ABSTRACT
Studies of film reception generally consider the reactions to films after they are released, when audiences watch films on video or in cinemas. In this book I have highlighted how the process of reception begins earlier, when decision-makers who preside over the release of films watch the films (or read their scripts). In the USA and Britain, film is often recognized as a collective endeavour in which scriptwriters and directors as well as actors and others all have important negotiating parts (even if, in popular accounts, directors, studios or writers are privileged), and that is parallel, albeit different, to the sort of negotiation that takes place in Iran. In both cases, ‘common sense’ is being invoked, performed, and reformed, along with putative projections of what audiences (or, in Iran, political factions) will like or accept. In this sense, the problematic of reception begins with the submission of scripts, with the private showings of films to the various authorities to build a consensus that permits are (or are not) viable.
