Introduction: Scriptwriting as a research practice: expanding the field

Abstract

In the preface to the first scriptwriting as research issue, co-editor Dallas Baker argued that scriptwriting 'is a practice. More to the point, scriptwriting is a writing practice that deserves scholarly attention ' (2013: 4, emphasis in original). Baker also argued that the scriptwriting that occurs in the academy is different from that which occurs outside of it, in that academic scriptwriting has a stronger critical research focus and often reflects the distinct vision of a single writer-researcher (2013: 4). He then notes that: Academic scriptwriting is also much more self-reflexive. It is a practice undertaken in the context of a discipline and in ways that mean that the writing is informed more by discipline specific knowledge than by commercial demands or the expectations of wider audiences or readerships. This makes the scriptwriting that occurs within the academy distinct enough to be worthy of study in itself (2013: 4-5).