MRTS 4450/5660.001: IT’S NOT TV, IT’S HBO! University of North Texas Fall 2020 Professor: Jennifer Porst Email: [email protected] Class: T 2:30-5:20P Office Hours: By appointment Course Description: Since its debut in the early 1970s, HBO has been a powerhouse in American television and film. They regularly dominate the nominations for Emmy and Golden Globe awards, and their success has profoundly affected the television and film industries and the content they produce. Through an examination of the birth and development of HBO, we will see what a closer analysis of the channel can tell us about television, Hollywood, and American culture over the last four decades. We will also look to the future to see what HBO might become in the increasingly global and digital television landscape. Student Learning Goals: This course will provide students with an opportunity to: • Understand the industrial conditions that led to the birth and success of HBO • Gain insight into the contemporary challenges and opportunities faced by the media industries • Develop critical thinking skills through focused analysis of readings and HBO content • Communicate clearly and confidently in class discussion and presentations Required Texts: 1. Edgerton, Gary R. and Jeffrey P. Jones, Eds. The Essential HBO Reader. Lexington, KY: The University Press of Kentucky, 2008. Available as an e-book via the UNT Library website. 2. Subscription to HBO Go/Now 3. Additional required readings and screenings will be available for free through the class website. 4. Students will need to register for use of the Packback Questions site, which should cost between $10- 15 for the semester. Course Requirements: All assignments will be discussed in detail before we come to them, and assignment details are available on our course website in Canvas. Class Participation & Attendance In order to do well in this class, it is essential that you actively participate. Quality participation includes completing the assigned readings and screenings before we discuss them, making intelligent and relevant comments in class, asking good questions, taking notes, participating in class activities and screenings, and active listening. Participation in discussion should demonstrate that students have completed the assigned homework for the week and can intelligently discuss the content of that homework. Students are expected to attend classes regularly and promptly and are responsible for all work done in classes when they are absent. Students should notify Prof. Porst in advance of unavoidable absences due to illness, family emergency, or religious holidays. Since life happens, all students get one “pass” for an absence. In order to excuse any additional absences, students must meet with Prof. Porst and complete makeup work. An unexcused absence will result in a letter grade deduction from your participation grade, and two unexcused absences will result in a failing grade for the class. Tardies or early departures from class will accumulate to equal one unexcused absence per twenty minutes. COVID-19 impact on attendance While attendance is expected as outlined above, it is important for all of us to be mindful of the health and safety of everyone in our community, especially given concerns about COVID-19. If you are experiencing 1 cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, fever, or any of the other possible symptoms of COVID-19 (https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/symptoms-testing/symptoms.html) please seek medical attention from the Student Health and Wellness Center (940-565-2333 or [email protected]) or your health care provider. While attendance is an important part of succeeding in this class, your own health, and those of others in the community, is more important. Packback Discussion The Packback Questions platform will be used for online discussion about the assigned homework BEFORE our weekly Zoom class meeting. Packback Questions is an online community where you can be fearlessly curious and ask open-ended questions to build on top of what we are covering in class and relate topics to real-world applications. In order to receive your points per week, you should submit the following per each deadline period: • 1 open-ended Question per week with a minimum Curiosity Score of 60, each worth 33.33% of each assignment grade • 2 Responses per week with a minimum Curiosity Score of 65, each worth 66.67% of each assignment grade Partial credit will be provided for questions and responses that do not meet the minimum curiosity score. Small Group Discussions During our class time each week, we will spend approximately half of that class time in our Zoom meeting discussing the homework and extending or applying the homework to another related topic or case study. For the remainder of the weekly class time, students will work with their small groups to complete any additional readings and/or screenings and participate in the Canvas discussion board about those readings/screenings. Each student should post at least two quality responses to the discussion board prompt and small groupmates’ posts. See the rubrics on Canvas for additional grading information. Research Project: For the research project, you will have a choice between three assignments: (1) you may write a paper analyzing one of HBO’s properties and its place in the HBO universe; (2) you may imagine that you have just taken over as CEO of HBO and write a white paper for the head of TimeWarner outlining your plan for the future of the network; or (3) you can develop a proposal for a new HBO series or movie. Papers (2) and (3) will support their plan/proposal based on the success and failures of HBO’s past programming and industrial strategies and the possibilities of the entertainment industry’s digital future. All projects will be 5-7 pages in length, and we will talk about this assignment in more detail in an upcoming class period. Project Presentation & Peer Review Students will present their research project as a work in progress to their classmates in the last week of class, and will provide peer-review feedback to two classmates. Formatting of Written Work All written work should be formatted and, when necessary, properly cited according to either Chicago or MLA Style. Please keep in mind that these formatting guidelines refer to the overall formatting of the paper in addition to the formatting of the citations. Guides for both mLA and Chicago style are available on our course website. Policy on Late Work Any written work submitted after the deadline will receive a one letter grade deduction for each day late. Assignments will not be accepted more than one week after the original due date unless other arrangements have been made in advance with Prof. Porst. Late Packback discussion board posts will not be accepted. 2 Except in case of a documented emergency, students must be present and participate in the project presentations and peer review, or they will receive a failing grade for that project. Grade Breakdown Zoom Attendance & Participation…………25% Project Presentation & Peer Review………10% Packback Discussion………………….....…20% Research Project…………………………..15% Small Group Discussion…..………………..30% Letter grades indicate the following levels of performance: A = Outstanding work D = Below average work B = Good work F = Failing or Incomplete work C = Acceptable work Office Hours and Email If you have questions about the class or your work, there are four ways to get the answers you need: (1) Take another look at the syllabus and all of the material posted to our course website. If you cannot find the answer there, then you can: (2) Post your questions in the “Questions about the class” discussion board. If you have a question, it is likely that others do too, so post it here and help create a valuable source of information for everyone. (3) At the beginning of each of our class Zoom meetings, I will ask if anyone has questions, and you may ask then. (4) If you have something that you would like to discuss with me individually, we can schedule a Zoom meeting. You may schedule an appointment with me via the calendar on Canvas. Zoom Etiquette Avoid distractions from email, text messages, etc. by quitting those applications and silencing your phones. Wear appropriate clothing and make sure that everything that is visible in your surroundings is compliant with UNT’s guidelines. Basic guideline: if it wouldn’t be ok in the classroom, it’s probably not ok in Zoom. Class Recordings I am aware that given our current (and currently changing!) situation, not all students may experience classes in the same way at the same time. In order to make sure that all students can access our class content, I will record our Zoom sessions and make the recording available on Canvas. Please be aware that students are not allowed to record class sessions, unless the Office of Disability Services has approved it as an accommodation in which case, I need that documentation from the ODA. No one, including faculty and students, is allowed to share course content outside the course without consent of the instructor and all students in the course. It is a violation of privacy and copyright laws as well as university policy to share course content outside of the class and could lead to disciplinary action. The UNT Writing Lab I encourage you to take advantage of the services available at the UNT Writing Lab. Tutors are available to work online with undergraduates and graduates. They can help with issues related to structure, grammar, punctuation, citation styles, and more. They do more than merely proofread; they teach you strategies and techniques to improve your writing for the long term. All services are free.