Boxed in: Covid-19, comedy, and a captive audience

Abstract

This article considers the place of screenwriting practice in relation to comedic television projects created during an extended lockdown period in Australia and internationally. During times of global disruption, society has repeatedly relied on the literary and performing arts to entertain and inform. I will use the television series Retrograde (2020) as a case study to consider screenwriters’ resilience during times of turbulence and unrest and how they were able to create television in isolation to deliver comic relief to an online audience. Retrograde was written and produced entirely online in direct response to the restriction of movement and face-to-face interactions imposed due to the global Covid-19 pandemic. The comedic television show was written for a multiscreen performance and features a predominantly female writing team and cast. It is set in the online video conferencing space, which many have become accustomed to using for educational, professional, and social encounters during lockdown. Retrograde’s characters depict the intersection of cultures of disability, sexuality, gender, race, and class, with the shared experience of being stuck at home, alone together. The Retrograde project proves intercultural representations can flourish within screenwriting practice when given the opportunity, and intermedial collaboration is possible despite the imposed hindrance of isolation.