[Commlist] CFP: Edited collection on TV Writer Steven Moffat

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*Call for Abstracts/Proposals for Essays for an Edited 
Collection**SCREEN STORYTELLERS: The Works of Steven Moffat (Bloomsbury 
Academic)*

*Edited by William Rabkin*

This edited volume on the works of Steven Moffat will be the second book 
in a new series to be published by Bloomsbury Academic. Seeking 250-word 
abstracts for previously unpublished essays on films and television 
series created by Moffat. Final essays will be 3,000-3,500 words, 
written for an audience of student readers, and will be due 
Spring/Summer 2024.

The SCREEN STORYTELLERS series is designed for students, professors, and 
enthusiastic consumers of film, television, and new media who seek 
information about contemporary and historically significant 
screenwriters that is both accessible and critically rigorous. The 
intention with this new series is to bring much-deserved attention to 
screen and television writers who have developed noteworthy films and 
television series of significant aesthetic or cultural achievement, 
critical acclaim, or commercial success, and to offer close readings of 
the films and series from the perspective of story, screenwriting craft, 
audience reception, and cultural impact. Each volume will explore the 
works of a single screen storyteller. The series will place a strong 
focus on examining works by screenwriters often left out of classroom 
syllabi, including women, writers of color, LGBTQ writers, and 
international writers. (Note: /The Works of Shonda Rhimes/ is slated as 
the first volume in the series. For more information about this series, 
visit:https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/discover/superpages/academic/screen-storytellers-series/ 
<https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/discover/superpages/academic/screen-storytellers-series/>)

*The Works of Steven Moffat *

 From his early sitcoms to his long run on/Doctor Who/to his 
reinventions of Victorian classics like/Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Jekyll and 
Mr. Hyde,/and/Dracula/, and his current work for Netflix and HBO, 
writer/producer Steven Moffat has received wild praise for his grand, 
intricate plotting, self-consciously clever dialogue, smarter-than-you 
characters and a willingness to risk ridiculousness in pursuit of the 
sublime– and he has also received brutal criticism for exactly the same 
reasons. He is possibly the only writer in television history who is 
accused both of creating storylines that span multiple seasons of a show 
and become more complex with each episode AND of being a lazy writer, 
often by the same critic and even in the same sentence. He’s been 
praised for his strong female and LGBTQ characters and slammed as an (in 
his words) “insane rightwing misogynist.” With this volume, I hope to 
offer a critical celebration of Moffat’s work and contributions to 
television.

I welcome contributions from scholars of film, television, media 
studies, and popular culture, as well as working practitioners, 
including screen and television writers, filmmakers, and playwrights. 
Essays may explore individual works or may interrogate a single theme, 
question, or construct across multiple works. I expect many essays will 
offer a critical analysis of Steven Moffat’s work so readers can expand 
their knowledge and understanding of the film and television writing 
craft, and many essays in this volume will include historically 
sophisticated commentaries, exploring Moffat’s career through the lens 
of production, reception, and creative collaborations and dynamics.

Possible essay topics could include but are not limited to:

  * /Doctor Who/franchise and Moffat’s influence
  * Moffat as showrunner
  * Television writing craft
  * Pilot creation craft
  * Recurring themes or genres represented in Moffat’s work
  * Integration of comedy and/or mystery
  * Viewer response / critics’ response
  * Moffat and adaptation (/Jekyll, Sherlock, Dracula, The Time
    Traveler’s Wife/)
  * Professional collaborations, recurring partnerships (Tennant,
    Gattis, Dolly Wells, etc)
  * Deep dives into individual series (pilot and episode craft) or films
  * Actors, actresses, and acting or directing of actors in Moffat’s series
  * Early series (/Press Gang, Coupling, Joking Apart/)
  * Moffat and fandom, worshipful and toxic

Please submit a 250-word abstract along with a 150-word biographical 
statement to*William Rabkin ((wrabkin /at/ aol.com)) by June 30, 2023*. Please 
title the subject line of your email: Abstract – The Works of Steven Moffat.

Please direct any inquiries to this email address as well. I welcome 
submissions from scholars at all stages of their careers, as well as 
practicing and aspiring screen and television writing professionals. 
Feel free to contact me with any questions about the book, and please 
share this announcement with colleagues whose work aligns with the focus 
of this volume.

*For information about the Screen Storytellers series or to discuss a 
potential proposal for another volume, contact Anna Weinstein at 
(aweinst6 /at/ kennesaw.edu).*

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