- Title Pages
- Acknowledgements
- Foreword
- Introduction
- TV Drama: The Case against Naturalism
- Naturalism and Television
- Taboos in Television
- Signposting Television in the 1980s: The Fourth Television
- Television Drama, Censorship and the Truth
- The Day after Tomorrow: The Future of Electronic Publishing
- The Primacy of Programmes in the Future of Broadcasting
- Reflections on Working in Film and Television
- ‘Opening up the Fourth Front’: Micro Drama and the Rejection of Naturalism
- Power and Pluralism in Broadcasting
- Ethics, Broadcasting and Change: The French Experience
- Freedom in Broadcasting
- Deregulation and Quality Television
- The Future of Television: Market Forces and Social Values
- The Future of the BBC
- Occupying Powers
- A Culture of Dependency: Power, Politics and Broadcasters
- Talent versus Television
- A Glorious Future: Quality Broadcasting in the Digital Age
- Rewarding Creative Talent: The Struggle of the Independents
- Television versus the People
- Public-Interest Broadcasting: A New Approach
- A Time for Change
- The Soul of British Television
- Television's Creative Deficit
- Freedom of Choice: Public-Service Broadcasting and the BBC
- First Do No Harm
-
Appendix A Edinburgh International Television Festival, 29 August-2 September 1977: Programme -
Appendix B - Index
Reflections on Working in Film and Television
Reflections on Working in Film and Television
The James MacTaggart Lecture 1985
- Chapter:
- (p.97) Reflections on Working in Film and Television
- Source:
- Television Policy
- Author(s):
John Schlesinger
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
In this lecture, the author, a film director, reflects on his experience working in television and film. He concedes that he could never ‘understand the difference’ between ‘making television’ and ‘making a film for television’. The one difference is the distinctive audience reaction to the two media: the cinema creates a ‘special experience’. The author went to America to make Midnight Cowboy (1969). On arrival, he recalls his mix of embarrassment and delight. Embarrassment which prompted him to hide with Julie Christie during the premiere of Far From the Madding Crowd, which flopped badly in the United States. His other films include Gorky Park, The Englishman Abroad, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Marathon Man and Yanks. He regrets the move to the conglomerate ownership of Hollywood which has replaced ‘crazy moguls who believed in the artist’ with ‘frightened committees’ and ‘grey-suited gentlemen…[who] are scared of enthusiasm and passion’. Decisions about scripts as well as funding are harder to secure now. Britain's film industry faces difficulties but the author argues that these are overstated.
Keywords: television, films, film industry, United States, Britain, Hollywood, scripts, funding, Midnight Cowboy, Marathon Man
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- Title Pages
- Acknowledgements
- Foreword
- Introduction
- TV Drama: The Case against Naturalism
- Naturalism and Television
- Taboos in Television
- Signposting Television in the 1980s: The Fourth Television
- Television Drama, Censorship and the Truth
- The Day after Tomorrow: The Future of Electronic Publishing
- The Primacy of Programmes in the Future of Broadcasting
- Reflections on Working in Film and Television
- ‘Opening up the Fourth Front’: Micro Drama and the Rejection of Naturalism
- Power and Pluralism in Broadcasting
- Ethics, Broadcasting and Change: The French Experience
- Freedom in Broadcasting
- Deregulation and Quality Television
- The Future of Television: Market Forces and Social Values
- The Future of the BBC
- Occupying Powers
- A Culture of Dependency: Power, Politics and Broadcasters
- Talent versus Television
- A Glorious Future: Quality Broadcasting in the Digital Age
- Rewarding Creative Talent: The Struggle of the Independents
- Television versus the People
- Public-Interest Broadcasting: A New Approach
- A Time for Change
- The Soul of British Television
- Television's Creative Deficit
- Freedom of Choice: Public-Service Broadcasting and the BBC
- First Do No Harm
-
Appendix A Edinburgh International Television Festival, 29 August-2 September 1977: Programme -
Appendix B - Index