Television Drama from Germany : : Production, Storytelling and Quality.

• Superior document: Palgrave Studies in Screenwriting Series
• Author: Krauß, Florian.
• Place / Publishing House: Cham : : Palgrave Macmillan,, 2024.; ©2024.
• Year of Publication: 2024
• Edition: 1st ed.
• Language: English
• Series: Palgrave Studies in Screenwriting Series
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (312 pages)

Table of Contents

Intro -- Acknowledgements -- Contents -- About the Author -- Abbreviations -- List of Figures -- 1 Introduction -- 1.1 Previously On … -- 1.2 The Quality Drama as a Current Industry Discourse: An Introduction -- 1.3 Screenwriting in Focus -- 1.4 Media Industry Studies and Screenwriting Research -- 1.5 Cultural Studies and Television Industry Research -- 1.6 Production Cultures -- 1.7 Temporal and Geographical Context -- 1.8 Structure of the Present Study -- Note -- 2 Quality TV Drama: Fields of Research and Practitioners' Perspectives -- 2.1 Location in the Research Field of "Quality TV" -- Television and Quality -- Quality TV -- German and Public-Service Contexts -- 2.2 Quality TV Drama as a Discourse on Values and the Industry -- Which Quality and Whose? -- Quality Judgements in the Television Industry -- 2.3 Concepts and Attributions: Quality TV Drama from the Practitioners' Perspective -- The Quality Drama as a Transnational Discourse -- The Quality Drama as a Public Discourse -- Quality TV Prototypes -- Serial Storylines -- Character Development -- Authenticity and Edginess -- Notes -- 3 Drama Production in Networks: Starting Points, Methods and First Results -- 3.1 The Project Network and Screen Idea Work Group in Television Series Production -- The Project Network -- The Screen Idea Work Group -- Quality Attributions in the Project Network and the Screen Idea Work Group -- 3.2 Methodological Approaches to the Industry Discourse -- Expert Interviews -- Participant Observations -- Analysis and Interpretation -- 3.3 Commissioning Editors in Networks -- Editors as Mediators -- Criticism of Editors -- Editors' Agency -- Editors' Changing Work in Project Networks -- Notes -- 4 Germany's Television Landscape: Actors and Production Areas -- 4.1 Programme Providers and Commissioners -- Public-Service Providers in Transition.

Advertising-Financed Channels -- Pay TV -- Transnational Streaming Providers -- Diversifying Business Models -- Relevance of Public Broadcasters -- 4.2 Production Companies -- Production Companies and Broadcasters: Interconnections and Overlaps -- Television Production and Film: Flowing Boundaries -- Other Actors: Beyond Production Companies and Programme Providers -- 4.3 Series Types and Production Areas -- Industrial, Weekly, Local and High-End Series -- Classifying the Quality Drama -- Television Hybrids: Between Film and Series -- Broadcast Slots and Linear Structures -- Notes -- 5 Financing and Distributing Television Drama: Economic Networks -- 5.1 Networks in Production and Distribution -- Distribution Partnerships -- Networking Between Programme Providers -- 5.2 Co-productions and Co-financing -- Revitalising Co-production -- "Europudding" and Other Challenges -- 5.3 Production Companies and Commissioners -- A Proliferation of Commissioners -- Financing Screenwriting -- Moving Away from the "total buyout" Model -- Mixed and Co-financing -- Trends Towards the Studio Model -- Notes -- 6 Quality Drama as Transnational Expansion: Exports and Local Specifics -- 6.1 Transnational and Local Dimensions of the Television Industry -- Transnationalism and Regionalism in the German-Speaking Television Landscape -- Advancing Transnationalisation -- Public Broadcasters as Glocal and Crucial Players in German Television Drama -- Germany as a Conservative Import Market -- 6.2 Serial Exports and Transnational Distribution -- Serial Export Traditions -- Series Exports in a Changing Media Environment -- The Dilemma of Language(s) -- 6.3 The Transnationalisation of Project Networks and Actors -- The Transnationalisation of Individual Actors -- Transnationality as a Selection and Quality Criterion -- Notes.

7 Contents and Forms of German TV Drama: Aesthetic and Narrative Styles and Criticisms -- 7.1 Current Television Fiction from Germany -- Formulas and Formats -- The Omnipresent Crime Genre -- Character Formulation -- Realism and Authenticity -- Sociopolitical Relevance -- The Television Film as a Central Programme Trend -- 7.2 Quality Drama Series from Germany -- The Recent Series Boom -- Failures and Unfulfilled Expectations -- Gender Representations -- 7.3 Historical Perspectives on German TV Drama -- Quality Drama in Television History -- "Harmonisation" and Formulas: Developments in Public-Service Drama -- US- and Mainstream-Centricity: Germany's Commercial Broadcasters -- Germany's Television Film Tradition -- Notes -- 8 Quality TV and Its Production Cultures: Negotiations on Writing and Producing -- 8.1 The Economic Conditions of Screenwriting -- Underfunding Script Development -- Payment Structures in Script Development -- Commitment and Symbolic Capital -- 8.2 The Writers' Room and Collaborativity -- Collaborativity in Series Development -- The Writers' Room as a Collaborative Practice -- Different Production Cultures -- "Writers' Room Lite" -- Who Belongs in the Writers' Room? -- Practices and Techniques -- 8.3 The Showrunner and the Evolution of Television Screenwriting -- The Showrunner as Creative and Business Leader -- Showrunner Adaptations and Practices -- 8.4 Evaluating the Scriptwriter's Power -- The Marginalisation of Writers -- Kontrakt '18: Writers' Demands -- Director and Writer: A Complicated Relationship -- Increased Agency of Writers? -- Notes -- 9 To Be Continued: Conclusion and Outlook -- 9.1 Transformation of the Television Industry -- 9.2 Transformation of Distribution -- 9.3 Transformation of Reception and Its Capture -- 9.4 Transformation of Production Cultures and Practices.

9.5 Transformation of Contents, Forms and Storytelling -- 9.6 Outlook -- Notes -- References -- Index.