What does the rise of algorithms and data analytics mean for European screen production? This paper examines the experiences of screenwriters, producers, and directors who have collaborated with data-driven streamers like Netflix and Amazon. The findings arise from on an exploration of the following research questions: (1) How do screen workers engage with broader debates about the impact of data-driven streamers (e.g. Netflix and Amazon) on the European screen industry? (2) How do screen workers make sense of their labour conditions and creativity in a streaming era? (3) How do screen workers evaluate the look, feel, and quality of the resulting streaming output? To answer these questions, I mix concepts and methods from media industry studies, production studies, critical data studies, and critical algorithm studies. The project takes the form of a production study that examines how screen workers negotiate the production dynamics in a streaming era. More specifically, I have interviewed 33 screen workers and carried out what Sherry Ortner (2010) calls an ‘interface ethnography.’ My findings especially focus on the multiple barriers to access – for me as a researcher as well as for the interviewed screen workers. It is well established that streamers like Netflix and Amazon hold audience figures and insights close to their chest. This paper demonstrates some of the ways screen workers interpret and interact with data despite this secrecy. Drilling down into these experiences will illuminate how screen workers make sense of their labour conditions and content output in a streaming era.
Films and television series you watch online are watching you back. Algorithms and data analytics are making deeper inroads into film and television production in Europe: Belgian company ScriptBook offers data-driven script analysis and automated story generation, which the company sees as co-authorship between humans and machines. At the same time, data-driven streamers like Netflix and Amazon are investing heavily in local-language content. This paper examines how these developments affect creative labour in the European screen industry. More specifically, it zooms in on the development stage and the experiences of screenwriters, directors, and producers. What do audience data and algorithmic tools add to the creative process? What are the possibilities and limitations? Questions like these call for a robust theoretical and methodological toolbox, which synthesises concepts and methods from media industry studies, critical algorithm studies, and critical data studies. This research project explores the influence of algorithms and data analytics on both a macro-level (changing industry structures) and micro-level (creative practices of screenwriters and producers). The analysis is based on data from three registers: semi-structured interviews with screen workers, ethnographic field observation, and industry trade publications. These empirical data have been gathered online and offline in several European countries. In sum, this paper presents some preliminary observations of European screen production in an algorithmic culture - and how it is perceived by the people who produce the stories that land on our screens.
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