Saying what must not be said: Exploring communication in the script development process

Bevan-Mogg, Wendy

Abstract

The script development process relies on a series of formal and informal conversations between financiers, producers, writers and other key industry players. Ostensibly, the goal of these conversations is simply to create the best films possible. However, there are often other elements at work, with politics, finances, reputations and ego all playing their part. Dialogue can become complex and multi-levelled as participants learn how best to deal with the personalities involved, and hierarchies, motives and alliances are established. Script editors must often ‘translate’ notes to and from writers; producers protect important relationships; and long script development meetings rely as much on what is not said as what is. As such, the direction of a project’s development can be influenced by elements that are rarely recorded, not least in a manner that would make them accessible to the scholar. This chapter explores the relationship between the spoken and unspoken conversations at the heart of script development, and examines how far an academic analysis of script development is possible when such important elements of the process must be navigated but may never be minuted. Is it ever possible to create a ‘true’ record of the evolution of a script? How far might two records of the same process differ, and why? Using case studies from recently developed British feature films, together with interviews with script editors, writers, producers and financiers from the UK film industry, this chapter considers the complexity of communication within the development process, methods of recording this within contemporary practice, and the challenges faced by scholars of this subject.

• Online Publication Date: Jan 5, 2022
• Publication Date: Jan 5, 2022
• Deposit Date: Feb 21, 2024
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Pages: 87-101
• Book Title: The Palgrave Handbook of Script Development
• Chapter Number: 6
• ISBN: 9783030822330
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-82234-7
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/11734951
• Publisher URL: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-82234-7
• Contract Date: Jan 1, 2021