iieiiei1eWrkers - Leicester Research Archive - University of Leicester

As the competition for larger audience intensified however, so the ideology and
practice of creative activity in the enterpreneurial organisation became more
problematic. Although script writers were installed, the owners continued to
play the heroes and heroines in most major companies such as; Nilikanon,
Atchawadi, Ampanyut, Ketthip and Siam '81. Moreover, in all of the present
companies. except for Ketthip, directing is also done by the owners. Script
writers, minor actors and sound technicians are relegated to the status of
cultural workers who are hired for their skills and not for their artistic
creativity. As a result, their autonomy is relatively limited as Sida Wisanupob,
one of Kettip's script writer put it;2
"My work is confined within the original plot and i/ic require/lie/it of
the company. In my capacity I can expand the detail or add SO/flC
positive messages. But thai is all.
Although dependence on materials taken from novels, serials, and films, helps to
guarantee the success of the production it also aggravates the issue of creative
autonomy within the organisation. Script writers are not prohibited from
creating their own stories as such. However, the compression of the production
schedules coupled with a star system that emphasise the actors, constrains any
significant development of original works.
The drama companies are also trapped in this dilemma. While original
production is structurally constrained, reliance on other sources is no longcr
quite the guarantee of commercial success it was in the past. To reduce the
chances of risk, stories are chosen from the more successful writers in the
women magazines. This results in a predictable and uncompetitive product.
The problem is further exacerbated in at least two ways. Production companies
constantly come under fire from critics for basing the majority of their output
on romance, the 'pollutants' of the literary world (Sivai'ak, 1983). Secondly,
after the advent of television and its popularisation in the late I 970s. radio
drama had to concentrate even more on economic success in order to survive.
Unlike the music industry, it is unable to maintain a secondai'y sector of
'quality' production oriented to prestige and offering opportunities for artistic
creativity (Murdock, 1980). The strengthening of the stai' system is a necessary
response to these economic pressures but it deepens the division between ci'eative
activity and commercialism.
2 Interview, September, 1984, quoted in Pitipatanakosil's "Lakorn Witayu"
(Radio Drama), Faculty of Communication Arts, Chulalongkorn University,
Bangkok.
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