Queer Stories in Australian TV Drama: Production Culture, Policy, and Distribution (Routledge Advances in Television Studies)

As screen scholars and practitioners grapple with growing expectations for onscreen diversity, this book examines how such expectations manifest through hidden production processes for queer stories in Australian scripted television. Through analysis of 18 original interviews with Australian television industry professionals, along with political-economic, content, and textual analysis of queer television content from 2011-2021, this book demonstrates how Australian television’s once-pervasive industry perceptions that queer stories would not appeal to broad audiences changed throughout the decade.It traces the lifecycle of scripted television projects across all stages of television production from development to distribution.This book examines how queer representations are negotiated by creatives and executives for distribution through mainstream television networks.While recent Australian hits, such as Heartbreak High (Netflix) and Deadloch (Amazon Prime Video) appear to support the