Description
At the end of the 90’s and beginning of the new century a strange strategy in Flemish screenwriting occurred. From a screenplay would be made a movie for the usual theatrical release. At the same time the screenplay would be turned into a three part mini-series for television. This practice existed from the 90’s until at least 2009-10 and ended In 2011 when the Media Fund was established, which meant that film and TV production funding were split up. Up to the 1990’s mostly ‘single’ fiction films were being produced for TV. When private players (VTM) appeared on the market, producing series became more important. (dhoest 78). Initially, aside from soap operas, production companies gambled upon the combination of a cinema film and a longer mini-series, based upon the same screenplay. Films of 120’ typically were recycled as 3 x 50’ mini-series. One of the reasons why I want to discuss these this ‘bastard’ TV mini-series is that they are systemically excluded from research, be it research into identity (Dhoest) or policy and economically oriented studies (Raats).So, my research questions were: are these mini-series cut-up films? Or do they represent the only ‘real’ narrative, the screenwriters’ and director’s cut, as some of the authors claim? Is it simply a question of saving ‘deleted scenes’? Or do these scenes add something to the narrative as a whole? And does the re-introduction of these scenes changes the narrative construction? Are these mini-series simply a clever way to try luring TV broadcasting corporations (be it public or private) into invest in local fiction in a small audio-visual ecosystem? Or are they, considering that some of these films are amongst the most successful Flemish film productions (De zaak alzheimer aka The Memory of a Killer), Dossier K.), just trying to cash in on the success? The latter questions do not interest me as much as the question in how the longer version differs or adds something narratively to the shorter film version. Like: do the screenplays themselves evolve from longer to shorter versions according to their use for the film or the mini-series? Is the three episode option already visible in the script? Does the manipulating of the narrative results in considerable changes in meaning?
| Periode | 12 sep 2018 → 15 sep 2018 |
|---|---|
| Evenementstitel | 11th International Screenwriting Research Network Conference: Writing for film / writing for televison |
| Evenementstype | Conference |
| Locatie | Milano, Italy |
| Mate van erkenning | International |