Cal and I were just recently discussing the woeful state of television
    studies of non-fiction television.  We thought we might open the
    discussion up to SCREEN-L-ites.
 
    And we pick up the thread right about here:
 
And if tv studies is a babe in arms, documentary may be something left at
the curb for trash-pickers.  The first years following the development of
the technology of direct cinema (i.e. post-1960) were dynamic and exciting
for docu.  Subsequently most "documentary" that I see 'round-and-about is
derivative of tv journalism.  There are historical reasons for this, though.
 
Until the late 'sixties the old studio system still prevailed; there was no
cross-over from documentary in the United States.  Post-Coppola the "studios"
discovered film school graduates and the whole system opened up, so that one
could do documentary to keep in practice, but the goal was the BIGTIME.
 
As a result, there are few people dedicated to documentary solely.  Or more
precisely there are the people who look to Hollywood and the people who look
to tv journalism (NOVA and AMERICAN EXPERIENCE included).
 
Cal Pryluck, Radio-Television-Film, Temple University, Philadelphia
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