Ethics in Screenwriting

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xxv

   PDF

2. Ethics Beyond the Code

   • Steven Maras

   Pages 1-29

3. Writers and Production Environments

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 31-31

      PDF

   2. The Concept of ‘Double Storytelling’ in Danish Public Service TV Drama Production

      • Eva Novrup Redvall

      Pages 33-54

   3. Ethics, Style and Story in Indigenous Screenwriting: Warwick Thornton in Interview

      • Steven Maras

      Pages 55-76

   4. On Morals, Ethics and Screenwriting: An Interview with Jimmy McGovern

      • Steven Maras

      Pages 77-95

4. Actuality and History

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 97-97

      PDF

   2. ANZAC Girls: An Ethical Auto-analysis

      • Felicity Packard, Ben Stubbs

      Pages 99-123

   3. The Ethics of Actuality in the Scripting of Enrique Rosas’s The Gray Automobile

      • María Teresa DePaoli

      Pages 125-145

   4. Blurring Boundaries, Transmedia Storytelling and the Ethics of C. S. Peirce

      • Renira Rampazzo Gambarato, Alessandro Nanì

      Pages 147-175

5. Character and Narrative

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 177-177

      PDF

   2. Doubled Ethics and Narrative Progression in The Wire

      • Jeff Rush

      Pages 179-196

   3. Writing from the Mouth of Shadows: Creativity as Ethics in the Screenwriting of Jean-Claude Carrière

      • Felipe Pruneda Sentíes

      Pages 197-216

   4. Screenwriting as Dialogic Ethics After Animal Kingdom

      • Steven Maras

      Pages 217-230

   5. Ethics, Representations and Judgement

      • Steven Maras

      Pages 231-257

6. Back Matter

   Pages 259-263

   PDF

Ethics in Screenwriting: New Perspectives is a book that breaks new ground by forging a link between screenwriting research and a burgeoning interest in film, media, and narrative ethics. Going beyond the orthodox discussion of morality of film and television, the collection focuses on ethics in screenwriting. Building on a new wave of screenwriting research, as well as a ‘turn to ethics’ in humanities and media studies scholarship, this title forms a bridge between these areas in a unique analysis of a key area of media practice. Each essay goes beyond the general discussion of ethics and media to engage with specific aspects of screenwriting or scripting. Written for readers interested in questions of ethics as well as screenwriting, the collection offers new perspectives on ethical questions associated with Writers and their Production Environment; Actuality and History; and Character and Narrative.

• responsibility
• morality
• judgment
• values
• ethical
• ethics
• screenwriting
• writing

“What are the ethical questions involved in screenwriting? Steven Maras and a range of expert contributors explore diverse ways in which ethical issues become focused through characterisation, narrative, representations of history, and screenwriting’s unavoidable engagement with social, professional and philosophical practices. Featuring ground-breaking interviews, studies of fiction and nonfiction films, long-form television series, and transmedia narratives from many different countries and industries, this major collection takes the study of screenwriting into new and challenging areas, and will appeal to researchers and practitioners alike.” (Steven Price, Bangor University, UK)

“Screenwriting is fundamentally about ethics, because it is about making choices in social situations. Maras and his colleagues are the first to seriously research this connection, opening up a whole new territory for exploration.” (Ian W. Macdonald, University of Leeds, UK)

“A compelling and original contribution to the field. Maras’ book offers an insightful and thought-provoking study of scriptwriting and screenplay studies.” (Miranda Banks, Emerson College, Boston, MA)

• Media and Communication, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, Australia

  Steven Maras

Steven Maras is an Associate Professor in Media and Communication at the University of Western Australia. He is the author of Screenwriting: History, Theory, and Practice (2009) and also of Objectivity in Journalism (2013).

Policies and ethics