Abstract
An increasing number of films and TV shows across diverse genres are portraying mental health issues, from Homeland, United States of Tara, Please Like Me and 13 Reasons Why, to Little Miss Sunshine, Mental and Split. While some have been welcomed as sensitive and empathetic portrayals, others have proved controversial, prompting debate about screen producers’ ethical responsibilities. To explore this debate and, specifically, the role of writers in developing scripts about mental health issues, this chapter examines the case study of Mindframe for Stage and Screen, a collaboration between the Australian Writers’ Guild and mental health organisations SANE Australia and Everymind. First developed in 2007, Mindframe’s guidelines are internationally recognised as best practice for responsible and accurate portrayals of mental ill-health and suicide. Mindframe provides resources to support writers during script development, including access to research, expert advice and lived experiences. These resources are critical for developing scripts that move beyond stereotypes towards portrayals that are original, innovative and authentic.
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Notes
- 1.
See Hopgood (2019) for an overview of these debates regarding portrayals of mental health on screen.
- 2.
For example, in 2015 government agency Screen Australia published a report Gender Matters: Women in the Australian Screen Industry and established the Gender Matters suite of initiatives to address gender imbalance in the Australian screen industry (Screen Australia, n.d.). The following year, Screen Australia (2016) published another research report Reflections on Diversity in Australian TV Drama, which led to the formation of the Screen Diversity and Inclusion Network (SDIN). SDIN members include media organisations, screen agencies and industry guilds committed to diversity both on screen and behind the camera (Screen Australia, 2017). See also Quinn (2016) and Maddox (2017).
- 3.
For an example of how these issues are being discussed in the Australian screen industry, see the ACMI Conversations panel discussion “Mainstreaming disability and appearance diversity” (2018) with screenwriters and disability advocates hosted by the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI), available on YouTube.
- 4.
While issues of gender and race in the American industry, in both production roles and on-screen representations, have tended to dominate discussion in the mainstream media (see, for example, Levin, 2018), the impact of the diversity movement has extended to screen industries in other countries and includes aspects such as sexual orientation, disability, ethnicity and cultural background. For a global assessment of diversity on screen, see UNESCO’s information paper “Diversity and the film industry” (UNESCO Institute for Statistics, 2016).
- 5.
Among the show’s many accolades, in 2015 Thomas won the AACTA Award for Best Screenplay in Television for the season 2 episode “Scroggin” (episode 7) in which the characters of Josh (based on Thomas) and Rose (based on Thomas’ mother) spend the entire episode bushwalking and talking about Rose’s illness, how she feels about it and how Josh feels about his role as her carer.
- 6.
See, for example, the criticisms of the show in the Comments field of my article in The Conversation (Hopgood, 2018) following the broadcast of How “Mad” Are You? on SBS in October 2018.
- 7.
The Mindframe website notes that the booklet Mental Illness and Suicide: A Mindframe Resource for Stage and Screen “is in the process of being updated and rebranded” but it is still available for download as at 19 March 2020 from this URL: https://mindframe.org.au/industry-hubs/for-stage-and-screen/mindframe-guidelines.
- 8.
All quotations from workshop participants—both scriptwriters and people with lived experience—are presented anonymously in Mental Illness and Suicide: A Mindframe Resource for Stage and Screen (2007).
- 9.
Buchanan’s interview with Mindframe staff member Kim McNaughton (n.d.) is published on the Mindframe website as one of several downloadable resources in the Mindframe Industry Hub: For Stage and Screen.
- 10.
- 11.
For a detailed analysis of the responses to 13 Reasons Why from mental health organisations and people with lived experience, see Hopgood (2019).
- 12.
The Mindframe website uses data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics and provides a helpful overview of current statistics about mental illness and suicide, accompanied by the following advice: “It is important to remember that these numbers represent individuals families, carers, colleagues and communities impacted by mental ill-health each year in Australia” (retrieved from https://mindframe.org.au/mental-health/data-statistics).
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Acknowledgements
I wish to acknowledge the assistance of Elena Terol Sabino, Senior Project Officer, Mindframe for Stage and Screen at Everymind and Dr. Michelle Blanchard, Deputy CEO and Director of the Anne Deveson Research Centre at SANE Australia, who provided valuable support for my industry research for this chapter.
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Hopgood, F. (2021). Productive Interventions: Collaborative Script Development for Stories About Mental Health Issues and Suicide. In: Taylor, S., Batty, C. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Script Development. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-82234-7_32
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