If it ain't on the page, it ain't on the stage: screenwriting, national specificity and the English-Canadian feature film

Abstract

Like other film-producing nations, Canada's movie landscape was long ago colonized by US interests. While other nations also welcome American movies, the Canadian case is extreme: Canada has the lowest market share in the world of its own movies on its own screens. Living next to the world's most powerful country, Canada occupies geographically, economically, linguistically and culturally a position unique in the world. The historical and ongoing predicament of the lack of success of English-Canadian feature films has been variously attributed to similarities to the United States in language and culture, lower production budgets, and weaknesses in distribution, exhibition, marketing and quality. The role of screenwriting, however, is little understood and rarely broached. In this article, we argue the importance of screenwriting in understanding national cinemas; show that it has institutional, sociological and nation-specific dimensions; and present Canada as an ideal case to begin examining such factors. The first dimension the institutional is defined by auteurism as well as the collaborative nature of production. The second the sociological is greatly affected by exclusionary networks and various levels of discrimination based on such factors as gender, ethnicity/race, age, sexuality and economic class. The nation-specific area pertains to diverse historical, cultural and institutional practices particular or exclusive to the country or region. English-Canada, for instance, experiences a unique and complex cultural policy environment. Moreover, its fractured and regional history is one that has resulted in the production of obsessively performed narratives of national identity, particularly imbricated with Qubec, the United States, Britain and France. Our analysis draws together strands of intersecting disciplines, combining film theory and history with production studies, close textual analyses, political economy and nation theory, calling for a more complete picture of the role of screenwriting in national cinemas.

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

“…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…”

“…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.…”

“…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.…”

Domestic supply to global demand: reframing the challenge of Canadian English-language television drama

“…Studies have explored the arena of TV drama development in Canada (Davis & Kaye, 2010a;Davis & Nadler, 2012). To my knowledge, none have focused on development dynamics in the category of Canadian English-language prime time TV drama, which competes with Hollywood hits.…”

“…To my knowledge, none have focused on development dynamics in the category of Canadian English-language prime time TV drama, which competes with Hollywood hits. Other genres and categories of Canadian film and TV drama have been studied, including movies, international coproductions, documentaries, family and children's TV, as well as service productions, which are Hollywood productions outsourced to Canada (Davis & Kaye, 2010aDavis & Nadler, 2009;Elmer & Gasher, 2005;Elmer, Davis, Marchessault, & McCullough, 2010;Selznick, 2008;Tinic, 2005;Vang & Chaminade, 2007a). While Canadian TV dynamics have been studied in the context of U.S. dominance, and have included analyses of challenges to Canadian English-language TV drama (Grant, 2008;Grant & Wood, 2004;Hoskins & McFadyen, 1991;Hoskins et al, 2000aHoskins et al, , 2000b, understanding the dynamics of prime time development has not been an exclusive focus.…”