Screenwriting Creative Labor and Professional Practice [Paperback]

Screenwriting: Creative Labor and Professional Practiceanalyzes the histories, practices, identities and subjects which form and shape the daily working lives of screenwriters.

Author Bridget Conor considers the ways in which contemporary screenwriters navigate and make sense of the labor markets in which they are immersed.

Chapters explore areas including:

• Screenwriting histories and myths of the profession
• Screenwriting as creative labor
• Screenwriters working lives
• Screenwriting work and the how-to genre
• Screenwriting work and inequalities

Drawing on historical and critical perspectives of mainstream screenwriting in the USA and UK, as well as valuable interviews with working screenwriters, this book presents a highly original and multi-faceted study of screenwriting as creative labor and professional practice.

Introduction: Setting the scene  1. Screenwriting histories and myths of the profession  2. Screenwriting as creative labor  3. Screenwriters working lives  4. Screenwriting work and the how-to genre  5. Screenwriting work  whos in and whos out?  Conclusion: Screenwriting as good work  Appendix One: How-to titles and authors  Appendix Two: Indicative publishing information for five guru how-to texts  Bibliography

Bridget Conoris a lecturer in the Department of Culture, Media and Creative Industries at King?s College London and previously taught at Goldsmiths College and AUT University in Auckland. She has published in the areas of screenwriting research and creative labor studies and her previous work focused on the production of The Lord of the Rings trilogy in New Zealand.