Publication details
Copyright, Credits, and Conditions of Writing : Mediating Authorship from Screenwriters’ Perspective in the Czech Silent Cinema
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| Year of publication | 2024 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
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| Description | This paper deals with the issue of exercising and claiming authorship by Czech screenwriters vis-a-vis the industrial structure and production practices as well as the process of establishing creative standards in the 1920s. It focuses on the nature of relationship between the pioneering generation of professional screenwriters who worked almost solely as freelancers, and local film companies. Despite the growing interest in the Czech silent cinema and domestic screenwriting practice, the question of authorship has drawn a minor scholarly attention within the research of individual screenwriting careers and personal poetics. Drawing on the concepts of Jonathan Gray and Matt Stahl, the paper, thus, examines the screenwriters’ position in the contemporary film production environment, their forms of employment and contracts, and the role of their public image. Based on the records of personal testimony, contemporary film trade press, and historical evidence, the paper addresses various problems faced by the screenwriters in the silent era, with regard to performing their creative power. Special attention is paid to the topic of film adaptations of popular local novels. Relating to the issue of acquiring rights, the paper shows how adapting books for the screen limited screenwriters’ artistic choices and complicated their working conditions. Moreover, it argues that this process also frequently resulted in diminishing the credit assigned to the particular screenwriter in favour of promoting the author of the original story. In so doing, it deepens our understanding of the Czech silent cinema ecosystem, explains the patterns of creative and legal practice, outlines the forms of local industrial dialogues, and uncovers crucial aspects of being a professional screenwriter in the regional film industry. |