Transforming screenwriting practice through doctoral research: reflections on post-PhD creative and industry practice

A PhD is regarded as the highest level of academic achievement in the developed world. Its name alone – Doctor of Philosophy – depicts status throughout academia across all disciplines, predominantly as having discovered significant new knowledge. As well as a recognized qualification for entry into academic employment, the PhD also takes creative and professional forms that directly inform careers and influence future practice. In this way, a PhD has various transformative qualities – of knowledge, of practice, and for the graduate, of the way they think about and operate in the world. A collaboration between a group of screenwriting PhD graduates, current candidates, and supervisors, this article reflects on the role that research plays in expanding and, in some cases, transforming creative and industry practice. These reflections are explicit in their responses that the academy offers creative relief from industry, and that the screenwriter’s resulting craft is imbued with a different way of being through the process of scholarly research and reflection. Not merely preoccupied with developing significant new knowledge, the screenwriting practice PhD can open up new ways of working that are both personal and professional.