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Journal of Screenwriting - Current Issue

Volume 16, Issue 2

Volume 16, Issue 2, 2025

  • Articles

      • Stories we sell: Intellectual property, ownership and the impact on Canadian screenwriters

        https://doi.org/10.1386/josc_00176_1

        This article explores the shifting role of screenwriters, highlighting the increasing complexity and volume of work in modern scripted television production and interrogating why screenwriters do not participate in the creative and financial ownership of their projects. Rather than protecting artists, this article argues that copyright law, along with the ‘industry standard’ ownership structure, favours the profit-motive and disadvantages screenwriters. Specifically, this analysis is framed in an English–Canadian context amidst historic media policy reform that attempts to regulate foreign-owned streaming services and challenges how Canadian content is defined. By focusing on screenwriters, both historically and today, this article brings an under-represented perspective to light and captures the precarity of the screenwriting profession in Canada, a struggle that is mirrored in other international territories.

    • From novel to screenplay: The rewriting of (2017) by Fernanda Melchor into the screenplay by Elisa Miller (2022)

      https://doi.org/10.1386/josc_00175_1

      In this study, I aim to explore the strategies employed by Elisa Miller in rewriting the novel (2017) by Fernanda Melchor into her screenplay of the same name (2022, draft 6.2). Strategies include the reassignment of dialogue between different characters in the novel or between the same character at different times in the story; the assignment of narratees not necessarily designated in the novel; the development or creation of characters that did not exist in the novel; the organization of the time of the story through indications in slug lines; and the replacement of the channels through which certain messages are presented, among others. It is concluded that the rewriting of draws on a variety of strategies that synthesize and reorganize the source text, in accordance with the language of cinematic writing, but which also allow reappropriation through the expression of the screenwriter’s interpretation of the novel. It is not merely about translating the novel into another medium or exposing it to a different audience but rather about reinterpreting and even modifying it from the perspective of the adapter.

    • Crafting characters: Screenplay archives from a star-studies perspective (, Claude Autant-Lara, 1958)

      https://doi.org/10.1386/josc_00167_1

      This article aims to demonstrate the value of applying a approach to the examination of screenplay archives. This methodological framework is illustrated through a case study of the documents from the collection deposited by director Claude Autant-Lara at the Swiss National Film Archive that relate to the genesis of the film (1958). This film is notable for its cast, which includes two leading stars: Jean Gabin, an established actor associated with classical cinema for over two decades, and Brigitte Bardot, a rising icon of the French New Wave. The study reveals how the multiple screenplay variants for this adaptation of a Simenon novel, successively drafted by Autant-Lara, Jean Aurenche and Pierre Bost, were partly shaped by the involvement of these two stars, whose participation was planned from the project’s inception. Examining specific choices among the many possibilities envisioned highlights the significance of considering screenplays within a socio-historical perspective. This analysis draws on a rich collection of documents including, for example, scattered notes written day by day by the filmmaker, or letters exchanged between him and his producer, who insisted that the romance between the characters played by the two stars take centre stage.

  • Report

      • Artificial intelligence use in screenwriting programmes in US and UK higher education: An exploratory research report

        https://doi.org/10.1386/josc_00178_7

        This exploratory report examines how college and university screenwriting programmes in the United States and the United Kingdom are currently responding to the rapid emergence and availability of generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools and the associated challenges and concerns they identify. Based on a survey of 24 US institutions, including eight of the top ten ranked programmes, and six UK institutions, the findings indicate a cautious and uneven integration of AI into curricula, with UK programmes exhibiting comparatively greater openness to experimentation. The findings raise questions about how screenwriting pedagogy can adapt to the technological change and prepare students for an evolving industry while preserving students’ creative voices, respecting ethical authorship, and promoting the traditional principles of effective storytelling. The study offers a preliminary baseline of current practices and challenges, emphasizing the need for ethical frameworks and adaptive educational strategies. It also assists in understanding the evolving relationship between AI and screenwriting education and suggests that future research take into account the perspectives of both screenwriting students and screenwriting professionals.

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