Universitat Internacional de Catalunya
Entertainment Writing
Teaching staff
Appointments can be set up by e-mail (igaravis@uic.es).
Introduction
Entertainment Writing is an elective module offered to third-year students enrolled in the B.A. in Audiovisual Communication. It is a 4-credit (ECTS) module, and it is taught during the second semester (January-May).
Entertainment Writing focuses on analysing entertainment formats in the current TV landscape, from the perspective of their narrative and creative development. This module is divided in three distinct sections:
- During the first few weeks, students will conduct a comprehensive review of the different genres that can be found within the televisual macro-genre of entertainment.
- Then, students will learn about the creative writing processes of the entertainment industry, including the practices and essential tools used by television writers.
- Finally, students will apply all their acquired knowlegde in the development of their final project: creating their own original entertainment format for television.
Pre-course requirements
Students should have taken modules like Audiovisual Narrative and Television Formats, or similar subjects within those academic fields.
Objectives
- Students will discover the basic narrative components of entertainment formats. Furthermore, they will develop their critical thinking skills by reflecting on how stories are told in TV formats, as well as on the social and cultural role that these formats might play in our contemporary world.
- Students will become familiar with different genres and types of entertainment formats, being able to identify their main narrative traits.
- Students will learn about the different professional roles involved in the development and the writing process of entertainment formats (such as analysts and writers).
- Students will acquire basic knowledge about the different creative processes involved in the development of entertainment formats for television. They will apply that knowledge by creating their own entertainment format as a final project for this module.
- Students will become aware of the global format trade that defines the current television industry, and they will analyse various case studies from different geo-linguistic territories.
- Students will be able to identify new trends (hybridization of genres and formats, media convergence, new platforms) that have a clear impact on the development of entertainment content in the current media landscape.
Competences/Learning outcomes of the degree programme
- 01 - The ability to adapt to varying circumstances
- 06 - The ability to develop academic rigour, responsibility, ethics and professionalism
- 07 - The ability to apply the deontology and respect for the audiovisual sector
- 08 - The ability of critical analysis, synthesis, concretion and abstraction
- 11 - The ability to generate debate and reflection
- 13 - The ability to create spoken and written communication
- 14 - Knowledge and mastery of rhetoric and oratory to communicate own ideas
- 16 - The ability to manage, analysis and reflect on content
- 19 - The ability of informative documentation
- 20 - Knowledge and mastery of bibliographic media
- 22 - Knowledge and mastery of the distinction between opinion and information / colloquial and cultured register
- 25 - The ability to maximize creative development
- 26 - The ability to develop a sense of taste and perfection in the aesthetics and finalization of projects
- 27 - The ability to adapt to distinct audio visual publics and markets.
- 30 - The ability to study the feasibility of an audiovisual product
- 31 - The ability to understand the financial systems of media groups and companies.
- 37 - The ability to contextualize and critically analyze the organizational structure of global communication
- 38 - The ability to understand and apply the structure of the audiovisual system
- 39 - The ability to understand and apply the legal dimension of an audiovisual product
- 41 - The ability to know how the distinct elemental agencies of the audio visual sector function
- 42 - The ability to distinguish, analyze and dominate the distinct genres and formats of television, film and radio
- 50 - The ability to adapt, understand and apply the expressive possibilities of new technologies and future changes
- 51 - Knowledge and mastery of the functioning of Corporate and Institutional Communication.
- 53 - Lingustic ability in Catalan, Spanish and English
- 54 - The ability to skillfully manage the literature, terminology and linguistic structures of the English language related to the field of communication.
Learning outcomes of the subject
By taking this module, students will not only develop a critical, narrative viewpoint to analyse entertainment formats; they will also acquire the necessary practices and tools to develop this type of content for television. The theoretical concepts covered in class, combined with the practical development of their own format and with guest lectures from professional speakers, will provide students with a global and comprehensive vision of how stories are crafted in the entertainment industry.
Syllabus
- Main traits of entertainment in television
- What is a format? Genre / format / programme
- Contests: quiz shows, game shows, talent shows
- Day-time talk shows and late night shows
- Reality shows, docuseries, docushows
- Comedy formats
- Other genres
- Conflict and dramatic tension
- Characters, plots and story
- Dynamizing turning points
- Other narrative tools
- Development phase: R+D+I analysts, format developers
- Production phase: Writers, content researchers
- Developing a new format from scratch
- The global format trade: Acquisition and adaptation of international formats
- The "paper format"
- The outline
- The script
Teaching and learning activities
In person
| TRAINING ACTIVITY | ECTS CREDITS |
| Lectures. In lectures, lecturers/professors not only transmit content or knowledge, but also, and above all else, attitudes, motivation, skills and values, etc. They also ensure that participants can express their opinions and arguments to the other students. | 1 |
| Focused Praxis. Handing in occasional exercises to learn theory through practice. | 1 |
| Meeting Point. Meetings will be organised with notable people from the professional and scientific fields or the international field, and students. These sessions will take the form of conferences, work sessions, discussions, or interviews, etc. | 0,6 |
| Practical workshop. A highly practical working activity, where students can acquire skills that are practical or also theoretical (intellectual skills, logical skills, critical skills, intellectual learning skills, study skills, quoting skills, etc). | 1,4 |
Evaluation systems and criteria
In person
First assessment (May)
50% Final project. Creating and developing an entertainment format. Students will work in groups, and they must hand in the following documents/items:
- The paper format.
- The promo / demo (video).
- The outline for the pilot episode.
- The first pages of the pilot script.
Each group will present their project on the last day of class, during a pitching session. The final grade will also take into consideration the group's continuous evaluation throughout the semester.
40% Theoretical assessment: final exam.
10% Class attendance and participation.
In order to pass this module, students must get a passing grade in both the final project and the final exam.
Second assessment (June)
If a student fails this module, they will only have to retake the part of the course (project or exam) in which they got a failing grade.
Third assessment
100% Final exam.
Bibliography and resources
Mandatory bibliography
Students will be expected to read a series of texts (academic articles, press articles, book chapters), which will be uploaded to the module's Blackboard / Moodle webpage.
Recommended bibliography
In English
AVEYARD, Karina; MORAN, Albert y JENSEN, Pia Majbritt (eds.) New Patterns in Global Television Formats (Intellect, 2016).
CHALABY, Jean K. The Format Age. Television's Entertainment Revolution (Polity Press, 2016).
MORAN, Albert. Copycat TV: Globalisation, Program Formats and Cultural Identity (University of Luton Press, 1998).
MORAN, Albert y MALBON, Justin. Understanding the Global TV Format (Intellect, 2006).
MORAN, Albert (ed.) TV Formats Worldwide: Localizing Global Programs (Intellect, 2010).
OREN, Tasha y SHAHAF, Sharon (eds.). Global Television Formats: Understanding Television Across Borders (Routledge, 2012).
VVAA. TV Formats: History, Theory, Industry and Audiences. Monographic issue of Critical Studies in Television, edited by Andrea Esser (Vol. 8 nº 2, 2013).
In Spanish and/or Catalán
GORDILLO, Inmaculada. La hipertelevisión: géneros y formatos (Editorial Quipus - Ciespal, 2009).
GUERRERO, Enrique. Guion y producción de programas de entretenimiento (Eunsa, 2013).
GUERRERO, Enrique. El entretenimiento en la televisión española. Historia, industria y mercado (Deusto, 2010).
GUITIÁN, Tonino. El guionista no es el asesino (Gedisa, 2008).
LACALLE, Charo. El espectador televisivo: Los programas de entretenimiento (Gedisa, 2001).
SALÓ, Gloria. ¿Qué es eso del formato? Cómo nace y se desarrolla un programa de televisión (Gedisa, 2003).
SANGRO, Pedro y SALGADO, Alejandro. El entretenimiento en TV: guion y creación de formatos de humor en España (Laertes, 2008).
TOLEDO, Sergio. Cómo crear un programa de TV: La creatividad y su aplicación a lo audiovisual (Laertes, 2012).
VIOLÁN GALÁN, Enric. Com fer un programa per a televisió: l’elaboració del projecte, de la idea a l’emisió (Edicions Universitat Barcelona, 2008).
VVAA. Televisió d’entreteniment o entretenir-se a la televisió. Monográfico de la revista Trípodos, nº 27, 2011. Enlace: http://www.raco.cat/index.php/TRIPODOS/issue/view/17548/showToc.