Precarious creativity: Changing attitudes towards craft and creativity in the British independent television production sector

Lee, David John

doi:10.1386/cij.4.2.155_1

Cited by 19 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…PDs working for an organisation tend to regard royalties not as a financial reward but something close to an IR, which is associated with the honour or official recognition of their CC. This is in line with the general trend of cultural creators wanting to project their identity onto the CPRO (McRobbie, 2002;Lee, 2012;Elsbach, 2009;Hesmondhalgh & Baker, 2011;.…”

Section: Economic Stability Versus Sustainability Of "Enjoyment"supporting

confidence: 77%

The Content and Role of Intrinsic Motivation in Creative Work: The Importance of Seeking “Enjoyment”

2019

Creativity Studies

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The present paper assesses the “content” and “role” of intrinsic motivation during the creative production process. Based on semi-structured interviews with 16 light-entertainment television producers-directors in South Korea, it was observed that intrinsic motivation towards creative work included a desire to maintain enjoyment from such activities. Enjoyment was classified into two types: enjoyment based on job expectations and enjoyment based on the actualization of individual creative ambitions. Additionally, intrinsic motivation tended to provide a strong buffer against unfavourable working conditions that resulted from market principles (viewership ratings), economic stability, and work-life balance. Overall, the present results suggest that creative workers’ tendencies to endure various undesirable working conditions are based on a strong intrinsic motivation to maintain enjoyment from their career.

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Section: Economic Stability Versus Sustainability Of "Enjoyment"supporting

confidence: 77%

The Content and Role of Intrinsic Motivation in Creative Work: The Importance of Seeking “Enjoyment”

2019

Creativity Studies

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“…As Platman (2004) has observed, while the tendency towards non-standard work is visible across different industries, the CIs have long had characteristics that make workers especially prone to precarious situations. Creative workers experience employment insecurity and irregular income with periods of unemployment and under-employment (Lee, 2011). The number of part-time workers and freelancers is high ( Jeffcutt and Pratt, 2002) and competition for work is fierce.…”

Section: Precarious Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Creative industries work across multiple contexts: common themes and challenges

Hennekam

Bennett

2017

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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the precarious nature of creative industries (CIs) work in Australia, Canada and the Netherlands, with a focus on job security, initial and on-going training and education, and access to benefits and protection. Design/methodology/approach The paper reports from a largely qualitative study featuring an in-depth survey answered by 752 creative workers in the three locations. Findings Survey data identified common themes including an increase in non-standard forms of employment and the persistence of precarious work across the career lifespan; criticism of initial education and training with particular reference to business skills; the need for and challenges of life-long professional learning; and lack of awareness about and access to benefits and protection. Respondents also reported multiple roles across and beyond the CIs. Practical implications The presence of common themes suggests avenues for future, targeted creative workforce research and signals the need for change and action by CIs educators, policy makers and representative organizations such as trade unions. Originality/value While precarious labour is common across the CIs and has attracted the attention of researchers worldwide, a lack of comparative studies has made it difficult to identify themes or issues that are common across multiple locations.

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“…Creativity, among other non-pecuniary benefits, is a central feature drawing workers to seek employment in cultural industries (Lee, 2008;McRobbie, 2002;Neff et al, 2005). In the case of television production, Ursell notes that for freelance workers in the UK "expressions of pleasure, pride and possession most often attach to worker contributions to content, to the ideational, visual and/or aural qualities, of the piece being produced; their pleasure derives from the scope they are finding for aesthetic self-expression" (2000: 819).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dealing with reality: Market demands, artistic integrity, and identity work in reality television production

Wei

2012

Poetics

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Cultural industry workers at times compromise the values and tastes that are important parts of their artistic identities to accommodate commercial demands. I argue that workers resolve frustrations that arise from such compromises through identity work, individuals' active construction of their identities in social contexts. Using ethnographic data from fieldwork at a reality television production company, I describe two identity work strategies, distancing and evaluative tweaking, that workers use to maintain their artistic integrity despite producing work that does not meet their standards of quality. The manner through which these strategies emerged during micro social interaction differed between managers and non-managers. Managers used distancing and evaluative tweaking to simultaneously do identity work and regulate their employees' identities when justifying decisions that threatened shared values and tastes. On the other hand, employees distanced themselves from managers while venting to colleagues about managers' decisions that conflicted with their idiosyncratic values and tastes. These dynamics are illustrated through a setting that has received insufficient ethnographic attention, reality television production. Some reality television workers prefer to portray "real" and "authentic" situations. These workers employ identity work strategies to maintain artistic integrity when distorting reality to create the drama and conflict they consider marketable. AbstractCultural industry workers at times compromise the values and tastes that are important parts of their artistic identities to accommodate commercial demands. I argue that workers resolve frustrations that arise from such compromises through identity work, individuals' active construction of their identities in social contexts. Using ethnographic data from fieldwork at a reality television production company, I describe two identity work strategies, distancing and evaluative tweaking, that workers use to maintain their artistic integrity despite producing work that does not meet their standards of quality. The manner through which these strategies emerged during micro social interaction differed between managers and nonmanagers. Managers used distancing and evaluative tweaking to simultaneously do identity work and regulate their employees' identities when justifying decisions that threatened shared values and tastes. On the other hand, employees distanced themselves from managers while venting to colleagues about managers' decisions that conflicted with their idiosyncratic values and tastes. These dynamics are illustrated through a setting that has received insufficient ethnographic attention, reality television production. Some reality television workers prefer to portray "real" and "authentic" situations. These workers employ identity work strategies to maintain artistic integrity when distorting reality to create the drama and conflict they consider marketable.

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Precarious creativity: Changing attitudes towards craft and creativity in the British independent television production sector

Cited by 19 publications

References 7 publications

The Content and Role of Intrinsic Motivation in Creative Work: The Importance of Seeking “Enjoyment”

The Content and Role of Intrinsic Motivation in Creative Work: The Importance of Seeking “Enjoyment”

Creative industries work across multiple contexts: common themes and challenges

Dealing with reality: Market demands, artistic integrity, and identity work in reality television production

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