production of cultural products in the Canadian screen industry, but little has been written about how they perceive the environment in which they practice their craft. Situating our methodology within the general production culture framework, particularly in regards to industrial reflexivity, we present an analysis of 50 in-depth interviews with English-language Canadian screenwriters. As our subjects reflect on their experiences, a portrait emerges of the factors affecting the screenwriter’s role in the production of screen culture in English-speaking Canada. Their stories reveal a complex plot: one in which screenwriters, much like the characters they create, manoeuver through a landscape with its own boundaries, pitfalls, rewards, and consequences in their quest to attract elusive homegrown audiences.Les scénaristes jouent un rôle vital dans la création de produits culturels pour l’industrie de l’écran canadienne, mais on a peu écrit sur comment ils perçoivent le milieu dans lequel ils pratiquent leur métier. En situant notre méthodologie dans le cadre général de la culture de production, particulièrement en ce qui a trait à la réflexivité industrielle, nous présentons l’analyse de cinquante entretiens en profondeur avec des scénaristes anglo-canadiens. À mesure que ceux-ci racontent leurs expériences, un portrait se dessine des facteurs influant sur le rôle du scénariste dans la production d’une culture de l’écran au Canada anglophone. Leurs histoires révèlent une trame complexe, où les scénaristes, à la manière des personnages qu’ils inventent, traversent un environnement avec ses propres frontières, obstacles, récompenses et conséquences, à la quête d’un public d’ici-même qui s’avère passablement élusif.

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4 Screenwriters in Toronto: Centre, Periphery, and Exclusionary Networks in Canadian Screen Storytelling

Cited by 6 publications

References 16 publications

Telling our stories on the web: Canadian English-language web series and the production of culture online

Telling our stories on the web: Canadian English-language web series and the production of culture online

Media clusters and metropolitan knowledge economy

Telling Our Stories: Screenwriters and the Production of Screen-Based Culture in English-Speaking Canada

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