Parallel Worlds: the Press on Stage and Screen A comparative exploration of television screenwriting and playwriting

This thesis is a creative and comparative investigation into writing for drama and television versus the stage. It comprises two original scripts, which each offer a different treatment for a different medium of the same story: BRIEF LIES, a drama set in the world of the Press in the early 21st century, examining the increasing pressures on journalists in the face of the internet and the digital revolution. The first script of BRIEF LIES is a 50-minute television episode, intended as the pilot first episode of a six-part series. The second script of BRIEF LIES is an original full length stage play. This is followed by three chapters: the first chapter examines the treatment of the Press and newspapers on television, and asks how the possibilities and constraints of that medium have influenced the depiction of journalists and the Press on the small screen. The second chapter examines representations of journalists and newspapers on the stage, and discusses how the medium of theatre shapes the portrayal of the moral and ethical questions surrounding journalists and news media. The third chapter reflects on the two scripts included in this thesis, and investigates the different processes of writing for stage and screen. The chapter uncovers how each medium influenced and produced a different work, even as the same essential story was being treated.