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Putting the spotlight on screenwriters

Lookup NU author(s): Dr Sarah Leahy

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).

Abstract

© 2023 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. French screenwriters’ precarity has been highlighted in a number of different ways in recent years, not least by their efforts to organise and publicise professional abuses. This article will consider the situation of writers and how these are often framed in relation to a cinematic culture rooted in what Jonathan Buchsbaum calls ‘a certain idea of film [as] the art form of the twentieth century’, an idea that engages with debates on quality as well as authorship. As will emerge, this is also an idea of cinema that many of the screenwriters in question contribute to and defend, even if its emphasis on the director-auteur has implications for their own position and visibility. The article will then turn to recent efforts on the part of French screenwriters working in different sectors of audio-visual and cinematic production to stand up against precarious employment conditions, inadequate remuneration, and what they have described as a systematic downplaying of their role and their work, which have successfully attracted attention from the media but also from professional bodies, notably the CNC.

Publication metadata

Author(s): Leahy S

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: French Screen Studies

Year: 2023

Pages: Epub ahead of print

Online publication date: 30/08/2023

Acceptance date: 02/04/2018

Date deposited: 13/09/2023

ISSN (print): 2643-8941

ISSN (electronic): 2643-895X

Publisher: Routledge

URL: https://doi.org/10.1080/26438941.2023.2242198

DOI: 10.1080/26438941.2023.2242198

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