Australian Webisodes 2010-2014: Extending Narrative and Promoting Television Drama Online Matthew Loads Submitted in total fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2021 Department of Media and Communication School of Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities Faculty of Health, Arts and Design Swinburne University of Technology 1 Abstract This thesis analyses webisode production in Australian television drama. It defines webisodes as short-form original video texts connected to a television program and produced for an online audience. They emerged as a form of video content in the mid-1990s and are currently recognised as a component of multi-platform television in Australia. Their creation reveals important emerging trends in the Australian screen industry. The study examines the production processes that shape these texts, and how webisodes contribute to the history of Australian television by reflecting larger changes in drama production. Through a consideration of both formal practices and storytelling conventions, the thesis employs Elana Levine’s five modes of production as its core methodological framework. Developed to examine the production of the soap opera General Hospital (1963-), this thesis adapts a framework established for pre-internet network television in North America to the production process that shaped Australian webisodes from 2010 to 2014, a period where webisode production solidified. Four webisode case studies directly linked to TV drama programs are explored—Network Ten’s Offspring (2010-2018) and Secrets and Lies (AU, 2014), SBS’s Danger 5 (2012-2015), and the ABC production of Nowhere Boys (2013- 2019). Findings are based on interviews with 27 production personnel and visits to production sets, and the detailed examination of trade press, industry and government reports. This thesis demonstrates how various processes shape the production of webisodes, in particular institutional forces, access to resources and the individual drives and career trajectories of personnel. Webisodes also benefit both industry professionals and audiences, providing a space for creative experimentation and opening up industry pathways, while at the same time extending the narrative worlds of traditional programming to enable audiences to experience expanded character, plot and setting associated with the anchor program, adding to their pleasure and commitment to that production by engaging them across multiple platforms. In the period covered by this study, Australian drama production was undergoing a significant transformation. By analysing webisode production during this era in a wider context, this thesis reveals important elements of the ways the television industry responded to those changes on both an industrial and creative level, extending the parameters of previous webisode studies that have largely focused on textual analysis and transmedia theories. 2 Acknowledgements My supervisors Jock Given and Julian Thomas have given me amazing insights, guidance and support as a scholar and as a professional person, thank you. I’m especially grateful to Joy Chia, Paul Atkinson, Brett Hutchins and Tessa Dwyer for support and feedback throughout the process. I would like to thank Elizabeth Loads for support and motivating me throughout this period. Editor Alexandra Heller-Nicholas provided copyediting and proofreading services according to the university-endorsed national ‘Guidelines for editing research theses’. 3 Some of the preliminary work for this thesis has been published as: Loads, M 2014, ‘Transmedia television drama: Proliferation and promotion of extended stories online’, Media International Australia, vol. 153, no.1, pp.41-52. 4 Declaration The examinable outcome: 1. contains no material which has been accepted for the award to the candidate of any other degree or diploma, except where due reference is made in the text of the examinable outcome; 2. to the best of the candidate’s knowledge contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made in the text of the examinable outcome; and 3. where the work is based on joint research or publications, discloses the relative contributions of the respective workers or authors. Signed: Matthew Loads Date: 22 July 2020 5 Table of Contents Table of Contents Abstract ..................................................................................................................................................... 2 Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................................... 3 Declaration ................................................................................................................................... 5 Table of Contents ........................................................................................................................... 6 List of Figures and Tables ............................................................................................................... 8 Chapter One: Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 9 Defining Webisodes ..................................................................................................................... 13 Text Selection: Why These Webisodes? ........................................................................................ 28 Chapter Two: Critically Approaching Webisodes ................................................................................... 31 Levine’s Method .......................................................................................................................... 31 Transmedia and Webisodes ......................................................................................................... 36 Beyond Network Television: Netflix, YouTube and Webisode Production ....................................... 40 The Structure of this Thesis .......................................................................................................... 48 Chapter three: Danger-5: The Diamond Girls chasing Italian Spiderman .............................................. 53 Danger-5: Chasing the Youth Demographic Through Offbeat Comedy ........................................... 57 Production Constraints................................................................................................................. 60 The Production Environment ........................................................................................................ 64 Production Routine and Practices ................................................................................................. 66 Production of Character and Story ................................................................................................ 67 The Audience in Production .......................................................................................................... 70 Discussion and Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 73 Chapter four: Offspring: A Flagship Show With Fledgling Ancillary Texts .............................................. 77 Network Ten: An Innovative Latecomer ........................................................................................ 79 Network Ten and Drama .............................................................................................................. 80 Production Constraints................................................................................................................. 83 Production Environment .............................................................................................................. 86 Production Routine and Practices ................................................................................................. 88 Production of Character and Stories ............................................................................................. 91 The Audience in Production .......................................................................................................... 94 Discussion and Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 99 Chapter five: Nowhere Boys – ABCME, Matchbox Pictures, and Webisode Audience Engagement ... 102 Matchbox Pictures: Television for Global and Local Markets. ...................................................... 111 6 Production Constraints............................................................................................................... 116 Production Environment ............................................................................................................ 120 Production Routines and Practices ............................................................................................. 122 Production of Story .................................................................................................................... 123 Audience in Production .............................................................................................................. 125 Discussion and Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 126 Chapter 6: Secrets & Lies: Working Globally, Thinking Locally ............................................................. 130 Production