CFP – 17th Annual SRN Conference – Adelaide, Australia

The University of South Australia is pleased to announce a combined Screenwriting Research Network conference (SRN 2025), and Sightlines: Filmmaking in the Academy festival, to be held 17-20 September 2025 in Adelaide, Australia. As an innovation, SRN2025 is being held together with:https://www.aspera.org.au/sightlines-conference

Since 2006 the Screenwriting Research Network has hosted an annual conference to explore innovative approaches and exciting research into the history, theory, practice and teaching of screenwriting. This conference has travelled the world. Meanwhile, since 2014, Sightlines: Filmmaking in the Academy, a symposium/festival, has provided a forum to showcase and discuss screen-based ‘non-traditional’ research outputs. In 2024 we bring these two important communities and events together to explore crossovers and connections between theory, practice and education.

The theme for the conference-festival is Hyphen. The between. The connected. The hybrid. What does the hyphen mean to you? What does it mean for practice? How does it appear in industry? What are the theoretical implications? From the practitioner-academic to the writer-director, to the creative-critical, to the teaching-research nexus, to documentary-drama, to the anti-hero, to the non-representational, we are interested in creative, critical and hybrid responses to the theme hyphen.

In this conference-festival we are keen to embrace a range of submissions that reflect the outputs of scholars, reflective practitioners, and creative-practice researchers interested in screenwriting and screen production research, and showcase the full range of screenwriting and screen production that occurs within and between the higher education sector and industry, and across a breadth of platforms and methodologies.

We welcome submissions for in-person presentations in the following formats:

  • 20-minute papers:

Presentations can include exhibition of screen production research in-progress or discussion of screenplay works.

  • Pre-constituted panels:

Panels can include exhibition of screen production research in-progress or discussion of screenplay works.

  • Exhibition of creative screen production works:

Screen production outputs to be accompanied by a short practitioner introduction and/or post-screening talk.

  • Table read/performance of screenplays:

A screenplay or screenplay excerpt to be read/performed, accompanied by a short practitioner introduction.

 Submission guidelines:

For Panelsplease include a 100-word outline of the panel topic or theme under discussion.

For Panels and Papers please send a 300-word abstract outlining each paper, 4-6 keywords, and the name and affiliation of each presenter/panellist. References are optional (maximum five). If you are citing sources, please use APA style. Please also include a short biography (100 words maximum) for each presenter/panellist.

For Exhibition of Screen Production Works, please submit a preview/excerpt of your completed creative work via online link.

For Table Read/Performance of screenplays, please submit a PDF.

For all screen works and scripts, please attach the accompanying information:

  • Title
  • Name of presenter and other relevant key creative contributors
  • Medium/format
  • Running time
  • A 300-word research statement that contextualises the work. This may be a statement that explicates the background, significance and contribution of the work. The statement should provide an understanding of the context of the work, the community of practice in which you are operating, any research question/s your work seeks to address, how the importance of the work can be understood, and/or how the impact of the work might be measured.
  • Please also include a short biography of the presenter (100 words maximum).

Deadline:

Please send your proposals (and any queries) to srn.sightlines2025@gmail.com by Friday 14 February 2025. Please await confirmation that your proposal has been received.

Conference organisers: Craig Batty, Michael Bentham, Carina Boehm, Sandy Cameron, Kath Dooley and Kim Munro.

Please note that a separate call for creative works to be featured in a future issue of Sightlines: Filmmaking in the Academy journal will follow the conference-festival.

SRN Executive Minutes – October 2024

EC MONTHLY MEETING MINUTES

 

Date: Monday 21st October 2024

 

 

In attendance:  Rosanne Welch (RW), Jan Cernik (JC), Isadora Garcia Avis (IGA), Juan Carlos Carillo (JCC), Lucien Georgescu (LG), Clarissa Miranda (CM), Romana Turina (RT), Hugo Armando Arciniegas, ERC (HA). Also in attendance, non-EC member Marius (DP responsible for recording SRN 2024).

 

  1. Apologies (N/A)

 

  1. Approval of Minutes of previous meeting (September, in person at SRN 2024).

(September AGM to post to YouTube Channel). Also attached History of SRN for EC members to read.

RW approves/ LG seconds.

 

Also as Election update – Fully Welcome Clarissa, Romana, and Juan Carlos. Discuss changeover of responsibilities:  Decisions during SRN2024 = Rosanne/Vice Chair,  Isadora/Secretary, Juan Carlos/Membership, Jan/Newsletter, Clarissa/Website Coordinator. Per Constitution shall we name a Treasurer?

 

  1. Update on documentary about SRN2024.

 

LG – The first version of the video will be ready very soon, along with a teaser/trailer. Paolo Russo and Armando Fumagalli provided lots of pictures and materials from their respective conferences, which will be integrated into the video. LG and Marius conducted 8 interviews with previous conference organisers, and 6 of them were very long, so they have a lot of material to work with. More material than LC and Marius expected, so they need more time to edit everything.

 

RW – No need to apologize! This is volunteer work, and editing takes a lot of time.

 

LG – Hopefully by next meeting they will have a more complete version. For now, they will show the EC a brief teaser.

[Marius shares his screen and plays a draft version of the teaser.] In spite of some technical problems with the Internet connection, the teaser looks really good!

 

LG – Will send a low-resolution version of the teaser to all members of the EC via e-mail, so that we can see it better. For next meeting, LG plans to have a list of deliverables and schedule regarding the documentary.

 

  1. Future SRN Conferences

 

RW – In the next few months we need to decide the upcoming conferences, from 2028 onwards. For now, the ones that have been fully confirmed are:

  • 2025 – University of South Australia (org. Craig Batty)
  • 2026 – Oxford Brookes University (org. Paolo Russo)

 

RW – Potential upcoming bids: Milan, Mexico City, Bucharest.

 

JCC – It would be Mexico City, at Universidad Panamericana. We also need to consider if conferences should alternate between Europe and North America every other year.

 

LG – Rector of LG’s institution in Bucharest (Universitatea Nationala de Arta Teatrala si Cinematografica “Ion Luca Caragiale” din București) is very enthusiastic about hosting an SRN conference. However, he is in his second mandate, and while he supports the project, by 2028 there might be a different rector, which might make it more difficult.

 

RW – We need to check with Armando Fumagalli, to see if he is tied to 2027. Maybe he can do it later, since Milan has hosted before?

 

LG – Maybe we can consider two universities as organisers. Bucharest + Milan. Not two venues. Just one venue, but two universities organising the conference. We would have to talk to Armando and see if this is possible.

 

IGA –  We also have a bid from the University of Navarre in Spain. They might be able to host the   between 2028 and 2030. We would have to check with them.

 

JCC – Mexico can adapt to whatever dates are more suitable for everyone.

 

RW – By the end of the year we should have 2027 and 2028 figured out.

 

CM is waiting for a final answer from her university regarding a potential conference in Brazil, in the city of Florianópolis, at Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina. Hopefully we will have an answer by next month.

 

JC has realised, after hosting SRN 2024, that money is not a problem to organise a conference. Even with a limited budget, it can be done just with conference fees. If you have extra funding, you can get more prestigious keynotes etc, but the basics can be covered by conference fees. Also, post-SRN2024 Update –150 participants/30 countries/31 panels/budget in the green/Erasmus participation helped.

 

RW agrees. It’s not about money, it’s about having lots of volunteers, students helping out.

 

JC – Because of inflation, in future years we might consider higher conference fees.

 

  1. Dates for upcoming meetings

 

RW – We will keep meeting on the third Monday of each month, at the same time (7:00 am in LA). Each person will have to consider DayLight Time Savings.

 

IGA – To confirm for the minutes: Next meeting will be on Monday, Nov. 18th. We are skipping the one in December, because of the holidays.

 

  1. New roles within the EC

 

JCC and IG – Re: Membership and Inclusion Officer, the transfer of duties has been made. We are waiting on the e-mail change so that JCC can become the JISCMAIL admin.

 

CM had two long meetings with Rose Ferrell (previous webmaster) to learn everything about the website.

 

RW – Romana (RT) is a member-at-large, but since we need a treasurer, maybe she can become the treasurer, even though we don’t collect any fees. It’s a required role.

 

RT- I will help in any way that I can.

 

RW – We also need a member to liaison with working groups via the working groups leaders. Maybe this can be Romana as well?

 

RT accepts this role.

 

RW – Therefore, Romana will be both Treasurer and Working Group Liaison.

 

JC – We need a native speaker to review and proofread the newsletter, now that Rose is no longer a member of the EC.

 

RW – I have realized that we now have more people in the EC with Spanish as a first language instead of English… The SRN is truly international!

 

RW – We also need to consider who will be the next Chair. I will be staying for a year as ViceChair, but next year someone else should step up. I will be staying for an additional year to help them out, then I will leave the EC.

 

LG – I can also liaise with the working groups. And I can assist as ViceChair if necessary.

 

RW – Great. Next role would be Social Media. Where are we on Social media, Hugo?

 

LG – Excellent, he is doing excellent!

HA – Clarissa and her friend Bianca gave me great info on how to plan and programme posts on social media. I have been learning how to programme 3 posts a week across all social media, mainly on Instagram and LinkedIn. I’m now learning how to better use Instagram stories. Everything is going well.

 

 

RW – We always try to keep meetings to one hour. Any other topics?

 

JC – As per the agenda, we also needed to discuss the possibility of posting keynote speeches from conferences on the website.

 

RW – Yeah, not to give Clarissa extra work, but that is a wonderful idea.

 

JC – It could be an expandable option on the website menu, where we could upload the speeches and papers (if they have been published).

 

IGA –  Just to confirm this for the minutes, EC members will hold the following roles this year:

 

Vice Chair – RW (until new Chair next September)

Vice Chair – LG

Membership & Inclusion – JCC

Treasurer & Working Group Liaison – RT

Secretary – IGA

Website Coordinator – CM

Newsletter Editor – JC

ECR (Social Media) – HA

 

RW – See you all next month, on November 18th. And remember to read Ian McDonald’s wonderful article on the history of the SRN!