Abstract
For more than 30 years, fast turn-around television drama in Australia has been one of the largest employers of screenwriters in the country, yet its script development methods remain opaque and under-researched. Through a case study approach that draws on qualitative interviews, this chapter analyses the script development models commonly found in Australian serial television drama. It focuses in particular on the ways in which screenwriters experience creative agency when participating in script development processes. Central to serial drama shows such as Home and Away and Neighbours is a highly industrialised script development model, which at first glance appears to rely on rigid and tightly managed hierarchies and processes. However, power relationships in this system are complex, subtle and at times unstable. Building on recent critiques of creative labour in British television production, we argue that script development processes in Australian television serial drama operate in several distinct, and often contradictory, ways. Through this case study of creative agency in script development, we contribute to knowledge of the screenwriter’s place in this significant segment of Australian television production and employment.
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Notes
- 1.
Participants in the study were required to have written at least three episodes of a TV serial or series that involved participation in story and/or script conference meetings, or worked in-house as a script editor, story producer and/or storyliner, for at least three months.
- 2.
The Australian Writers’ Guild (AWG) is the professional association representing writers for stage, screen, radio and online.
- 3.
In the US, lead writers on a TV series are known as ‘showrunners’, a term popularised in the early 1990s to describe producer–writers who had overall creative responsibility for a show.
- 4.
Note taking is an important part of these meetings and this is almost always done as a dedicated, formal activity by a script assistant, who then circulates copies to writers.
- 5.
From 2012 to 2017, Neighbours dropped its in-house story team and instead used a similar model to another Australian serial drama, Home and Away. Writers would attend a plotting meeting and then produce scene breakdowns. It reverted back to an in-house story team model in early 2018.
- 6.
The Australian Writers’ Guild is a professional association that represents writers for stage, screen, radio and online.
- 7.
Screen Australia defines mini-series as having 13 hours or less of screen time.
- 8.
A previous study of Australian screenwriters building international careers noted how important it was for writers to be conversant with storytelling craft concepts, and to be able to articulate their application (Maloney 2019).
- 9.
Talent Camp is a joint initiative by AWG, Screen NSW and the Australian Film, Television and Radio School that provides storytelling opportunities for creative workers from diverse background. Other initiatives by the AWG’s Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Committee, include the Equity Diversity Showcase, Focus on Ability, and the Emerging Talent Salon.
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Maloney, N., Burne, P. (2021). So Much Drama, So Little Time: Writers’ Rooms in Australian Television Drama Production. In: Batty, C., Taylor, S. (eds) Script Development. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-48713-3_12
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