Written Into the Picture - Investigating Screenwriters’ Lack of Visibility at Film Festivals

This report was commissioned to investigate the role of screenwriters at film festivals, to find evidence of how visible screenwriters and screenwriting are at festivals around the world today.

This undertaking stems from the 2009 World Conference of Screenwriters in Athens where it was resolved that the vital contribution of screenwriters needs to be more fully acknowledged both within the film industry and in the public arena at large. Built on a smaller survey undertaken in 2010 this research aimed to have a larger reach, incorporating statistics and opinions from global film festivals and the experiences of screenwriters, as a first step to better understanding the position of writing within film.

Problems with recognition for writers at film festivals had been highlighted by screenwriters to their Guilds, the research was intended to investigate these concerns, but also to uncover and celebrate best practice at film festivals and most importantly to build an accurate and unbiased picture of how screenwriting is presented in the festival environment. This report was also a chance to understand more deeply, through qualitative interviews, what forces shaped film festivals decisions about inviting and crediting screenwriters and what broader questions and topics this posed.

Themes to be studied in this report were: the invitation of screenwriters to festivals, the crediting of screenwriters in film festival marketing and publicity materials, how screenwriters were involved in film festival events, the celebration of screenwriting at film festivals through awards and retrospectives and whether screenwriters’ critical perspectives were involved in festival juries. The data gathered has enabled comparisons to be made between festivals in North America and Europe, to look at the behaviour of larger film festivals as well as those who share a mission to educate audiences. In turn the experiences of screenwriters have been collected to add another dimension to the picture painted.

Conclusions and recommendations from this research form the final part of this report.

* Researched and written by Cathy John

Read the full report available at: http://www.scenaristes.org