{"title":"‘Just ask “what if?” and go from there’: the role of mainstream story structures in women’s web series script development","authors":"Stayci Taylor","doi":"10.1080/17503175.2021.1922162","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This article investigates, through interviews, the script development processes of four female-identifying web series creators, contributing to scholarship around web series’ ability to serve diverse communities [Christian 2020. “Beyond Branding: The Value of Intersectionality on Streaming TV Channels.” Television & New Media 21 (5): 457–474; 2011. “Fandom as Industrial Response: Producing Identity in an Independent Web Series.” TWC – Transformative Works and Cultures, 8, ‘Race and Ethnicity in Fandom’ special issue; Monaghan 2017. “Starting From … Now and the Web Series to Television Crossover: An Online Revolution?” Media International Australia 164 (1): 82–91; Williams 2012. Web TV Series: How to Make and Market Them. Harpenden: Kamera Books], but from the perspective of the writing process. The three web series making up this small sample – Last Breath (2018), Love Songs (2019) and Phi and Me (2019-) – have all experienced notable levels of ‘success’ (defined here variously in terms of views, festival selections, and awards). This article offers a preliminary investigation into how women’s web series writing practices may – or may not – depart from conventions that are practiced in mainstream settings of episodic script development, and/or are circulated by the screenwriting ‘how-to’ market. Using the insights into these writing processes, this article builds upon web series scholarship (where, it has been argued, innovations around diversity are leading the way in terms of screen content and distribution) by exploring the extent to which gender and cultural diversity, platform and standardised story structures inform the script development processes.","PeriodicalId":51952,"journal":{"name":"Studies in Australasian Cinema","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.4000,"publicationDate":"2021-05-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/17503175.2021.1922162","citationCount":"3","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Studies in Australasian Cinema","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1080/17503175.2021.1922162","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"FILM, RADIO, TELEVISION","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 3
Abstract
ABSTRACT This article investigates, through interviews, the script development processes of four female-identifying web series creators, contributing to scholarship around web series’ ability to serve diverse communities [Christian 2020. “Beyond Branding: The Value of Intersectionality on Streaming TV Channels.” Television & New Media 21 (5): 457–474; 2011. “Fandom as Industrial Response: Producing Identity in an Independent Web Series.” TWC – Transformative Works and Cultures, 8, ‘Race and Ethnicity in Fandom’ special issue; Monaghan 2017. “Starting From … Now and the Web Series to Television Crossover: An Online Revolution?” Media International Australia 164 (1): 82–91; Williams 2012. Web TV Series: How to Make and Market Them. Harpenden: Kamera Books], but from the perspective of the writing process. The three web series making up this small sample – Last Breath (2018), Love Songs (2019) and Phi and Me (2019-) – have all experienced notable levels of ‘success’ (defined here variously in terms of views, festival selections, and awards). This article offers a preliminary investigation into how women’s web series writing practices may – or may not – depart from conventions that are practiced in mainstream settings of episodic script development, and/or are circulated by the screenwriting ‘how-to’ market. Using the insights into these writing processes, this article builds upon web series scholarship (where, it has been argued, innovations around diversity are leading the way in terms of screen content and distribution) by exploring the extent to which gender and cultural diversity, platform and standardised story structures inform the script development processes.
本文通过访谈调查了四位女性网络连续剧创作者的剧本开发过程,为围绕网络连续剧服务于不同社区的能力的学术研究做出了贡献[Christian 2020]。“超越品牌:流媒体电视频道交叉性的价值”电视与新媒体21 (5):457-474;2011. “Fandom作为工业回应:在一个独立的网络系列中产生身份。”TWC -变革的作品和文化,8,“Fandom中的种族和民族”特刊;莫纳亨2017。“从现在开始,从网络连续剧到电视跨界:一场网络革命?”澳大利亚媒体国际164 (1):82-91;威廉姆斯2012。网络电视剧:如何制作和营销。Harpenden: camera Books],但从写作过程的角度来看。构成这个小样本的三部网络剧——《最后一口气》(2018)、《情歌》(2019)和《Phi and Me》(2019-)——都取得了显著的“成功”(这里的定义在观看次数、电影节选择和奖项方面各不相同)。这篇文章提供了一个初步的调查,关于女性网络连续剧的写作实践可能——或者可能不会——偏离在情节剧本发展的主流环境中实践的惯例,和/或被编剧“如何”市场所传播。利用对这些写作过程的见解,本文通过探索性别和文化多样性、平台和标准化故事结构对剧本开发过程的影响程度,建立在网络连续剧学术基础上(有人认为,围绕多样性的创新在屏幕内容和发行方面处于领先地位)。