View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by RMIT Research Repository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wish first and foremost to acknowledge the invaluable contributions of my supervisors – a standard practice, perhaps, but my gratitude exceeds any observation of protocol. I would like to thank my primary supervisor, Associate Professor Craig Batty, for his astute feedback and strategic guidance within and beyond the parameters of this PhD, unwavering support in all things, hilariously bad jokes, generosity of resources and encouragement to stand my ground. And my secondary supervisor, Associate Professor Lisa French, for her specialist and judicious advice on the critical writing, genuine enthusiasm for the creative project and for teaching me the value of a champagne moment. Both I am proud to call mentors and friends. I am fortunate to have been part of a particularly collegial, supportive and social cohort and have legitimate cause to individually acknowledge a long list of its members. I will instead recruit the shared privilege of our in-jokes to sincerely thank the District 9ers, the HELPers and the Panel Beaters. My sister, Tara T-J, encouraged me to re-enter the academy and for this, and so many other things, I am extremely grateful. Most importantly, I acknowledge the overwhelming support of my beautiful partner, Lucy Schmidt, who has by sheer disadvantage of proximity lived out the entire PhD alongside. She generously agreed to ride out the weather of the research journey, which saw her take on such roles as scheduler, time manager, morale officer and personal chef. She is also an actor and screenwriter in her own right, who I am lucky enough to have as a permanent sounding board and makes me laugh every day. The role of Stoner Annie is written as a tribute to her comic genius. Finally, this PhD is dedicated to my father Brett Taylor (1945-2003) from whom I first learned the life affirming value of comedy. LIST OF PUBLICATIONS The following scholarly articles and peer-reviewed conference proceedings have resulted from the research of this PhD. As such, all of these works have informed the PhD, and some of the material appears in sections of Parts 1 and 3. As such, I am indebted to the editors and the anonymous peer reviewers of these papers, from whose guidance I refined these arguments. Taylor, S 2016, ‘In Her Shoes: flipped-realities and female perspectives in comedy screenwriting’, Senses of Cinema no. 80 <http://sensesofcinema.com/2016/new-directions/in-her-shoes-flipped- realities-and-female-perspectives-in-comedy-screenwriting/> Batty, C, Sawtell, L and Taylor, S 2016, ‘Thinking through the screenplay: the academy as a site for research-based script development’, The journal of writing in creative practice, vol. 9, no. 1 & 2, pp. 149-162 Lee, S, Lomdahl, A, Sawtell, L, Sculley, S and Taylor, S 2016, ‘Screenwriting and the Higher Degree by Research: writing a screenplay for a creative practice PhD’, New Writing: the international journal for the practice and theory of creative writing special issue: screenwriting in the academy, vol. 13, no. 1, p. 85-97 Taylor, S and Batty, C 2015, ‘Script development and the hidden practices of screenwriting: perspectives from industry professionals’, New Writing: the international journal for the practice and theory of creative writing vol. 13, no. 2, pp. 204-217 Batty, C and Taylor, S 2015, ‘Interrogating writing practices: perspectives from the screenwriting industry’, Writing in practice: the journal of creative writing research, vol. 1, pp. 1-17 Taylor, S 2015, ‘Mounting the Men’s Film Festival: a mockumentary web series - webisode 1: Power Cut’, TEXT: journal of writing and writing courses, special issue 29: scriptwriting as creative writing research II, pp. 1-15 Taylor, S 2015, ‘Arrested Development: can funny, female characters survive script development processes?’, Philament: an online journal of the arts and culture, no, 20, pp. 61-77 Taylor, S 2015, ‘Ghostbusting in screenwriting practice: rewriting the corrective culture of script development’, in Dominique Hecq (ed) Refereed proceedings of the 20th conference of the Australasian Association of Writing Programs (AAWP 2015): Writing the ghost train, Melbourne, Australia, 29 November – 1 December 2015, pp. 1-11 Batty, C, Lee, S, Sawtell, L, Sculley, S and Taylor, S 2015 ‘Rewriting, remaking and rediscovering screenwriting practice: when the screenwriter becomes practitioner-researcher’, in Dominique Hecq (ed) Refereed proceedings of the 20th conference of the Australasian Association of Writing Programs (AAWP 2015): Writing the ghost train, Melbourne, Australia, 29 November – 1 December 2015, pp. 1- 16 Taylor, S 2015, ‘“It’s the Wild West out there”: can web series destablilise traditional notions of script development?’, in Craig Batty, Susan Kerrigan (eds) Refereed proceedings of the annual conference of the Australian Screen Production, Education and Research Association (ASPERA 2015): What’s this space?: screen practice, audiences and education for the future decade, Adelaide, Australia 15-17 July, pp. 1 -14 Taylor, S 2014, ‘The model screenwriter – a comedy case study’, in Gail Pittaway, Alex Lodge, Lisa Smithies (eds) Refereed proceedings of the 19th conference of the Australasian Association of Writing Programs (AAWP 2014): Minding the gap: writing across thresholds and fault lines, Wellington, New Zealand, 30 November – 2 December 2014, pp. 1-20 4 CONTENTS Declaration 2 Acknowledgments 3 List of Publications 4 Abstract 6 Introduction 8 Part One: Exposition Backstory 22 Perspective 25 Mainstream screenwriting models and script development 31 Female perspectives on screen 43 (Women in) comedy 54 Funny, female perspectives in script development 68 Part Two: Screenplay 77 Part Three: Reversal Reflection 177 Overview 185 Point-of-You 197 Conclusion 218 List of References 222 Filmography 233 5 ABSTRACT Through the lens of screenwriting practice, this research project interrogates female perspectives in mainstream, comedy screenplays. Its central investigation asks whether or not these perspectives are under-represented, suggesting script development processes are both informed by, and reinforce, the culturally entrenched gendered biases that might see female perspectives, especially in comedies, confined to the margins. Giving particular focus to the female protagonist, this research takes a creative practice approach to exploring the ways in which her perspective might be written into the pages of the screenplay, considering both content and form. The culmination is the writing of Funny/Peculiar, a comedy, feature-length screenplay, which aims to forefront the female protagonist and her perspective from within the confines of the same mainstream structures, formatting and conventions with which this research is critically engaged. Through creative practice a particular narrative device is defined, that of the ‘flipped reality’, which is recruited for the screenplay and dissected in the wider research. Discoveries and experimentation pertaining to perspective arise from the application of this device, including the employment of the second person point-of-view – or ‘Point-of-You’ – for describing screenplay action. Positioned within a postmodern-feminist sensibility, this research looks beyond a politics of inclusion and examines how the ‘norm’ is understood in discourses of comedy, screenwriting and (postmodern) feminism. Through screenwriting practice as a mode of enquiry come new approaches to notions of what is considered to be normal, and the possibilities for alternative perspectives. 6 funny/peculiar: a creative practice approach to flipping perspectives for female protagonists in comedy screenwriting 7 INTRODUCTION Funny/Peculiar is an investigation through creative practice into writing funny, female screen protagonists. Specifically, this PhD asks: How might a female protagonist’s perspective be written into the pages of a comedy screenplay, considering both content and form? The execution and findings arising from my search for an answer take the form of a screenplay and accompanying two-part dissertation. This PhD, situating itself firmly in the context of screenwriting practice, aims to contribute its findings to a community of practice comprised of screenwriters (and, to a certain extent, to the practice of creative writing more broadly), as well as to the growing scholarly field of screenwriting research – in particular, the newly emerging academic work around the practice of script development, which is an important but historically under-theorised step in the process of bringing a screenplay into being. The screenplay at the centre of this research incorporates the narrative device of an alternative reality, set in a parallel present (as distinct from time travel narratives).