Rose Ferrell

SRN Executive Minutes – January 2023

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Monday, Jan. 23, 2023

7am Los Angeles =

Rosanne 7am

Anna W, Clarissa 10am

Jan, Isadora 4pm

Rose 11pm

 

Circulation list: Rosanne Welch (RW), Rose Ferrell (RF), Jan Cernik (JC), Isadora Garcia Avis (IGA), Anna Weinstein (AW).  ECR Clarissa Miranda (CM)

 

Guest(s): Working Group leaders: Romana Turina, Maxine Gee

 

  1. Apologies / Take group photo

 

Rose—

 

  1. Approval of Minutes of previous meeting

 

JC approves— IGA seconds—

 

  1. Working Groups

 

Max updates on the practice-based research group. Met twice, looking to meet more regularly. Plan to invite a guest each meeting, someone who has done research to share their practice with the group. Regular ECR check-ins and mid-point online symposium. She clarifies that this wouldn’t be a repeat of the conference, rather a way of involving interested folks mid-year. Max would like to involve more masters students, recruitment to get students involved in this area. Good opportunity for MA students to see the research taking place, what they might want to get involved in. She clarifies that we would likely use online spaces, opening it up to more members and students. CM suggests regular Zoom meetings, table read for the next conference in an evening.

 

Romana shared a video update on the comparative screenwriting teaching working group. The group formed at the 2022 conference in Vienna. Currently 50 members and still growing. Romana hosted several ice-breaker meetings in Nov and Dec ’22 and organized a blog to create visibility re comparative screenwriting teaching. There are five subgroups: character development, teaching methods, non-Anglophone traditions, structure analysis, and different industries. Aims are to offer a series of seminars on a pool of topics so members can collect a bank of data. Online Zoom meetings will be open twice for each meeting so members from different time frames can attend. Meetings are currently established, beginning January through June.

 

  1. Isadora Membership Officer Update

 

IGA talked to Rose and got an explanation about process and how it’s evolved. It’s been a long since the membership form has gone out, so she is considering sending out a new form for members to fill out, the type of research they’re interested in, demographics, etc. This will give us a better idea of how many active members we have. RW says it would be good to get a real tally, creating a new form makes sense. IGA says a Google form on Google drive could be a good option; she will create a draft of the form for the next meeting. CM will promote on FB and other forms of social media. JC asks how many active members. IGA says we don’t have an estimate beyond the people who come to the conferences.

 

  1. Status on Posts to Make to Members: Approve new Call for Hosts to follow 2024 Palacký University in the Czech Republic/ Check in w/judges/ Post about this year’s Awards w/deadlines and judge’s emails.

 

RW put out a call for hosts, she will send it out again. JC asks if we will send out a call in the Feb newsletter. RW will email him the call for the newsletter. IGA asks if any institutions have discussed interest in hosting. RW says Milan and Brazil. She will nudge others as well. IGA says the University of Navarra might be interested as they organize a conference every year and already have funding. They were checking to find out when Media and Film will be in charge of hosting. IGA will remind them.

 

  1. Institutional memory Update: YouTube/Creating password repository (YouTube channel, login required being sent a one-time code to Rafael’s phone number, -change the setting to new Website coordinator’s phone number) / Institutional memory / Creating a Discord site/Support Working Groups more / Updating Social Media with postings of scholarships, residencies, teaching/collaborating opps/ Exiting Twitter?

 

RW updates, Rose is working with Rafael on YouTube. RW has thought about a private Discord site, have to invite members to connect people. RW is looking for smaller meetings to connect people. CM says Instagram could be an option. RW suggests Clarissa look into it as another option.

 

  1.   RF: Record 2-3 SRN Conversations this year to catch up so we can do new ones only a year after a new conference has been held…Revisit at the next meeting.
  2. RF: Website Update– other info of interest to include (make map of the world with numbers in each country showing who is from where/-put the animation on the front of the website or as the first thing when you click “Conferences” tab)Revisit at the next meeting.

 

  1. AW: The Tom Stempel Foundation of Screenwriting Research: Inaugural Lecture at SRN 2023

 

RW confirms that Tom S will give the inaugural Screenwriting Research Lecture. Meg LeFauve will be the invited guest for Sat evening. RW is working on additional keynotes, currently looking for a female scholar. AW said she will send her a short list of names.

 

  1. Adjust Constitution: Reorganizing EC member titles and duties/Update Website / ADD ECR / Adding statement on integrity of members / Proposing EC serves for one year and then joins full EC for the next 2. Then can choose to run for another term. This would ensure quality candidates and continued new leadership.

 

RW says she talked to Paolo and there is a statement re duties. She will look into this more for the next meeting.

 

  1. Other business

 

Anna shares description /criteria for possible Teaching Award. RW suggests also including a five-min video as part of the application. IGA says for some teaching positions people are required to do a “sample lecture” – maybe that is something that we can request in video form as well? RW likes this idea. AW asks how we would evaluate who could be on the committee. IGA suggests this might be a good way to involve longtime SRN members who have extensive teaching experience. RW suggests Ian Macdonald, Jule Selbo, and Jill Nelmes and several members who might be interested.

 

Date of next meeting: Feb 20

SRN Executive Minutes – November 2022

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SRN Executive Council Meeting

(via Zoom)

Monday, Nov. 21, 2022

7am Los Angeles =

Rosanne 7am

Anna W, Clarissa 10am

Jan, Isadora 4pm

Rose 11pm

 

Circulation list: Rosanne Welch (RW), Rose Ferrell (RF), Jan Cernik (JC), Isadora Garcia Avis (IGA), Anna Weinstein (AW).  ECR Clarissa Miranda (CM)

 

  1. Apologies / Take group photo

 

  1. Approval of Minutes of previous meeting

 

JC proposes / CM seconds.

 

  1. Status on officer handovers – web, ECR, Membership Officer, Secretary. Does anyone need any assistance completing the handover?

 

Rose updates on website progress, all going smoothly. Clarissa updates on Facebook site. Clarissa will send Rosanne ideas about posts for FB until she has access. Rosanne makes a call for all of us to email Clarissa with ideas for postings on FB. Rose suggests that one posting per week would be helpful. We can all help come up with ideas.

 

  1. Status on Posts to Make to Members: Call for Papers for SRN 2023 out / Approve new Call for Hosts to follow 2024 Palacký University in the Czech Republic/ Check in w/judges/ Post about this year’s Awards w/deadlines and judge’s emails.

 

Rosanne suggests that she will craft a call for hosts for the conferences beyond 2024.

 

  1. Institutional memory: YouTube/Creating password repository-Institutional memory/Creating a Discord site/Support Working Groups more/ Updating Social Media with postings of scholarships, residencies, teaching/collaborating opps/ Exiting Twitter?Rosanne suggests that we create a calendar for when different working groups should put out calls via the listserve. Jan says he will add any announcements to the newsletter. Rosanne said the web designer at her college is working on the conference website and will have it ready to go live the first week of December.
  2. Working Group: JC: Sharing site for online lectures and encourage international cooperation/Repository of Screenwriting Curricula developed by SRN members (Motion: shall one member of EC join each Working Group as liason?)Rosanne tells about her work with the WGA and making use of a liason so people know who to contact for more information. Suggests a liason on the EC who can be the liason to the working group. Rosanne will be the liason for Romana’s group, and Anna will be the liason to Max’s group.Rose suggests a new role for a Working Group Coordinator because it will give us more immediate interaction with working groups. Jan suggests that we invite Romana and Max to attend some of the EC meetings. This suggesting moves forward and Rosanne will invite Romana and Max to attend next meeting.

 

  1. RF: Record 2-3 SRN Conversations this year to catch up so we can do new ones only a year after a new conference has been held…Rose says it’s relatively easy to coordinate. She has three SRN members in mind and plans to send out invitations in mid-January.

 

  1. RW: Website brainstorm – other info of interest to include (Add info on where members come from to the About section of the website/make map of the world with numbers in each country showing who is from where/-put the animation on the front of the website or as the first thing when you click “Conferences” tab

Rose suggests a scrolling ‘Welcome All (different countries)’ banner. She doesn’t have the capacity to learn the software at this time but will reach out to Paolo. Anna suggests an email to the SRN members to ask

 

  1. AW: Teaching Award Research / Lifetime achievment award to Tom Stempel at SRN 2023Anna presented idea for the teaching award. Rose suggested it might overburden the EC and we’re not familiar enough with our colleagues’ teaching to fairly judge. Jan thinks the connection between research and teaching is important. Anna will draft the paragraph/proposal for the next meeting.

 

  1. Adjust Constitution: Reorganizing EC member titles and duties/Update Website / ADD ECR

 

  1. Other business

 

Decided date of next meeting:  Jan 23 – same time as Nov meeting

SRN Awards 2022

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Presented at the Vienna Conference on Friday 23rd September 2022

The SRN Awards apply to eligible publications between June 2021 and May 2022 in two categories: Best Published Monograph, and Best Published Article. This includes peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters. The Executive Council has worked throughout the year to consolidate the process by liaising with the expert jury, Professor Emeritus Tom Stempel, Associate Professor Eva Novrup Redvall, and Professor Carmen Sofia Brenes.  The SRN 2022 Awards winners were announced at the Vienna Conference by jury chair, Eva Novrup Redvall.

The SRN award for Best Monograph went to s. Anthony Mullins for his book Beyond the Hero’s Journey

 

The SRN award for Best Published Article went to Alison Pierce for “The Hidden Work of Women in Commissioning and Development in British Television Drama.”.

The SRN Executive Council would like to thank our judges for their time and commitment in reading all the submissions to come to these conclusions. We also want to thank all SRN members who submitted their published works to the competition. It is always an achievement to complete and article or book and have it published.

And of course, we offer the warmest congratulations to our winners, Anthony Mullins and Alison Pierce, for their outstanding works. We know they will be valuable for years to come to scholars and practitioners alike.

SRN AGM Minutes – Vienna, September 2022

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Vienna 23 September

In person – EC + full membership

 

Minutes of previous meeting – unanimously Approved

 

Chair Margaret McVeigh presented the 2021-22 Activity Report which also appears on the SRN mailing list and website. She covered these areas:

 

1.)Introduction of Executive Council:

  • Margaret McVeigh (Chairperson), Griffith Film School, Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia
  • Rosanne Welch (Secretary), Stephens College, USA
  • Rose Ferrell (Membership and Inclusion Officer), Edith Cowan University, Perth, Australia
  • Rafael Leal (Web Coordinator), Pontifical Catholic University, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
  • Jan Cernik (Newsletter Editor) Palacky University, Olomouc, Czech Republic
  • Isadora Garcia Avis (Newsletter Editor) Universitat Internacional de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain

ALSO – Shaopeng Chen, China was appointed as Early Career Representative by the Executive Council and co-opted to the EC for the academic year 2021/22.

 

2.)The Executive Council held meetings on a monthly basis from 2021 to 2022 (for  a total of nine not including the March meeting cancelled due to illness). All these meetings were held online via Teams with the last meeting held face to face in Vienna before the day before the AGM. In addition to the regular meetings, its members maintained ongoing communication with one another and with the Membership.  Minutes of all meetings are published on the SRN website.

 

3.)COMMUNICATIONS (Newsletter, Website and Social media)

All relevant activities were publicized via the SRN Newsletter, JISCMail mailing list, and via social media.

 

a.)The Newsletter was regularly sent out to Members and extracts of news items were posted on Facebook. We wish to thank Jan and Isadora who collected all the news from colleagues the world over. Over the past year, the EC has discussed and implemented ways to continue to develop the circulation and outreach of the Newsletter. To that end Jan and Isadora:

  • Developed a completely new design for the newsletter
  • Established a new section with short interviews in order to share the ideas of some members, whether they are scholars or professional screenwriters, or both.

They follow this news cycle: all new items go to the Newsletter first, then are added to the News section on the SRN website and/or to the Local Initiative section (if applicable).

 

b.)The University of Leeds continues to host the SRN website. This has been the case since the SRN’s inception and will continue to be so until July 2026. The hosting cost (£100 yearly) is covered by the School and Media and Communication of the University of Leeds. We thank the University of Leeds for their continuing support.

More details on the EC’s activities regarding the Website and our Social media outlets are included in the Activities section below.

 

3.)MEMBERSHIP

As of 30 June 2022, the Network consists of 731 members. This is an increase of 109 members (+ 17.5%). This is the third year in a row where we have grown by more than 100 members. According to an analysis of JISCmail, the range of countries represented amongst our members is in the vicinity of 40.

 

a.)Diversity and inclusivity

As our membership grows, we are also beginning to see an increasingly wider range in nationalities represented each year. Over the previous 2 years, Rose Ferrell, Membership Officer has periodically put out a call to all our members to invite colleagues, students and admired mentors to join the SRN. This is part of our endeavour to expand the relevance of the Screenwriting Research Network across film industries in diverse regions in the world. This is an ongoing initiative which requires the action of every member of the SRN. Is there a scholar you admire, students who would benefit from the SRN community, or a colleague who is interested in screenwriting and film, we ask you to speak to them honestly about the value you receive from being in the Screenwriting Research Network and you will be assisting us to expand. The EC thanks Rose Ferrell for her constant dedication in liaising with new and existing Members.

 

b.)Reaching Across Borders – Asia Pacific Story Patterns

One of the initiatives taken this year to reach out to new members in the Asia Pacific and to provide opportunities for joint research projects around screenwriting was the Panel Asia Pacific Story Patterns.

 

In July 2022 the SRN Chair, Margaret McVeigh opened the conversation into research into screenwriting patterns in Asia Pacific Storytelling with the panel Asia Pacific Story Patterns held face-to-face and online for SRN Members at the ASPERA (Australian Screen Production Education and Research Association) Annual Conference Creativity Matters: Poetics. Pedagogy. Production. Policy held at Griffith Film School, Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia on Tuesday July 12 2022. The panel session was titled: Opening the Conversation – “How do you tell a story?” — Asia Pacific Story Patterns and involved a presentation by and discussion with filmmakers and screenwriters from the Asia Pacific. Panellists included:

  • Dr Anne Demy-Geroe (Panel Moderator) (Course Convenor Asia Pacific Film, Griffith Film School: President NETPAC (Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema, author, Iranian National Cinema)
  • Dr Anthony Mullins (Award Winning Australian Screenwriter and Showrunner, author Beyond the Hero’s Journey) Professor Park Ki-yong (Chairperson KOFIC [Korean Film Council]; awardwinning Director, Editor, Screenwriter)
  • Ms Anjali Menon (Script writer & Director Ustaad Hotel, Bangalore days, Manjarrikurru; filmmakier India, United Kingdom and the Middle East.)
  • Ms Kodie Bedford (Award winning Australian Indigenous screenwriter & filmmaker)

 

The session involved over 55 participants including the panel members, 30 ASPERA face to face delegates and 20 SRN online participants and was concluded by a Call for Chapters to Asia Pacific Screenwriters and Scholars for a publication proposal in the area. The editors (Margaret McVeigh, Anne Demy-Geroe and Anthony Mullins) welcome proposals that involve collaborations between academics and industry screenwriters and filmmakers.

 

4.)ACTIVITIES

 

a.)Conferences

The current annual conferences is to be held in Vienna, Austria (2022), the next conference is Missouri, USA (2023). The conference to be held Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (2024) will now be held in Olomouc, Czech Republic. The Executive will put out a call for conference hosts after 2024 as part of its Action Plan 2022/2023.

 

b.)SRN Awards

The SRN Awards apply to eligible publications between June 2021 and May 2022.

The categories for the Awards are for the Best Monograph by a single author, and the Best Article or Book Chapter in a peer-reviewed journal or other publication. The Executive Council has worked throughout the year to consolidate the process by liaising with the expert jury (i.e. Professor Emeritus Tom Stempel, Associate Professor Eva Novrup Redvall and Professor Carmen Sofia Brenes). The submission guidelines have been added to the SRN website.

The SRN Awards will be announced at the Vienna Conference by jury chair, Eva Novrup Redvall.

 

c.)History and memory archive of the SRN

The EC has continued to develop the historical/memory archive of the SRN, through conversations with previous conference organizers. This includes the work commenced under the previous Chair, Paolo Russo, where the EC began the project of creating a historical/memory archive of the SRN. The result of this was the SRN ‘Conversations’ series, which is on our Youtube channel.

The first conversation is between Ian Macdonald, Kirsi Rinne, Eva Novrup Redvall and Ronald Geerts and is about the early beginnings of the Screenwriting Research Network. In July 2022 we recorded a second ‘Conversation’ with the conference organisers of our 2012 Sydney, Australia conference and our 2013 Madison, Wisconsin conference. Executive Council Secretary, Rosanne Welch, hosted the ‘Conversation’, speaking to Kathryn Millard, Macquarie University, Sydney; Alex Munt, University of Technology, Sydney; and J.J. Murphy (retired) previously of University of Wisconsin, Madison. (Unfortunately, Kelley Conway, who collaborated with J.J. in organzing the Wisconsin conference, was not able to be with us). This Conversation has also been uploaded to the SRN website (screenwritingresearch.com) for you to access.

We began this project because we believed that the SRN is a valuable organisation precisely because of its ‘grass roots’ beginnings. These beginnings saw researchers who were isolated from each other in a field which had barely become recognised as a field of research, reach out to each other. Beginning with a one-day Symposium in Leeds in 2008, the group grew to hold its second conference in Helsinki in 2009, a third in Copenhagen in 2010, and a fourth in Brussels in 2011. One of the important legacies of this beginning is the friendly and open way that SRN members in general welcome newcomers who join us. It drives our enthusiasm for embracing screenwriters and researchers from around the globe – not just the Western world, and is evidenced too, by the fact that we do not charge a subscription fee, as many other organisations do. Another way this is shown as important is that the conferences are organised in such a way as to keep costs down to give the opportunity for all to participate no matter what their circumstances. This culture has been embedded since its inception, and we endeavour to maintain this legacy as we grow larger. For this reason, the Conversations were mooted as a way to preserve a culture of sharing and of friendship which had been so successfully developed through those early years.

 

d.)While looking at our history, it became obvious that we each are holding photos which preserve shared memories. This led to the scoping of another project by the Executive Council, that of creating a Photo album (available via Google Photo) which Members can access to share their past conference photos. Currently, the EC is considering how to administer such a project while addressing privacy issues. We will be continue to work on this over the coming year and welcome your thoughts regarding this.

 

e.)Website and social media action and development

The SRN website was streamlined in 2020-2021. The Executive continues to update and work to make the site informative and rich with knowledge important to SRN Members.

The information below is data generated according to Google Analytics. This allows us to gather useful statistics on our users’ engagement with the website, and helps us plan and put to good use as part of our new inclusivity and diversity strategy.

From August 2020 to June 2022, we had 7,418 users in 9,548 sessions and a total of 17,292 pageviews.

Data data collected so far shows us that:

– users are mostly between 25-34 years old (28.3%) or younger (23.1%);

– 46.8% male, 53.2% female; (we are sorry that Google Analytics does not show any non-binary data regarding gender)

– nearly a quarter of them accessed through mobile devices;

– users come from 134 different countries (in the last report it was “only” 92 countries;

– users come from the US (21.13%), UK (15%), China (6.62%), Australia (6.43%), Brazil (4.41%), Finland (4.15%), Netherlands (3.17%), India (2.68%), Austria (2.47%) and Japan (2.39%).

The Analytics provides several resources that will allow us to spread the word of Screenwriting Research more efficiently, as we make our website more reachable to audiences searching for related content.

The EC wishes to thank Rafael Leal for his excellent coordination and management of our website.

 

f.)Social Media

This year Executive has worked with advice from Marketing experts to fine tune the interconnection of elements of our online print (the newsletter) and social media to create a cycle of news and alerts that links current events but maintains a semi archival repository of interviews, reviews and reports on the website via the Newsletter.

Our social media activities (with particular emphasis on our Facebook presence) were run most effectively by Shoaopeng, Jan and Isadora.

Our Facebook followers are:

  • 41 % female and 57% male;
  • still come mostly from USA, UK and Australia but also from India, Germany,Brazil, Portugal, Canada, Chile, Italy, Spain, Mexico, Austria, Sweden, Ireland,Colombia, and Egypt as per the previous year with new followers from Nigeria and Vietnam
  • still mostly speak English and prefer posts about “international” content (e.g.CfPs, trade news, new publications, etc.)
  • still distributed rather evenly between age groups, which means that the pagestill offers content that is interesting for both young and advanced researchers.
  • The age distribution of our FB followers is below:

Age Group Female Followers Male Followers

25-34    9% 11%

35-44    10% 17%

45-54    11% 14%

55-64    5% 8%

65+       4% 6%

 

g.)The Youtube channel is one year old this year. A reminder it is still possible to access lectures from the SRN 2021 via registration on SRN2020.com website. The lectures do not appear on the YouTube page but can be accessed via this website using a password you will receive when you register. These lectures are available until late in 2023.

 

h.)Working Groups

The SRN has four working groups: one focused on Practice-led research, one on Collaborative Screenwriting, another one on Women and Screenwriting, and one on Teaching Screenwriting.

Last September, the Practice Based/Led working group organised its first panel at the annual conference which involved table reads of research screenplays. This year, the working group once again has organised a Practice focused panel, with actors reading research screenplay excerpts, for the Vienna conference. Maxine Gee the convenor of this working group aims facilitate more activities in the coming academic year.

 

Information about content and contacts for the working groups can be found on our website (http://screenwritingresearch.com/working-groups/). We encourage anybody who wishes to join any of the current groups to contact the relevant coordinators; drop into working group face-to-face meetings at the annual conference or, if you would like to establish a new working group, to initiate discussion among the members so as to set it up.

 

i.)Early Career Representative

The role of the Early Career Representative was introduced to explore pathways that could showcase the work of our early career and PhD candidate members. This last year the role was taken on by Shaopeng Chen who has worked with Jan and Isadora in curating the SRN social media presence as well as contributing to all EC discussions.

The ECR is not elected and remains in post for one year (although the ECR can stand up for re-appointment or for election to an EC position). The Call for Nominations for the new academic year was issued in June 2022. The EC appointed a new ECR at the September 2022 meeting – Clarissa Miranda, Brasil.

 

5.)ELECTIONS

The Executive Council consists of elected members who stand for two years as well as the invited and appointed ECR representative.

  • Two members of the EC ended their terms this year so a Call for Nominations was regularly posted in May 2022 to fill the vacancies.
  • Rosanne Welch, Rose Ferrell stood for election unopposed.

 

The EC encourage all members to consider standing for elections so that the Executive Council itself can continue its role of coordination and steering.

 

6.)MEMBER ACCOMPLISHMENTS

We wish to congratulate all members who completed their PhD, and who have had publications in 2021-22, including for example, the many members whose work has been published through Sightlines: Filmmaking in the Academy and in Palgrave Handbook of Script Development.

 

7.)PRESENTATION OF NEXT CONFERENCE LOCATION

Secretary Rosanne Welch gave a 15 minute powerpoint on Stephens College, Missouri, USA where the 2023 SRN will be held from September 20-23, 2023.  The website:

https://www.stephens.edu/srn2023/

offers information on travel and discounts on lodging. Abstracts due January 6, 2023. Acceptance and Registration opens mid-February.

 

8.)PRESENTATION OF AWARDS

Eva Novrup Redvall presented the SRN award for Best Monograph to s. Anthony Mullins for his book Beyond the Hero’s Journey

and to Alison Pierce for Best Article for her“The Hidden Work of Women in Commissioning and Development in British Television Drama.”.

 

Meeting adjourned 17:30. Next full AGM will be held at Stephens College, Missouri, USA – time TBA

SRN Executive Minutes – September 2022

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SRN Minutes of Meeting – September 2022

Date Thursday 22 Sept Conference lunch break

Venue: TBA

  1. Apologies

RF not in attendance

  1. Minutes of previous meeting

Approval proposed / Seconded / Approved

  1. Conference executive activités – previous minutes action,  report, action plan, élections, forthcoming conferences, awards etc

MM discussed format of AGM presentation, suggestions for order of presentations of upcoming conferences, announcement of which award judge would announce awards.

  1. Newsletter

Ready to go post conference.

  1. ERC nominations and other positions vacant action

MM announced she is stepping down from EC for family reasons.  RL also stepping down.  EC will need to recruit a new ECR (as we do every year) and MM has someone in mind to ask here at conference.  Discussion of changes in duties. IG will take on Membership, RF will take on Website, RW will take on Chair.  JC is fine managing newsletter alone.  RW proposes Anna Weinstein for Secretary.  Approval unanimous. Answer pending.

  1. Other business

(From email from Rosanne Welch, of 14th November 2022 to rosieglow@westnet.com.au)

SRN 2023 Columbia, Missouri USA- Conference Call for Papers

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CALL FOR PAPERS
SRN 2023: GENDER AND THE FEMALE GAZE
September 20-23, 2023
The SRN (Screenwriting Research Network) is comprised of scholars, writers, and practice-based researchers. Started in 2006, the network currently has 700 members from 50+ countries. The aim of the annual International Conference is to continue, and expand, discussions around the screenplay and to strengthen a rapidly emerging, and global, research network. For more Information, please visit our website: http://screenwritingresearch.com
The 15th annual conference is organized by the Stephens College MFA in TV and Screenwriting and the School of Integrative Studies at Stephens College. The arts and humanities thrive in Columbia, Missouri, as dozens of on- and off-campus performances occur year-round at
Stephens, making the College one of Columbia’s premier centers for the performing arts.
Call for Papers:
Coming from a host college that focuses on female participation in the arts, the conference theme “Gender and the Female Gaze” wants to discuss the contributions of female screenwriters and the plethora of female-focused stories told on screen from the Silent Era  through the modern day. We encourage and embrace research that is around women of different ethnicities, religious and cultural backgrounds, and particularly hope to engage topics which relate to minority cultures within minority (and majority) communities. We are thus particularly interested in abstracts for presentations on (but not limited to) the following topics:
• Female screenwriters in silent cinema
• The influence of female writer(-directors) in contemporary culture
• Case studies on individual female screenwriter’s work
• Patterns in the women-centred stories that have been brought to the screen
• Historiography of manuals and screenwriting pedagogy where this reflects the work of female screenwriters
• Censorship of women’s stories and women’s writings
• Female screenwriters within writing partnerships
• The work of female screenwriters within script production (e.g. as showrunners, script editors or consultants)
• The question of a female voice within screenwriting
• The cultural influence of female characters created by female screenwriters
• The way life experiences led to the story told
• The challenges to their projects screenwriters often meet which speak to political, religious, gender or other barriers which may not apply to their male counterparts.
• The real-world impact of the script on its audiences and society.
• Examples of the ways women stepped out of traditional roles to work for change and an improved future for themselves and their communities through screenwriting.
• How female screen stories tackled issues of culture, religion, identity, gender and race
• How women have negotiated screen industry norms and practices, biases and social hurdles in order to tell their screen stories.
• Ways in which the professional woman’s everyday life (e.g. romance, marriage, parenthood status or citizenship) has been challenged or made more challenging because of her professional work, and vice versa.
• Issues caused by unreliable narrators of history
• Studies of cultural appropriation in screenwriting; cultural imperialism; cultural disconnect and/or discord which comes about through discourses of power
• Research into the ways in which money/ finance precludes certain stories from being told, even by successful screenwriters

Proposals for presentations beyond the theme of the conference are also welcome. The aim of the SRN being to foster research that rethinks the screenplay in relation to its histories, theories, values and creative practices, any proposal underpinned by such research will be considered. We expect papers on the broad topics of pedagogy, theory and practice – but even those may reflect the conference theme via the choices of writers chosen for inclusion in the study.
–
Essential Information:
Deadline for abstracts: January 6, 2023
Acceptances: February 15th, 2023
Registration by: June 30, 2023
Submissions via email and contact:
Rosanne Welch
rwelch@stephens.edu

Submission of abstracts/proposals
Proposals/Abstracts can be sent as either a Word or PDF document: please indicate
“yourname_PROPOSALTYPE” (i.e. paper or panel) clearly in the file title and in the subject heading of your submission.
All presentations will be delivered in person, in English, and be underpinned by original research work being conducted by the presenter. Multiple presenters (max. 2) for co-written papers are allowed.

1.) Proposals for traditional 20-minute papers, followed by Q&A. They should include:
Title
Author’s name
Affiliation (university, independent, practitioner, etc.)
Contact details
Abstract (max. 300 words)
4-6 keywords
short bio (max 150 words), detailing your research activity, publications and/or screenwriting practice – and if the piece contributes to the conference theme please note.

2.) Proposals for Pre-constituted panels
Proposals for pre-constituted panels can be submitted by any of the presenters or the Chair of the panel and should include:
title of the panel
brief outline (100 words maximum) of the overall topic
abstracts of all the presentations – no more than 3 papers – following abstract guidelines listed above.

Abstracts should follow the guidelines for individual papers as above and include short bios and contact details of both the speakers and the panel Chair. Wherever possible, the Chair should NOT be one of the presenters. If a proposal for a pre-constituted panel does not include a Chair, the Conference Committee will appoint one. All proposals should indicate “Panel Proposal SRN 2022 in the file title and in the subject heading of the submission email.

Website and registration
The Website for the conference will include a wealth of useful information (e.g., registration, travel arrangements, accommodation options), as well as all the updates and the program leading up to the Conference. It will go live in early December.
The conference fee is expected to be in the region of $120 USC /100 Euro.

SRN Executive Minutes – October 2022

by

 

MINUTES

 

SRN Executive Council Meeting

(via Zoom)

https://cpp.zoom.us/j/89656386053

 

Monday October 17, 2022

Tuesday October 18, 2022

1pm Los Angles

 

Circulation list: Rosanne Welch (RW), Rose Ferrell (RF), Jan Cernik (JC), Isadora Garcia Avis (IGA), Anna Weinstein (AW), Indranil Chakravarty (IC).

ECR Clarissa Miranda (CM)

 

  1. ApologiesRose F.

 

  1. Minutes of previous meeting

 

Approved and seconded.

 

  1. Discuss Meeting Dates/Times – rotate each month?Some members would be away from home on Saturday/don’t want to infringe on weekends.

IG – every 3rd Monday works best/stability in schedule makes it easier to plan.

 

Decided to meet Nov 21 @:

 

Rosanne: 7am

Anna W, Clarissa:  10am

Jan, Isadora: 5pm

Indranil: 7:30pm

Rose: 11pm

 

  1. Reorganizing EC member titles and duties/Update Website

 

Current language in the constitution:

 

5.1 The Association shall be managed by an Executive of a minimum of five persons, and a maximum of nine persons aged 18 or over, and who have been members for one year or more. The current Executive shall decide on the total number of Executive members for the following year.

 

5.2. The Officers of the Executive Council shall be Chairperson, Deputy Chairperson, Secretary, Treasurer, Communications Officer and Membership Secretary. One office may be combined with another office, if this is deemed appropriate by the Executive

 

Members new duties for 2022-2023 =

Chairperson – Rosanne

Deputy Chairperson – Indranil

Secretary – Anna

Webmaster – Rose

Membership – Isadora

Newsletter – Jan

ECR – Clarissa

 

Rosanne suggests we consider new titles for committee members. Jan is happy to change his title to Newsletter Editor, which is more specific. Rosanne suggests Webmaster for Rose’s position, rather than Communications Officer. Rosanne will write something up so we can put it to a vote for the network.

 

  1. ADD ECR to Constitution

 

–ECR definition to be written

 

  1. Updating Social Media/YouTube/Creating password repository-Institutional memory/Creating a Discord site/Support Working Groups more…Rosanne mentions creating a Google Drive folder for SRN-related passwords for institutional memory.

 

  1. Put out new Call for Hosts to follow 2024 Palacký University in the Czech Republic

 

  1. JC: Build a platform within the SRN for early career researchers and PhD candidates to build on our experience with online lectures and encourage international cooperation.

 

Jan discusses this briefly. Everyone thinks it would be a good idea. Jan will bring a more formal presentation to the next meeting to discuss.

 

  1. IC: Creating Repository of Screenwriting Curricula developed by SRN members

 

Indranil suggests creating a repository of curricula. Everyone seems to like the idea. This leads to a discussion about exchanging ideas and classroom visits. Isadora discusses COIL program where screenwriting educators can collaborate/have students collaborate on projects with students from other countries. She suggests that this curricula repository will be useful to facilitate these discussions.

IC – Different countries/cultures – we have all designed special courses/redesign our courses every year so we could learn so much from each other. Limited to members/not open to all to avoid plagiarism since curriculum is IP. Declaration about IP and its ownership.

 

RW – How can the university own the distinctive lectures I create/clips I show to a class.

 

IC- But a curriculum can’t be monetized.

 

CM – Brazil docs on curriculum are private, but they put them online for students.  I can ask colleagues to share. I think it’s a good idea to share.

 

IG – Question is up to how to keep the database – our college has it all online.  But my curriculum is all basic info. The daily details are only known to the professors.

 

IC – We don’t need the lesson plan, but perhaps sharing assignments. I started “Who are you?” All these should be typed so I can’t identify their handwriting, submitted anonymously.

 

RW – I do the History of Your name as an introductory activity.

 

IC – It will help us keep our courses fresh.

 

IG – The question is, how do we share these things? Also, interesting to know name of course and year of student. If Indranil can design the template for people to fill in, we can use that to send it out.

 

IC – Semester (?) /Course title /  Course Objective / List of topics / Credit hours? / Assignments / Filmography / Bibliography

 

IG – A shared folder on GoogleDrive can have a password – JISCmail can share the folder. Then all the pdfs country.

 

JC – A good idea to share such things. How many members in SRN?

 

IG – 700-800 members

 

JC – Would it be just about sharing assignments or offering to participation in others courses? COIL – shared online learning – is it like that?

 

IC – One issue with GoogleDrive is needing to give permission…

 

IG- It allows access to those with the link to avoid too many permission requests to one person’s email.

 

  1. RF: Record 2-3 SRN Conversations this year to catch up so we can do new ones only a year after a new conference has been held…

 

  1. RW: Website brainstorm – other info of interest to include (Add info on where members come from to the About section of the website/make map of the world with numbers in each country showing who is from where/-put the cute animation on the front of the website or as the first thing when you click “Conferences” tab

 

  1. Lifetime achievement award to Tom Stempel at SRN 2023?

 

Rosanne suggests this addition to the awards. Everyone thinks it’s a good idea. Indranil suggests teaching awards as well. Anna gives explanation of how it was organized for UFVA when she was on the committee. Everyone agrees it could be a nice addition to the awards, particularly if we offer three teaching awards. Anna will gather materials as examples from UFVA for the next meeting.

 

  1. Other business

 

Discussion of possibility of raising money for various projects, whether shared curricular projects, teaching awards, etc. Rosanne says it will be difficult to organize intake of money and where to hold the funds. Isadora reminds us that the network is not set up like an association. It’s currently in the constitution not to charge membership fees.

 

Date of next meeting:  Nov 21

Rosanne 7am

Anna W, Clarissa  10am

Jan, Isadora 5pm

Indranil 7:30pm

Rose 11pm