CfP: Creative Accounting: British Producers, British Screens

Creative Accounting: British Producers, British Screens
Two day conference, University of the West of England (Bristol), UK
19-20 April 2011
Deadline for proposals: 30 November 2010

“Even the title of ‘producer’ has become diluted, where not denigrated. And the
producer’s
‘personal touch’ is largely missing in films of late”. (Michael Klinger, 1972)

The role of the producer has historically been sidelined, or even ignored, by Film
Studies. When not ignored, the producer is often unfairly characterised as a brutish
philistine interfering in the creative process, concerned only with the bottom line.
Indeed, one could argue that even such an unflattering stereotype finds its source in
American popular culture, thereby demonstrating how ill-defined the British producer is.
This proposed two day conference will seek to investigate the role of the British screen
producer. It is organised by Andrew Spicer and Anthony McKenna as part of an AHRC-funded
Research Project investigating the career of Michael Klinger (1960-1985). The two-year
project sits within the Faculty of Creative Arts, University of the West of England, and
is supported by the project partners: School of Creative Arts, Film and Media,
University of Portsmouth.  The conference will work with a broad definition of “British”
in order to encompass British producers working outside the British industry, and
overseas producers working in the British industry. Similarly, contributors will not be
restricted to cinema, but encouraged to discuss the producer’s role in television and
new media. The overarching aim will be to re-examine concepts of agency within Screen
Studies that have hitherto over-privileged the role of the director.

Papers addressing, but not restricted to, the following topics are welcome:
·         The British producer and national cinema
·         The creative role of the producer
·         The auteur producer
·         The studio (contract) producer
·         The executive producer
·         The independent/entrepreneurial producer
·         The international British producer
·         The genre producer
·         The television series producer
·         The documentary producer
·         The producer’s role in New Media/digital cinema
·         The micro budget producer
·         Theorising the producer
·         Research methodologies (including the role of archives and archival research)

The intention is to publish a selection of the papers in an edited collection.

Abstracts – no more than 250 words – along with contact details and institutional
affiliation, should be sent to britishproducers AT gmail.com.