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I agree with Ann about the moral paucity of The Wolf of Wall Street but there is a semantic problem in looking at the ethics of storytelling as having one meaning. 

Scorsese would say you don't have to put up a banner to send a message. 

Ethics and scriptwriting has different meanings depending on context. If a writer makes changes to a script (self censoring) to get a buyer but then persuades the director to shoot a different version (not uncommon ) is that a question of ethics?

Good discussion

J

Julian Friedmann
Blake Friedmann Literary Agency
Www.blakefriedmann.co.uk
+44 20 7387 0842
+44 7949 652 111

On 13 Feb 2014, at 11:12, "ANN TOBIN" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

Hi Everybody,
This is, I think,  a most interesting discussion.  It seems to me that it is part and parcel of a much wider discussion going on across all sections of contemporary society - the early sexualisation of children, the websites that appear to encourage bullying and internet sexual harassment and sexual objectification.  The women in Wall Street were universally portrayed as objects to be used, generally in a grossly sexist manner.  

Unsurprisingly, screenwriting and filmmaking as one of the major contributors to the common cultural discourse is both reflecting and participating in these attitudes.    

I had interesting discussions with our film students about The Wolf of Wall Street - broadly speaking (but not exclusively) the males all thought Wall Street was fantastic, loved the performance of Di Caprio, etc.  The females were far less sure, felt it was bravura filmmaking but did not really like the characters and the film.  Personally I disliked the film intensely - feeling it was completely amoral and made more problematic by the fact that it is so well made and acted.  Films like M and Clockwork Orange were, I think, much more aware of what they were exploring and more importantly why.  As with The Killing.  There should be no hold on any subject matter in film art - but as people who are involved in the education of future filmmakers we must I think be very aware of these issues.     Showing something is not enough. there needs, as David Simon said about The Wire, explorations of why going on as well.   

Regards
Ann Tobin


From: Jamie John Sherry <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Wednesday, 12 February 2014, 23:15
Subject: Re: ethics in screenwriting

I would also add that much of the discourse around Martin Scorsese's recent 'The Wolf of Wall Street' (screenplay by Terence Winter) appears to concern the ethics and morality of Jordan Belfort and principally the decision by Winter to leave out the consequences of his actions, and to instead focus on the arena of the protagonist. Among some critics, academics and viewers this has become an important and problematic topic to discuss over and above more general comments regarding storytelling, filmmaking craft, editing, acting performances, etc.

An ethical issue here is not just the way the narrative is being presented, but also more industrial and financial concerns about what it may mean for a screenwriter to adapt a book written by, and therefore profited from, the "criminal" protagonist of that story. However, the debate also seems to echo many that have taken place over the previous decades concerning anti-heroes or morally ambiguous characters in film, including 'M', 'A Clockwork Orange', 'Chopper', 'The Killer Inside Me', etc. However, this appears to be less of an issue in contemporary television drama, which seems to positively encourage moral ambiguity as a necessity, and which is the industry that Winter has worked in most often ('The Sopranos', 'Boardwalk Empire', etc).

I do not have a strong opinion on the morality of 'The Wolf of Wall Street', or its production, but I do find the critical response interesting from an ethical screenwriting point of view.

Kind regards,

Jamie Sherry

________________________________________
From: Screenwriting Research Network <[log in to unmask]> on behalf of Miranda Banks <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: 12 February 2014 22:57
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: ethics in screenwriting

I second Steven's recommendation. Eva Novrup Redvall's book is excellent. I just finished reading it and found her insight on the series and the Danish industry fascinating.

All the best,

Miranda
-------------------------------
Miranda J. Banks, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Department of Visual & Media Arts
Emerson College
http://mirandabanks.tv

________________________________
From: Screenwriting Research Network <[log in to unmask]> on behalf of Steven Maras <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, February 12, 2014 5:51 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: ethics in screenwriting

Although I may be biased, Eva Novrup Redvall's discussion of double story telling in Writing and Producing Television Drama in Denmark: From The Kingdom to The Killing is very interesting
Best
Steven


From: Stewart McKie <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>
Reply-To: Stewart McKie <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>
Date: Thursday, 13 February 2014 2:05 AM
To: "[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>" <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>
Subject: Re: ethics in screenwriting

Hugo

Thanks for this post.

I'm interested in ethics too but from a different angle: identifying 'choices' in the screenplay, which may have an ethical angle, via analytics software.

Choices represent a 'decision network' that can be modelled and may lead to insight about a script.

I hope BBC4 buys UNSER M?TTER, UNSER FATER as I would like to see it.

--
Regards,
Stewart McKie
phd.tripos.biz
+44 (0)1747 812648
Sent with Sparrow<http://www.sparrowmailapp.com/?sig>


On Wednesday, 12 February 2014 at 14:12, Vercauteren Hugo wrote:

Apology for those I am disturbing with this mail, I don't want to start a chat mail. Just wanted to tell this.

"Dealing with ethics in screenwriting".

Lately, I have been reviewing and analyzing the genius plots & plotpoints of the Danish tv series THE KILLING.  I find this one of the best series I have ever seen (at least those I have seen). Because of the plot, or because of the ethics?

Yesterday we saw (on Belgian tv) the second episode of UNSER M?TTER, UNSER FATER, a German tv-series, about the history of 5 young German people in WW2 (their hopes, disappointments, guilty feelings). It is mainstream tv, sometimes with chocking scenes, but well made, and most of all: "very honest about their past".  I am (and not only me) very impressed about the series.

Screenwriting and research on screenwriting is not only about the technique of creating a plot, but also about ethics, or is it not? (in German case "how do you deal with your own past").  Sometimes I have the feeling these ethics are lost in my own country.  Screenwriters here don't deal with ethics, or do they?

Is "The Killing" also about ethics? Who wins in "the Killing"? Nobody.  Is it about the darkness of our Western Society? Everything is connected in The Killing. The characters all seem to be on the edge of a Volcano. And if one of them falls, they all seem to fall. Society falls.

All this made me think. No more. Sorry if I disturbed you.

Hugo


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