M. Sylvi Jane Husebye

The screenwriter as auteur. Nora Ephron´s Heartbreak

Independent, Norway

The following questions are relevant and urgent to understanding the work of a screenwriter: Can a screenwriter be an auteur? How to measure the screenwriter’s input to the finished film? How to compare moving images to written text? And can a screenplay be studied as an independent text?

Claudia Sternberg in her article in Journal of Screenwriting (2014) looks back on the development of academic studies of screenplays since her book Written for the Screen: The American Motion-Picture Screenplay as Text (1997). Her conclusion is that this academic field has not developed so much as was hoped for.

Searching the academic field for new developments since her article, I find that my master thesis The Screenwriter As Auteur: Assessing The Writer´s Contribution in Contemporary Hollywood. Nora Ephron´s Heartburn, When Harry Met Sally and You´ve Got Mail (2004) in Film Studies at Chapman University, CA, still may inform the ongoing discussions within the field of the screenwriter´s contribution.

In my master thesis I draw upon Sternberg´s studies, the narratology of David Bordwell and Gérard Genette, plus thematic analysis and auteur theory, in studying screenplays and the screenwriter’s contribution to the finished film. I present a case study of screenwriter Nora Ephron’s contribution to the films mentioned. Through analysis of the original screenplays, and by comparing it to the finished films, I measure the screenwriter’s contribution and conclude that Ephron may be named auteur.

For the SNR conference in 2024, I propose a paper based on my article in Edda (2008) where I analyze Ephron´s contribution to the film Heartburn.

Marianne Sylvi Jane Husebye, born 1965. Master of Management (Norwegian school of business, Oslo, Norway, 1989). Project under the Norwegian screenplay development funding arrangement (2001-2002). Master of Arts in Film studies (Chapman University, CA, 2004).

I always had the urge to write. At Chapman I included creative screenwriting classes when graduating in the theoretical studies. When returning to Norway it was not easy to find a relevant job in the film industry or academia. I took ordinary daytime jobs and kept writing. It is often easier to write and publish books rather than write a screenplay and have it made. I have written 11 books.

I have kept an eye on the screenwriting research field. I find that my work still may inform the discussions. I have started to work towards a PhD based on my master thesis topic. I am not connected to any university yet.