Rethinking screenwriting credits and the unproduced screenplay: Innovative approaches to accreditation using the script reading as an output

Abstract

This article explores the definition of what constitutes a ‘produced’ screenplay and how it relates to the screenwriter and their accreditation for their work by industry standard definitions. The article challenges the industry-accepted norm that a screenwriter’s work is recognized after the script has been translated to the screen and argues instead that, in line with other media and craft forms, the screenplay and the author can achieve recognition through other forms of showcase. Through comparisons with industry examples, we assert that the script reading is, in and of itself, a valid production and can serve as a means of allowing writers to achieve accreditation for their work as writers, without relying on union conventions that privilege the screen work over other forms to allow writers to receive accreditation for their writing. To explore this, the article uses two case studies, The Script Department, a virtual screenwriting studio that uses podcasting to produce script reading dramatizations, and one of their most successful productions, The Clearing, written by Belinda Lees. The Script Department’s success in attracting mainstream industry interest, as well as the success of Lees’s screenwriting on the platform, demonstrates that a reliance on a single mode of production (i.e. film or television) as a means of evaluating a writer’s credentials is no longer definitive and that the script reading as a performative exercise can be both a form of showcase and of benefit to the writer looking to improve their craft.