Outputs

This book presents a compelling case for a paradigmatic shift in the analysis of television drama production that recentres questions of power, control and sustainability.

Television drama production has become an increasingly lucrative global export business as drama enjoys increased prestige and strategic value. However, this book argues that the growing emphasis on international markets and global players such as Netflix and Amazon Prime neglects the realities of commissioning and making television drama in specific national and regional contexts.

Drawing on extensive empirical research, Producing British Television Drama demonstrates the centrality of public service broadcasters in serving audiences and sustaining the commercial independent sector in a digital age.

It attends closely to three elements—the role of place in the production of content; the experiences of those working in the sector; and the interventions from cultural intermediaries in articulating and ascribing value to television drama. With chapters examining the evolution of British TV drama, as well as what might be in store in its future, this book offers invaluable insights into the UK as a major supplier of and market for television drama.

This essay will examine the role of publicly-funded film funds in small nations during the pandemic. Organisation like Det Danske Filminstitut, Hrvatski Audiovizualni Centar, Screen Scotland and Screen Ireland exist to support filmmakers in the realisation of their creative vision, to aid the circulation of national cultural resources and to provide audiences with the opportunity to access a diverse array of films. In small nations they are often the primary source of funding to the sector and so play a key role in building the capacity and international visibility of the nation and its film output.

As television production becomes increasingly global, television studies must advance its understanding of how the global and the local intersect and impact upon the cultures of production. Drawing on original comparative research of three small European nations – Denmark, Ireland and Wales – this article offers empirical insights into the distinct challenges and opportunities for non-Anglophone producers and public service broadcasters (PSBs). The concept of small nations is employed critically to reveal how distinctions of scale and power make a tangible difference to how television is produced and distributed, and to how smaller, national PSBs are trying to secure a sustainable future.

This chapter identifies asymmetries of power in the network society and analyses the place of public service media therein. In doing so, we draw upon two bodies of literature – theoretical considerations of small nations, and minority-language media studies – which rarely inform international debates about the digital horizons of public service media. Through critical discussion of some of the digital myths that circulate in industry and academic discourse, we argue for greater attention to how the inequalities of global power that characterise the network society are negotiated. Using empirical research on and with TG4, the Irish language broadcaster and S4C, the Welsh language broadcaster, we demonstrate how digital platforms can, and already do, help achieve objectives that are core to public service broadcasting’s public purpose. However, significant structural issues remain which require careful intervention from policy-makers to ensure linguistic vibrancy and media plurality.

For small nations, the television industry functions on a number of interlinking levels constructing a sense of identity, contributing towards a democratic public sphere, and providing an important cultural and economic resource. Television drama is particularly important to these functions due to its ability to tell stories about and for a nation. However, the ecology of television drama production is changing in terms of technological innovation, greater competition, downward pressure on costs, and evolving audience consumption patterns. Set within this context, this article investigates the television industry of a particular small nation, Wales, and its most recent creative infrastructure project, the BBC’s Roath Lock Studios. One of the key features of the Welsh production ecology is mobility, and the authors frame this research around three aspects of mobility, which condition the making of television drama: how production and symbolic value are mobilized in small nations, the consequences of production mobility between regions and nations, and the impetus for content mobility through the international sale of series and formats. These forms of mobility are intimately linked to the negotiation of power, which circumscribes all indigenous drama production, but which may be felt more acutely by smaller nations where access to talent, greater limits on resources and questions of sustainability condition the everyday realities of television professionals. Using interviews with key stakeholders in the field of television drama production in Wales, this article argues that the voice and lived experience of television practitioners and stakeholders is a vital element in the academic critique of cultural and industrial developments in television production. The research suggests that Roath Lock would seem to be a success within its principal term of reference, which is to house more efficient and well-made drama for the BBC network and for S4C. On a more subjective level, it has been used by a variety of stakeholders to create positive perceptions of Welsh creative industries and ‘put Wales on the map’, to compete with other locales within and outside the United Kingdom, for international productions, capital investment, talent and industry legitimacy. However, real concerns remain about whether it enables drama production that adequately represents contemporary life in Wales, and delivers on the cultural aspirations of television workers and viewers.

In 2019 the Culture, Welsh Language and Communications Committee of the Welsh Assembly convened an inquiry in order to provide evidence from a Welsh perspective to Ofcom’s ‘Small Screen, Big Debate‘ review.

Ruth and Caitriona were invited by the Committee to give oral evidence based on the research they have conducted on the enduring significance and value of local production in the face of global players and transnational market dynamics.  They also spoke to some of the challenges for building a sustainable local production culture.

Their evidence can be viewed and read here.

In 2019 the House of Lords Communications and Digital Committee published its report ‘Public Service Broadcasting: as Vital as Ever’, offering strong support for the continued provision of Public Service Broadcasting (PSB) in the UK by reiterating its social, cultural and economic value. However, the report also argued that safeguarding the future of PSB will require substantial changes in its provision.

In the months leading up to the launch of the report in November, the Committee reviewed the challenges facing PSB in the age of subscription video on demand services (SVOD). The Committee gathered oral and written evidence from a range of stakeholders, including all the UK’s Public Service Broadcasters, Ofcom, Netflix, Amazon and Apple, along with key voices from the production and distribution sector.

Caitriona submitted evidence to this report and met with the Committee Chair to discuss the value of PSB providers such as BBC and S4C to local production ecologies.

Caitriona also wrote a blog reflecting on the significance of the report and that can be read here.

In 2018 Ofcom, the UK’s communications regulator announced a review of regional production and regional programming guidance for public service broadcasters. The aim was to gather data and stakeholder views on the state of the production sector in the nations and regions and the impact of the current guidance on the delivery of regional productions and regional programming. The information collected will be used to help develop specific proposals on changes to the guidance. Caitriona’s evidence to the review can be found at the link above under ‘Full Article’ and a link to the call for evidence is available here.

In this post, we give a brief snapshot of how screen agencies are responding to the crisis and the support they are offering to the film and television production sector at this time. We also look to the future and the role they might play in the restoration of the sector.

The Independent Cinema Office, the UK’s national body for exhibitors, conducted a survey to see how the sector responded to the immediate crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic and to the widespread closure of cinemas. The findings are sobering with 37% of cinemas having made or expecting to make redundancies, and the majority of independent cinemas estimating they will only be able to pay their staff at current levels of support for 2-3 months.

This blog considers the challenges and opportunities for the exhibition sector as cinemas begin the process of reopening. It also looks at the long-term impact of 2020 and how changes in distribution practices and consumer behaviour will alter the entire landscape for film exhibition.