What is a series author?

Abstract

This article discusses authorship in contemporary audiovisual series, investigating how the notion, which is discursively constituted, legitimates the series artistically and proposes approaches for criticism and forms of interaction for viewers. The article recovers the debate on the politics of authors in Cahiers du Cinèma and the concept in literature, to examine the use and functions of authorship in television and streaming context, in which the figure of the showrunner emerges. The article points out some forms of authorship in contemporary
series and examines, in the case of the showrunner, how authorship can sometimes be constructed as a brand, by symbolically transferring its signature to works created collectively. Through analysis of the authorship attributed to Mike Flanagan, the article discusses how critics and viewers recognize in the showrunner a stylistic and thematic unit responsible for the narrative. The findings show that Flanagan projects himself as an author across various digital platforms by commenting on the production of his works and answering audiences questions; in critical discourse, authorship is attributed primarily through the recognition of stylistic elements in the series. The authorial attribution in series is then problematized: the question is whether, while artistically distinguishing and legitimizing the serial form, the notion of author, linked to a conception of work, does not end up erasing important attributes related to the complex and collective creation of series and their circulation.