Motion pictures are made, not mass produced, requiring a remarkable collection of skills, self-discipline, and sociality—all of which are sources of enormous pride among Hollywood’s craft and creative workers. The interviews collected here showcase the ingenuity, enthusiasm, and aesthetic pleasures that attract people to careers in the film and television industries. They also reflect critically on changes in the workplace brought about by corporate conglomeration and globalization. Rather than offer publicity-friendly anecdotes by marquee celebrities, Voices of Labor presents off-screen observations about the everyday realities of Global Hollywood. Ranging across job categories—from showrunner to make-up artist to location manager—this collection features voices of labor from Los Angeles, Atlanta, Prague, and Vancouver. Together they show how seemingly abstract concepts like conglomeration, financialization, and globalization are crucial tools for understanding contemporary Hollywood and for reflecting more generally on changes and challenges in the screen media workplace and our culture at large. Despite such formidable concerns, what nevertheless shines through is a commitment to craftwork and collaboration that provides the means to imagine and instigate future alternatives for screen media labor.
Edited by:
Michael Curtin,
Kevin Sanson
Imprint: University of California Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions:
Height: 229mm,
Width: 152mm,
Spine: 15mm
Weight: 408g
ISBN: 9780520295438
ISBN 10: 0520295439
Pages: 284
Publication Date: 03 March 2017
Audience:
General/trade
,
College/higher education
,
Professional and scholarly
,
ELT Advanced
,
Primary
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Acknowledgments 1. Listening to Labor by Michael Curtin and Kevin Sanson Company Town 2. Editors' Introduction 3. Mara Brock Akil, showrunner 4. Tom Schulman, screenwriter 5. Allison Anders, director 6. Lauren Polizzi, art director 7. Mary Jane Fort, costume designer 8. Anonymous, makeup artist 9. Stephen Lighthill, cinematographer 10. Calvin Starnes, grip 11. Steve Nelson, sound recordist 12. Rob Matsuda, musician Global Machine 13. Editors' Introduction 14. Anonymous, studio production executive 15. David Minkowski, service producer 16. Adam Goodman, service producer 17. Stephen Burt, production manager 18. Belle Doyle, location manager 19. Wesley Hagan, location manager Fringe City 20. Editors' Introduction 21. Scott Ross, VFX manager 22. Dave Rand, VFX artist 23. Mariana Acuna-Acosta, VFX artist 24. Daniel Lay, VFX artist 25. Steve Kaplan, union official 26. Dusty Kelly, union official Appendix: Interview Schedule
Michael Curtin is Duncan and Suzanne Mellichamp Professor of Film and Media Studies and director of the Global Dynamics Initiative at University of California, Santa Barbara. Kevin Sanson is a lecturer in the Creative Industries Faculty at Queensland University of Technology and managing editor of Media Industries.
Reviews for Voices of Labor: Creativity, Craft, and Conflict in Global Hollywood
“In this volume, we find the off-screen workers talking with love and excitement about their craft, the skill taken to accomplish a task, and the precarious condition they now confront in Global Hollywood due to diffusion of labour. …The book stands out for being an exercise in method—how extensive and in-depth field interviews can illuminate certain conceptual interests of screen studies.” * Synoptique: An Online Journal of Film and Moving Image Studies *
