„Nejsme HBO, jsme televize.“. (Czech)

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    • Alternate Title:
      "We are not HBO, We are Television": An Ethnographic Analysis of the Group Writing of the Series The First Republic. (English)
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    • Abstract:
      This article focuses on the efforts of the Czech public service television (Česká Televize, hereafter ČT) to compete with private companies for the primetime soap opera audience. The melodramatic historical crime drama The First Republic has been something of a turning point in post-Socialist ČT. It exemplifies a recent Czech tendency to coproduce programmes with independent partners, thus blurring the distinction between private and public interests. The series exemplifies a shift away from the longstanding Czech tradition of having one or two writers pen either six- or thirteen-part screenplays as one whole in favor of having a writing team collaborate on dozens of screenplays. The First Republic also illustrates the standardization of family entertainment as a ČT programming slot, as well as a greater effort to follow trends in American and, to some extent, European quality television. Through an ethnographic study of day-to-day production processes, this article sheds light on the social logic that drove this collaborative effort. More specifically, it focuses on the differing expectations and authorial subjectivities of the agents and institutions involved in the production of The First Republic. The initial conception of the series posited a complex, gritty historical drama, but this idea gave way to what many critics saw as a high-end soap. Shifts in power between ČT, its independent production partners (together with the series' director), and head writer were symptoms of the changing position of public service television on the Czech market and ČT's relationships with private producers. As the most successful programme of its kind, the series stands as a striking emblem of a post-socialist production culture in transition. Research for this article is based on Eva Pjajčíková's experience as a writer intern on The First Republic, her nine-month participant observation of the writing team, and interviews both authors conducted with participants in the series. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
    • Abstract:
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