Script development: Defining the field

Batty, Craig; Taylor, Stayci; Sawtell, Louise; Conor, Bridget

doi:10.1386/josc.8.3.225_1

Cited by 34 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…This is not unlike the often formally prescribed format of a journal article within the highly pressurised environment of Masters or Doctoral candidature in a university with research key performance indicators. Similarly, like the university research environment, script development is often dominated by the competing discourses of business models and creative processes (Batty et al 2017), where the interests of investors, broadcasters, and audiences dictate, and sometimes stymie, the creative vision of the writer. Further, the input of script consultants, script editors, and producers and directors, to name just a few, mirrors the sometimes complex issues of authorship in collaborative academic writing (Kerrigan & Batty 2016).…”

Section: Screenwriting As Collaborationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Collaborating upwards: writing across hierarchical boundaries

Ellison

Batty

2020

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As a practice, collaborative writing between students and supervisors is hardly new and can be considered common in STEM disciplines. This has not always been the case in the creative arts, where there are different expectations around authorship and, as in other contexts, potentially deeper considerations of power and authority. In this article, we examine modes of collaborative writing practice in the creative arts, with a particular focus on writing across hierarchical boundaries in research training scenarios. Using screenwriting practice as a context for this discussion, and informed by our own reflective practice, we identify a number of collaborative writing 'modes' (which we have named 'take the lead', 'share the load', and 'learn the ropes') and offer possible strategies for those writing across hierarchical relationships and boundaries. This is important for understanding what might otherwise become an assumed, misunderstood or, worse, predatory practice that disempowers students and unfairly advantages supervisors. As part of our exploration, we draw on our experiences of running cohort-based, collaborative research opportunities in creative disciplines. Reflecting on our experiences in regard to our own collaborations allows us to examine how these structures have enabled students to find their own agency within these collaborative spaces.

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Section: Screenwriting As Collaborationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Collaborating upwards: writing across hierarchical boundaries

Ellison

Batty

2020

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“…Group work is a well-established industry practice in screenwriting and film production. Script development as a practice is central to the broader practice of screenwriting but is often hidden and/or unacknowledged (Batty et al 2017;Conor 2014;Tofler et al 2019).…”

Section: Group Work In Screenwriting and Film And Television Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Group-devised screenplays and film projects in Higher Education curriculum

Tofler

Pechenkina

2019

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Group work is a well-recognised pedagogical practice in Higher Education (HE), meant to facilitate peer collaboration in contexts simulating realistic industry situations. While group work is credited with helping students to develop a range of communication, social and negotiation skills, it can also disenfranchise students, leading to disorganisation and creative disputes. With increased numbers of students taking up HE film and television and creative writing degrees, group work is necessary to prepare students for industry practice. However, with limited time within a semester to produce such artefacts as screenplays and short films, groupbased projects can backfire, creating tensions and conflicts, and resulting in decreased student satisfaction. This study discusses the process of implementation and evaluation of a redesigned screenwriting model, where the act of restructuring the group work component of the studies to ensure that all students participate in the writing of the team's screenplay helped shift the unequal power balance between students and boost individual student agency. While contextualised in the field of screenwriting and filmmaking, the findings pertaining to group work dynamics and the mindful use of student evaluations to improve teaching can be transported to other disciplines and contexts. Personal skills developed through HE group work, such as collaboration and negotiation, may be applied to other real-world industry and international settings.

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“…Script development is also often dominated by the competing discourses of business models or creative processes, with discussion sometimes focused on the tension between these discourses (see Batty et al 2017). Although these discourses are important in shaping conceptions and practices of script development, they are not sufficient for understanding the complex interrelations at its heart and the multiple logics and systems that govern its contexts.…”

Section: Script Development Is Complex To Define: Competing Discoursesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In this article, a group of Australia-based scholar-practitioners argue that the complexity of script development -both as a creative/professional practice and an area of research -makes it a 'wicked problem' (Rittel and Webber 1973), and also one whose industrial location almost certainly requires collaboration between the academy and the screen industries to define, understand and address it. The fundamental difficulty of defining script development has previously been identified by Batty et al (2017), Price (2017) and Kerrigan and Batty (2016), namely in relation to it meaning different things to different people, under different circumstances, at different times, and for different agendas. In this article, we work from a basic definition of script development as a gradual, time-bound process of improving a 'screen idea' (Macdonald 2013): the object (idea) at the heart of a collaborative process of devising for the screen.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Script development as a ‘wicked problem’

Batty

O'Meara

Taylor

et al. 2018

Journal of Screenwriting

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Both a process and a set of products, influenced by policy as well as people, and incorporating objective agendas at the same time as subjective experiences, script development is a core practice within the screen industry -yet one that is hard to pin down and, to some extent, define. From an academic research perspective, we might say that script development is a 'wicked problem' precisely because of these complex and often contradictory aspects. Following on from a recent Journal of Screenwriting special issue on script development (2017, vol. 8.3), and in particular an article therein dedicated to reviewing the literature and 'defining the field' (Batty et al 2017), an expanded team of researchers follow up on those ideas and insights. In this article, then, we attempt to theorise script development as a 'wicked problem' that spans a range of themes and disciplines. As a 'wicked' team of authors, our expertise encompasses screenwriting theory, screenwriting practice, film and television studies, cultural policy, ethnography, gender studies and comedy. By drawing on these critical 2 domains and creative practices, we present a series of interconnected themes that we hope not only suggests the potential for script development as a rich and exciting scholarly pursuit, but that also inspires and encourages other researchers to join forces in an attempt to solve the script development 'puzzle'.

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Script development: Defining the field

Abstract: Through an extensive survey of the field, this article asks, what is script development?

Cited by 34 publications

References 2 publications

Collaborating upwards: writing across hierarchical boundaries

Collaborating upwards: writing across hierarchical boundaries

Group-devised screenplays and film projects in Higher Education curriculum

Script development as a ‘wicked problem’

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