Dear Adam,
I will be very interested in looking at the recording of your seminar (I can't be in London), about screenwriting in Chechoslovakia. When I was studying screenwriting, years ago, I was influenced by Frank Daniel (or shall I say, his lecture was my first "real" screenwriting course"). Years ago, when we could still talk about "state socialisme (I feel old now) I belonged to a group of people called, in my country: "Christians for Socialism. That is all a long time ago, and I can say, I was still more naive than I am now; I don't know if that is possible).
So we attended all kinds of talks about socialism, we were critizised of course. People told us: "if it is so good in Moskou, why don't you go and live there. I thought: why not. Moskou was too far away, so I went to Chechoslovakia, the socialist state, and did some volunteer work in Brno. Of course I was thrown out, (nearly in prison), because of "my none socialist ideas" (I thought I was a real
socialist, they thought I was a capitalist). After, for a while I was influenced by Trotskists in my country. They told me, these East European countries are STATE CAPITALISTIST, not socialists. What's in a name? It is all gone now. It is considered as "my youth sin".
I didn't sleep well, because of your seminar. I once believed in it, and was desillusioned of what I saw in "state Socialist countries".
Collaborative writing I believe in it as well, even in this very individualist society. It demands a lot of you personally. I don't believe in it, in a so called Socialist state. I am glad you organise this seminar, and please don't forget to mention me where I can see the recording.
I left my youth idealism.You know what Lenin said about idealists: "useful idiots". Google it, you 'll see.
Hugo
Dear ColleaguesApologies for cross-posting and any unreadable or corrupted emails you may have received. This is due to an incompatibility between
Microsoft and Safari and nothing whatsoever to do with any theses that I have about the screenplay as an oral form. Here are the details of the latest London Screenwriting Research Seminar on Thursday December 5th at 1800 In Senate House Malet Street, WC1 (nearest tube Russell Square.)Writing for the Red Screen: Screenwriters in the State-socialist Mode of Production in 1950's and 1960’s CzechoslovakiaPetr Szczepanik (Masaryk University, Czech Republic)This talk will explore screenwriting practice in the state-socialist regime of former Czechoslovakia from a production-studies perspective, taking as an example the new-wave screenwriter and director Pavel Juráček and his mentor František (Frank) Daniel to describe the structural position of screenwriter and institutional conditions for artistic innovation in that production system in the 1950s and 1960s.More generally, it will touch on the social and cultural logics of collaborative creative work under political influence. In terms
of sources, it will discuss how empirical historical research in screenwriting can be undertaken by making sense of the vast screenplay collections and personal files in several Prague archives.The Session will be recorded and made available on the Institute of English studies websiteThe London Screenwriting Research Seminar is supported by the Insitute of Englsih Studies and Royal Holloway University of LondonAdam GanzDepartment of Media Arts, Royal Holloway University of LondonEgham, SurreyTW20 0EX01784 443734
