[ecrea] Journal of Screenwriting 9.2 published

Intellect is excited to announce that the Journal of Screenwriting 9.2
is now available! To discover more about the journal, click here >>
https://bit.ly/2MjtaGs

Theme: SRN New Zealand Conference Issue

Content:

Editorial

Authors: Hester Joyce And Ian W. Macdonald
Page Start: 131

10 ways to f#ck up your female characters

Authors: Fiona Samuel And Kathryn Burnett
Page Start: 135

Script development as a ‘wicked problem’

Authors: Craig Batty And Radha O’Meara And Stayci Taylor And Hester
Joyce And Philippa Burne And Noel Maloney And Mark Poole And Marilyn
Tofler
Page Start: 153

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’, an expanded team of
researchers follow up on those ideas and insights. In this article,
then, we attempt to theorize 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 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’.

Scripting the virtual: Formats and development paths for recent
Australian narrative 360-degree virtual reality projects

Authors: Kath Dooley
Page Start: 175

Since around 2015, an abundance of cinematic, short narrative virtual
reality (VR) projects utilizing an immersive 360-degree format have
emerged at film festivals around the world and on online platforms.
While this medium is one that is increasingly being adopted by
established, traditional 2D filmmakers, the specificity of the form
gives rise to a number of challenges for the screenwriter when
considering screen grammar, script formats and the writing process.
This article begins to address a gap in knowledge in this area by
reporting upon approaches to the script formats, development
techniques and methods of collaboration utilized by three Australian
practitioners working in this format. This research includes a study
of the physical expression of a screen idea (recorded on the page or
elsewhere) and an exploration of the working conditions within which
these ideas are shaped to provide some insight into emerging
practices. I draw upon detailed interviews with the three
practitioners, and in doing so, I open up a discussion on how their
approaches to 360-degree VR differ from traditional forms of
screenplay writing.

Cinematic virtual reality: Towards the spatialized screenplay

Authors: Miriam Ross And Alex Munt
Page Start: 191

This article considers how screenwriting might operate in the newly
established medium of cinematic virtual reality (CVR). In Part One, we
take a wide view of ways to consider screenwriting and development for
CVR. Our approach theorizes CVR in the tradition of picture-making (or
image-making) practices that can be traced within a broader history of
the visual arts – from painting, to photography and contemporary art.
In this way, we lay open the possibility for CVR to find diverse paths
as it responds to narrative concerns rather than suggest it should
merely repeat the consolidation of narrative that occurred with the
transition of exploratory early cinema to the dominant Classical
Hollywood system. In Part Two, our case study approach considers
co-author, Miriam Ross’, CVR practice-based research to allow a
discussion of the format that can be used for delivery of the CVR
screenplay. Our aims are to connect a historically based
spatialization of the image with the question of the spatialization of
the screenplay for CVR 360-degrees media. The agenda is to expand the
conversation around CVR to reflect upon, and inspire, new ways of
thinking (and seeing) the potential for the development of screen
ideas in this medium.

Fact and fiction in Jackie (2016): Revisiting a biopic with Paul Ricoeur

Authors: Carmen Sofia Brenes
Page Start: 211

The film Jackie (2016) by Chilean filmmaker Pablo Larraín and American
screenwriter Noah Oppenheim provides an excellent basis to reflect on
biopics and this genre’s capacity to reconstruct and present
historical figures. This article is grounded in Paul Ricoeur’s
reflections on narrativity, time and history, which have given rise to
a new branch of film and screenwriting studies that regards films as
poetic narrations, that is, condensed representations of slices of
life. Drawing on Ricoeur’s notion of narration and his concept of the
relationship between story and history, I explore how Jackie, the
fictional character, allows us to get to know part of the historical
figure, Jacqueline Kennedy’s, personal life. This reflection may be of
particular interest to screenwriters now that biopics are experiencing
a revival as an auteur genre. In the first section, I describe some
features of biopics and examine whether and how Jackie fits into this
category of film genre. In the second, I outline the theoretical
foundations of Ricoeur’s story/history duality. In the third part,
acting on Ricoeur’s suggestion for an analytical approach, followed by
a synthetic or global reading of the story that leads to the
identification of the inner force that unifies the fictional
narrative, I analyse the rhetorical and visual mechanisms used in
Jackie, paying special attention to the timeline and the point of view
of the narrator. An overview of the main character’s motivations both
in the film script and the film version, and of the way in which the
ending is presented, finally makes it possible to see where story and
history come together. Ricoeur’s reflection on human actions and how
they are represented in narrative works sheds light on the foundations
of screenwriting studies. Similarly, so does Juan José
García-Noblejas, when he suggests that the unifying object of a
screenplay is ‘human action’. Thus, this article is a
transdisciplinary reflection on the biopic genre through the analysis
of a recent film, with Ricoeur’s practical philosophy as the starting
point.

‘Screenwriting: Fact and fiction, truth and the real’, 10th SRN
Conference, University of Otago, 28–31 August 2017

Authors:  Hester Joyce And  Armando Fumagalli And Rosanne Welch And
Ian W. Macdonald
Page Start: 227

Reviews

Authors: Amy Banks And Maria Manti And Felipe Pruneda Sentíes And Terry 
Selucky
Page Start: 241

The Woman in the Story: Writing Memorable Female Characters in
Trouble, in Love, and in Power, 2nd ed., Helen Jacey (2017
Transcultural Screenwriting: Telling Stories for a Global World,
Carmen Sofia Brenes, Patrick Cattrysse and Margaret McVeigh (eds)
(2017) Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 199 pp.,
ISBN-10: 1443852449, h/bk, £43.52; ISBN-13: 9781443852449, ebook,
£53.15
Las Guionistas: A Bilingual Anthology of Mexican Women Screenwriters,
María Teresa Depaoli and Laura Kanost (eds) (trans. Laura Kanost)
(2017)
The Writer’s Journey, 3rd ed., Christopher Vogler (2007)

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