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Gender Inequality in Screenwriting Work pp 17–52Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Gendering the Screenwriter

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Abstract

This chapter examines the way that women are limited in their ability to even take up the subject position of screenwriter. Looking at the way screenwriting is discursively positioned reveals perceptions and expectations about the role that will be explored in more detail in subsequent chapters. Recurring in the talk of film workers is a belief in special creative individuals and meritocracy, the combination of which ensures that the status quo is upheld. Contradictory discourses around creative collaboration and homophily are also ubiquitous but curiously less hegemonic. Analysing the discursive work being done in the talk of film workers reveals that some discourses on screenwriting work are more readily acknowledged than others. To explain this, progress narratives that insist ‘things are getting better’ are unpacked to show how talk actually upholds gender inequality.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Joanne Rowling is the author of the hugely successful ‘Harry Potter’ novels (Rowling, J. K. 1997. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, London, Bloomsbury).

  2. 2.

    Diablo Cody is the screenwriter of films including Juno and Young Adult (both directed by Jason Reitman 2007 and 2011, respectively).

  3. 3.

    Fish Tank is a multiple-award-winning, low-budget, coming-of-age story written and directed by British filmmaker Andrea Arnold (2009).

  4. 4.

    Danny Boyle is the director of films such as Trainspotting (1996), Slumdog Millionaire (2008), and 28 Days Later (2002).

  5. 5.

    Frank Cotterall Boyce is the screenwriter of films such as Welcome to Sarajevo (1997) and The Claim (2000, both directed by Michael Winterbottom), and Hilary and Jackie (directed by Anand Tucker 1998). He worked with Danny Boyle on Millions (2004) and the London 2012 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony.

  6. 6.

    David O. Russell is an American writer-director. His films include American Hustle (2013), Silver Lining’s Playbook (2012), and Joy (2015).

  7. 7.

    St Paul’s Girls School is an independent school in West London. Fees are currently between £7000 and £9000 per term. Their website is www.spgs.org

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Southampton, Southampton, UK

    Natalie Wreyford

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  1. Natalie Wreyford
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Wreyford, N. (2018). Gendering the Screenwriter. In: Gender Inequality in Screenwriting Work. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-95732-6_2

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