Production studies: cultural studies of media industries

264 Pages·2014·2.754 MB·English

by  Banks, Miranda J.;Caldwell, John Thornton;Mayer, Vicki

Production Studies
“Behind-the-scenes”storiesofrantingdirectors,stingyproducers,temperamental
actors,andthelikehavefascinatedussincethebeginningsoffilmandtelevision.
Today,magazines,websites,televisionprograms,andDVDsaredevotedtotelling
tales of trade lore—from on-set antics to labor disputes.The production of media
has become as storied and mythologized as the content of the films andTV shows
themselves.
Production Studies is the first volume to bring together a star-studded cast of
interdisciplinarymediascholarstoexaminetheuniqueculturalpracticesofmedia
production.Theall-newessayscollectedherecombineethnographic,sociological,
critical, material, and political-economic methods to explore a wide range of
topics,fromcontemporaryindustrialtrendssuchasnewmediaandnichemarkets
togenderandworkplacehierarchies.Together,thecontributorsseektounderstand
how the entire span of“media producers”—ranging from high-profile producers
and directors to anonymous production assistants and costume designers—work
throughprofessionalorganizationsandinformalnetworkstoformcommunitiesof
sharedpractices,languages,andculturalunderstandingsoftheworld.
Thislandmarkcollectionconnectstheculturalactivitiesofmediaproducersto
ourbroaderunderstandingofmediapracticesandtexts,establishinganinnovative
and agenda-setting approach to media industry scholarship for the twenty-first
century.
Vicki Mayer isAssociate Professor of Communication atTulane University. She
is author of Producing Dreams,ConsumingYouth:MexicanAmericans and Mass Media as
well as Below the Line:Producers and Production Studies in the NewTelevision Economy
(forthcoming).
Miranda J. Banks isAssistant Professor ofVisual and MediaArts at Emerson
College.
JohnThorntonCaldwellisProfessorofFilm,Television,andDigitalMediaat
UCLA.Hehasauthoredandeditedseveralbooks,includingTelevisuality:Style,Crisis
andAuthority inAmericanTelevision,New Media:DigitextualTheories and Practices,and
ProductionCulture:IndustrialReflexivityandCriticalPracticeinFilmandTelevision.

Production Studies
Cultural Studies of Media Industries
Edited by
Vicki Mayer
Miranda J. Banks
John T. Caldwell
Firstpublished2009
byRoutledge
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ISBN 0-203-87959-7 Master e-book ISBN
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ISBN10:0-203-87959-7(ebk)
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ISBN13:978-0-415-99796-6(pbk)
ISBN13:978-0-203-87959-7(ebk)
Contents
Introduction:ProductionStudies:RootsandRoutes 1
VICKI MAYER, MIRANDA J. BANKS AND JOHN T. CALDWELL
PARTI
Histories of Media Production Studies 13
1 BringingtheSocialBackIn:StudiesofProduction
CulturesandSocialTheory 15
VICKI MAYER
2 Industry-LevelStudiesandtheContributionsof
Gitlin’sInsidePrimeTime 25
AMANDA D. LOTZ
3 LeoC.Rosten’sHollywood:Power,Status,andthe
PrimacyofEconomicandSocialNetworksinCultural
Production 39
JOHN L. SULLIVAN
4 PrivilegeandDistinctioninProductionWorlds:
Copyright,CollectiveBargaining,andWorking
ConditionsinMediaMaking 54
MATT STAHL
vi Contents
PARTII
Producers: Selves and Others 69
5 Self-ServeCelebrity:TheProductionofOrdinariness
andtheOrdinarinessofProductioninRealityTelevision 71
LAURA GRINDSTAFF
6 GenderBelow-the-Line: DefiningFeministProduction
Studies 87
MIRANDA J. BANKS
7 It’sNotTV,It’sBrandManagementTV:TheCollective
Author(s)oftheLostFranchise 99
DENISE MANN
8 ShowrunningtheDoctorWhoFranchise:AResponseto
DeniseMann 115
CHRISTINE CORNEA
PARTIII
Production Spaces: Centers and Peripheries 123
9 LiminalPlacesandSpaces:Public/Private
Considerations 125
CANDACE MOORE
10 “NotinKansasAnymore”:TransnationalCollaboration
inTelevisionScienceFictionProduction 140
JANE LANDMAN
11 CrossingtheBorder:StudyingCanadianTelevision
Production 154
ELANA LEVINE
12 BordersofProductionResearch:AResponseto
ElanaLevine 167
SERRA TINIC
Contents vii
PARTIV
Production as Lived Experience 173
13 StudyingSideways:EthnographicAccessinHollywood 175
SHERRY B. ORTNER
14 AudienceKnowledgeandtheEverydayLivesofCultural
ProducersinHollywood 190
STEPHEN ZAFIRAU
15 Lights,Camera,butWhere’stheAction?Actor-Network
TheoryandtheProductionofRobertConnolly’s
ThreeDollars 203
OLI MOULD
16 “BothSidesoftheFence”:BlurredDistinctionsin
ScholarshipandProduction(aPortfolioofInterviews) 214
JOHN T. CALDWELL
TheCraftAssociation 216
PAUL MALCOLM
HollywoodAssistanting 220
ERIN HILL
TheWriters’Room 224
FELICIA D. HENDERSON
SelectBibliography 231
ListofContributors 242
Index 246

Introduction
Production Studies: Roots and
Routes
Vicki Mayer, Miranda J. Banks and John T. Caldwell
Consider the following scenes drawn from popular media narratives of film and
television“producers”atwork:
Cruise glitzy LA withAri,Vince, Drama,Turtle, and Eric. Swerve into the
HollywoodfastlaneandhitLAhotspotswiththeEntourage gang.Giveyour
commentsandreviewsonallofthelocationsfeaturedintheshoworaddsome
ofyourownfavoritehaunts.1
“The realtor did say something about the house having been shown in the
opening shots of each episode ofThe MaryTyler Moore Show and that this was
where Mary supposedly lived.” […]The woman who lived there when the
show was first broadcast“was overwhelmed by the people showing up and
askingifMarywasaround,”Ms.[MaryTyler]Mooresaid.Whentheproducers
returned for fresh footage several seasons later,she said,the owner“had by
wayofretributiondrapedhuge‘ImpeachNixon’signsalloverthehouse.”2
GeorgeLucasreturnedtotheUnitedStatesafterprincipalshootinginTunisia
andBritainandalmostimmediatelycheckedhimselfintoahospitalbecausehe
thoughthewashavingaheartattack.Lucaswasunhappywiththeworkofthe
film’soriginaleditorinBritain,andhadtoscraphisworkentirely.3
Ann Donahue,executive producer of CSI and CSI:Miami [in a public event]:
“Sleep when you’re dead. [crowd applauds] Because you only get this—and
weknowthis—youonlygetthisonce.Andit’swhatyouwantedtodoyour
wholelife.”4
We frequently come to know about media producers and their work, ironically,
throughtherepresentationstheymake.Fromthe“makingof”videosthatcullDVD
customers to entertainment television tabloids that“report” on the excitement
on the sets, the non-fiction portrayals of production often reflect the drama of
some of their producers’best-known fictional works.5To wit:conflict and chaos