*CFP* "THE WORKS OF JANE ANDERSON", SCREEN STORYTELLING EDITED VOLUME

This edited volume on the works of Jane Anderson will be the first book in a new series to be published by Bloomsbury Academic. Seeking 250-word abstracts for essays on Anderson’s films, television programs, or plays. Final essays will be 3,000-3,500 words, written for an audience of undergraduate and graduate students, and will be due early 2022.

The Screen Storytelling series is designed for students, professors, and enthusiastic consumers of film, television, and new media who seek information about contemporary and historically significant screenwriters that is both accessible and critically rigorous. The intention with this new series is to bring much-deserved attention to screenwriters who have developed noteworthy films and television series of significant aesthetic or cultural achievement, critical acclaim, or commercial success, and to offer close readings of the films and series from the perspective of story, screenwriting craft, audience reception, and cultural impact. The goal is to help students learn the craft of screen storytelling by critically examining the collected works of great film and television writers.

 

The Works of Jane Anderson

Jane Anderson has eleven produced films and television movies and miniseries, spanning 1993 – 2018, as well as a documentary and a number of award-winning plays, some of which she adapted for the screen. Her work has left an important imprint on film and television movie history to date; yet there are few pieces of critical writing about her films. Most of Anderson’s screen stories center on complicated female protagonists, and most explore themes to do with navigating complex familial relationships, including marriage, same-sex partnerships, and motherhood. Adaptation is a critical aspect of Anderson’s screen work as she tends to adapt novels written by other female authors or her own plays.

I welcome contributions from scholars of film, television, theatre, or popular culture, as well as working practitioners, including screenwriters, filmmakers, and playwrights. Essays may explore individual works for film, television, or stage, or may interrogate a single theme, question, or construct across multiple works. Though I expect most essays will offer a critical analysis of Anderson’s work so readers can expand their knowledge and understanding of the screenwriting craft, several essays in this volume will include historically sophisticated commentaries, exploring Anderson’s career through the lens of production, reception, and creative collaborations and dynamics. I am also seeking an essay on the art of adaptation, taking a deep dive into several of Anderson’s adapted works for the screen, and I am seeking an essay on Anderson’s writing for early television. (I am particularly interested in her sitcom Raising Miranda and her contributions to The Hidden Room. I will work to get copies of these.)

At this stage, I have colleagues writing on The Wife, Olive Kitteridge, and How to Make an American Quilt. I aim to include one essay on each of Anderson’s key works, including The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom, It Could Happen to You, The Baby Dance, If These Walls Could Talk 2, When Billie Beat Bobby, Normal, and The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio.

Please submit a 250-word abstract along with a 150-word biographical statement to Anna Weinstein (aweinst6@kennesaw.edu) by July 15, 2021. Please title the subject line of your email: Abstract – The Works of Jane Anderson.