Steven Maras

Extending Conversations about the Script: The Discursive Construction of Screenwriting in Film Reviewing

The University of Western Australia

One of the areas in which conversations of the script take place is in reviewing. But there has been little analysis of the inter-relations between screenwriting and reviewing practice. Building on preliminary research discussed at the SRN conference in Milan in 2018, in this paper I report on my completed research project looking at a well known Australian film reviewing program At The Movies. Using content analysis I focus specifically on the discursive construction of screenwriting in the program, use of terms such as screenwriting, screenplay and the script, and also terms such as plot, dialogue, and character. I identify a specific engagement with screenwriting in the reviews, focused not on maintaining any specific screenwriting doxa but focused on the ‘well-made’ screenplay.

Steven Maras is Associate Professor of Media and Communication at the University of Western Australia. He is author of Screenwriting: History, Theory and Practice (Wallflower, 2009) and editor of Ethics in Screenwriting: New Perspectives (Palgrave, 2016). He also co-edits the Palgrave Studies in Screenwriting book series. His most recent publication is Selective Affinities: At the Movies, Film Reviewing and Screenwriting (Intellect, 2024).