Dramaturgy: A Practical Theory of Filmmaking
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| Year of publication | 2011 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Description | In my paper I look at historical developments of basic production teams under the Communist rule and the ways how political and cultural changes interfered with otherwise resistant production routines and hierarchies via so-called dramaturgy. In the state-controlled system of production, the "dramaturg" was basically an equivalent to "producer", though without the usual financial and marketing responsibilities. Dramaturgy was considered the most efficient way for the official ideology to hold control over selection and execution of film projects. It was taught in film schools and discussed on various levels of the government and Party hierarchies. Dramaturgs and so-called dramaturgical units oversaw script development, selection of cast and crew, the actual shooting as well as post-production, and at some points they were even responsible for promotional materials and festival releases. They acted as cultural intermediaries, or interfaces of the production culture: they mediated between writers and directors, as well as between studios, the political establishment and broader cultural trends. After the collapse of the Communist regimes in Eastern Europe, the virtual disappearance of dramaturgs was identified among key factors of the general production crisis. For today’s historians, dramaturgy stands as a key feature of the socialist mode of film production, as well as prominent example of industrial reflexivity under political and state control: what I would call “the dramaturgical-unit system” (referring to Janet Staiger) distinguishes the Socialist production systems from Hollywood and West-European cinemas. |
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