Scriptwriting - Censorship and Libel

Here is my last post about Scriptwriting - Censorship and Libel.

Censorship

Censorship can affect writers in a lot of ways, they would have to follow laws set by the country they work in, if they don’t not only are they breaking the law, a script is likely to be rejected by a producer who wouldn’t want to spare the money in a court case as breaking censorship laws would damage a writer’s employability and reputation.

Writers rarely working for themselves if a screenplay got a green lightt or bought by a producer their creative vision will often be re-worked by others, in this case a writer would be bound by the conditions of the contract and have to go along with these changes - this is a form of censorship set by colleagues, but it still causes problems like censorship set by the government.

Some script writers can get away with more than other people being involved in the production of a TV show or film; rudeness or violence may read differently on paper than it does in the finished product and they have a lot of creative freedom, and as such when the script is portrayed it may be changed in post-production e.g. trimming down the obscenities in an action film to get it a lower age certificate. Changes like these may be set by organizations such as the BBFC, this is a form of industry censorship, this doesn’t directly affect script writers but it affects their creative intentions and may change the way people perceive their work.

Libel

Libel is where someone makes a false claim or statement implying a truth. A victim of libel must prove that the statement or claim is false could cause harm to their personal or business interests.

Libel is also an issue that could lead to them being sued - most writers cannot afford million-pound legal battles leading them to damage their reputation, libel or other legal issues can delay the completion or sale of a script. To avoid this happening a writer would work closely with a produce they are working with, who will guide them away from anyone who could see their script to it's full completion. Most production companies would have a lawyer to advice on issues like this. A writer should inform a producer of any potentially harmful writing in the script as early as possible if they don’t it can damage there reputation in the industry and their relationship with the producer.



Censorship and libel are both problems that a writer can easily work around, but both are issues that they need to be aware of. or well their stories can never be shown to the world.


REFERENCES

http://paulashwell2.wordpress.com/
http://careers.stateuniversity.com/pages/135/Scriptwriter.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/filmnetwork/filmmaking/guide/further/glossary
http://www.writersstore.com/the-ins-and-outs-of-tv-series-writer-deals