Screenwriting as Creative Labour: Pedagogies, Practices and Livelihoods in the New Cultural Economy Bridget Elizabeth Conor Goldsmiths College, University of London Submitted for the degree of PhD in Media and Communication Studies Declaration I, ............................................................................................................. declare that the work presented in this thesis is my own. Signed: ................................................................................................................................. 1 Acknowledgements I would like to begin my acknowledging the input and support of all my interviewees and collaborators on this project. They all gave generously of both their time and their experiences, sharing stories of their working lives as writers and teachers, offering critical insights into their professions, provoking me to think more deeply about screenwriting as creative and craft practice. I am deeply indebted to all of them for working with me and the integrity of this project comes from the integrity, dedication and talent of all these people who contributed so much to it. Thank you to you all. I would like to sincerely thank my supervisor, Professor Angela McRobbie, for her tireless support and guidance during the research and writing of this thesis. As a pioneering figure in the fields of both creative labour theory and feminist research, she has been a constant source of inspiration, provoking me to seek out new ideas and angles, allowing me intellectual independence, serving as mentor and critic. I am immensely grateful to her. I would also like to acknowledge the support of my second supervisor Dr Kay Dickinson, who provided advice and valuable insights whenever I needed them. Kay was also instrumental in supporting me as a pedagogue as well as a doctoral student at Goldsmiths and the confidence she has shown in me has been very gratifying. Other members of the Goldsmiths College staff offered their time and support, have sparked ideas and have shared their thoughts. A particular thanks to Dr Julian Henriques, Dr Marianne Franklin and Zehra Ahrabadji. Thanks also to my fellow doctoral students with whom I have worked, talked and shared the ups and downs. I would also like to sincerely thank the members of the Screenwriting Research Network who encouraged, challenged and inspired - it has been a pleasure to be a part of a growing community of screenwriting-based scholarship and practice. My proofreaders, Sophie, Natasha and Helen, all gave their time to read my work and I express my deepest thanks to you all. Thank you to all my dear friends in Auckland, London and beyond who have carried me throughout this process - without you I’d be lost. In particular, thank you to my musketeers and bests, to Rachel for intellectual inspiration, to Sophie and Anna for daily support near the drinks trolley. Finally, undertaking this course of study would not have been conceivable or possible without the support and love of my family. Thank you to my dear grandmother, Mary, and thanks to the OzCons. Thank you to Lindsay, Jeremy, Hannah and Joe for their generosity, kindness and awesomeness in every way. Thank you to my sister, fembot hero and idol, Sally. And thank you to my parents (bricks of the highest order), Helen and Patrick, to whom I dedicate this thesis, with love. 2 Abstract This thesis analyses screenwriting as an exemplary and idiosyncratic form of creative labour in the ‘new cultural economy’ and specifically, in the contemporary UK screen production industry. Using a critical sociological framework combined with a neo-Foucauldian understanding of work and subjectivity, a series of explicit analytical connections are made in this project, between screenwriting, creative labour and the new cultural economy. I contend that screenwriting, as a form of creative labour which in many ways eschews the term ‘creative’, is an instructive, timely case study precisely because it agitates traditional dichotomies - between creativity and craft, art and commerce, individual and collaborative work - in pedagogy and practice. After tracing the dynamics of this form of creative work in theoretical, discursive and historical terms, I then analyse how screenwriting is constructed, taught and practiced as labour in three areas: ‘How-to’ screenwriting manuals, pedagogical locations for screenwriting in the UK and British screenwriters’ working lives. At each site, I focus on how craft and creativity are defined and experienced, how individual and collective forms of work are enacted at different locations and what implications these shifting designations have. Screenwriting within the mainstream Hollywood and British film industries in the contemporary moment demands particular and complex forms of worker subjectivity in order to distinguish it from other forms of filmmaking and writing, and to make the work knowable and do-able. I follow the voices of screenwriters and those who teach and instruct about screenwriting across the fieldwork sites and analyse the ways in which they calculate, navigate and make sense of the screen production labour market in which they are immersed. The theatrical, mythic and practical navigations of screenwriters in pedagogy and practice that are the centre of this thesis offer an antidote to impoverished, economistic readings of creativity, craft and creative labour in contemporary worlds of work. 3 Table of Contents Introduction - Screenwriting as Creative Labour: Pedagogies, Practices and Livelihoods in the New Cultural Economy 7 Chapter One - Theorising screenwriting as creative labour 13 Labouring in late capitalism 15 The ‘postmodernisation’ of production 15 Autonomist Marxism and Immaterial Labour 17 Critiquing ‘liberal-democratic’ and Autonomist Marxist theories of the ‘information society’ 20 Theories of work and subjectivity 22 Theorising ‘creative labour’ 25 Problematising the term ‘creative’ 27 Empirical investigations of creative work 29 The standard creative labour vocabulary 33 Conceptualising screenwriting as creative labour 39 Cinematic authorship 45 Theories of cinematic authorship and liminal designations of the screenwriter 46 Auteur theory and authorship 49 A note on the evolution of ‘Hollywood’ 53 Theoretical and empirical research on screenwriting 56 Chapter Two - Making screenwriting labour intelligible: The phenomenon of the Hollywood screenwriter and the dynamics of contemporary screenwriting labour 60 Introduction 60 Early histories – defining screenwriting work and workers 63 The studio era and the degradation of screenwriting work 72 Contemporary labour relations in Hollywood 78 Modalities of labour for the screenwriter today - Hollywood to London 86 Chapter Three - Research methods: Screenwriting as pedagogy and practice 94 Introduction 94 Qualitative interviews as research tools 95 4 Cultural studies and the challenges of postmodern ethnographies 99 Feminist Voices 105 The co-production of knowledge and complexity studies 108 Methodologies within creative labour research 111 Chapter Four - Gurus and Oscar-Winners: Teaching screenwriting labour in ‘How-to’ manuals 117 Introduction 117 ‘How-to’ manuals as ‘psy-technologies’ and zones of intelligibility 120 Genre and industry 122 Contemporary ‘How-To’ manuals 125 Addressing the screenwriter as individual worker - rigidity of screenplay form and concrete ‘knowable’ practices 126 Disciplinary techniques and screenwriting process for individual writers 132 Rewriting and collaboration as disciplinary techniques 134 Entrepreneurial discourse 138 Interview texts as manuals 141 Accounts of the screenwriting career - labour and discipline 141 (Mysterious) creativity and (concrete) craft 145 Commentary on collaboration 149 Conclusion: The disinvestment of screenwriting selves 152 Chapter 5 - Pedagogical locations for screenwriting: Teaching screenwriting labour from the Masters course to the development company 155 Introduction 155 Early pedagogies and pedagogues 157 Locating pedagogical frameworks for screenwriting in the UK 161 The Masters Course 162 Flashback: An MA screenwriting workshop/seminar 169 Calculating pedagogical careers 171 Skillset MA course assessment 173 Flashback: Skillset MA course assessment process 176 Skillset as discursive lightning rod 178 5 The ‘Creative Training’ process 180 Flashback: ‘Creative Training’ Masterclass 182 External assessment of ‘Creative Training’ 186 The Script Development Company 189 Flashback: In the shadow of a Hollywood studio 190 Conclusion: Creativity and Insecurity within Pedagogical Frameworks 195 Chapter Six - Calculation and Navigation: Screenwriting careers and livelihoods in London 199 Introduction 199 Screenwriting career trajectories - multiplicity and vocation 201 Individual navigations 203 Act One, Scene One: The appeals and comforts of screenwriting for the individual 204 Act One, Scene Two: Getting work and keeping work 206 Act One, Scene Three: Disinvestment and pride in the work 210 Collective Calculations 213 Act Two, Scene One: Yes, yes yes 214 Flashback: Theatrical collaboration 216 Act Two, Scene Two: Development ‘off the rails’ 219 Act Two, Scene Three: Creative collaboration 222 Screenwriting personae in anxious times 226 Act Three, Scene One: Dire industrial straits 226 Act Three, Scene Two: Screenwriting Personae 229 Conclusion 230 Conclusion - Screenwriting as Creative Labour: Pedagogies, Practices and Livelihoods in the New Cultural Economy 232 Bibliography 239 Appendix One: Fieldwork Summary 260 Appendix Two: