[Commlist] conference UK Screen Industries in a Global Context, 1994-2024

*Conference call for papers:*

*‘Weddings and Funerals: UK Screen Industries in a Global Context, 
1994-2024’, 13-14^th June 2024**
*

*A** 2-day conference organised by the Centre for Converged Screen 
Media and Entertainment (COSME 
<https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/communication-and-media/research/groups/centre-for-converged-screen-media-and-entertainment/>), 
Department of Communication and Media,* *University of Liverpool,* 
*13-14 June 2024*

*Keynote Speakers:**
**Dr Kay Dickinson* (University of Glasgow, author of /Supply Chain 
Cinema: Producing Global Film Workers/, 2024)
*Roger Shannon* (Producer and Former Head of BFI Production Board, 
Former Head of the Moving Image Development Agency and Former Head of 
Production Department, UK Film Council)


Looking at the last 30 years (1994-2024), this 2-day conference will 
examine the ways the UK screen industries were integrated into the 
structures of global media production, distribution and 
exhibition/retail, and how important shifts whose origins can be mapped 
to that point in time have had a lasting and significant legacy. In 
doing this, the event aims to provide a thorough account of the 
multiple, complex and diverse ways in which the UK screen 
industries participated in an increasingly globalised, converged and 
highly unpredictable media landscape over the past 30 years.

Covering film, television, gaming, transmedia franchising and sports, it 
will also consider the ways elements of these came to intersect and 
redefine the UK entertainment context. It will bring together scholars 
with an interest in media industries research and practitioners who were 
involved in developments in the UK screen industries to explore this 
history from various vantage points.

In 1994 the global success of /Four Weddings and a Funeral/ launched a 
new era for the British film industry. The companies involved in the 
film’s production (PolyGram Filmed Entertainment, Working Title and 
Channel Four Films) quickly became key players in the global film 
industry, participating in a huge number of productions and 
collaborating with foremost media players, such as StudioCanal and 
Universal, as well as companies that were key players in a thriving 
indie/specialty film in the United States (Miramax, Fox Searchlight and 
Focus Features).

1994 also saw the development of the Leavesden Aerodrome into a film 
studio by James Bond producer EON for /GoldenEye/ (1995), a facility 
that was then used by Lucasfilm for /Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom 
Menace /(1999) and the /Harry Potter/ films (2001-2011). Warner Bros. 
bought the facility outright in 2010 and turned it to both an exhibition 
space for the /Harry Potter/ franchise and a major working studio that 
has hosted /Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation/ (2015), /Wonder Woman 
/(2017), /Barbie/ (2023) and /Wonka/ (2023).

Also in 1994, Pearson Television started its corporate journey to become 
FremantleMedia, following its takeover of Thames TV a year earlier; a 
journey that would involve global partners such as entertainment 
conglomerate Bertelsmann and (part-)ownership of internationally 
successful formats as …/Idol/, /X Factor/ and …/Got Talent/. 
Furthermore, Sky Sports launched its second channel Sky Sports 2 to meet 
a staggering demand for sports on television amidst rising SKY 
subscribers. It continues to dominate sports television in the UK, 
withstanding competition from globally operating streaming and 
telecommunications companies.

Finally, 1994 saw Sony Computer Entertainment Europe opening its London 
branch, making the UK a key region of its global operations in time for 
the release of the first PlayStation console. Sports Interactive, a 
London-based games development company found immediate global success 
with Championship Manager and Football Manager, eventually becoming a 
subsidiary of Sega, the Japanese videogame and entertainment conglomerate.

*Taking this 30-year period as its time span, this conference will 
explore recent UK screen industries histories in a global context, with 
a view to understanding:**

*

  * the business strategies the main companies in film, TV and
    videogames utilised, andthe kinds of business deals being made
  * the ways they marked their presence as part of co-productions and
    other collaborative arrangements
  * the power dynamics involved in their dealings with major global
    players, such as the Hollywood studios, the main streaming platforms
    and videogame giants, such as Nintendo and Microsoft
  * their sources of finance within an ever-changing media production
    landscape
  * the production and distribution practices they developed to make
    their product globally appealing
  * the ways in which they helped shape the trajectory of media labour
    in the UK and the questions of diversity and equality such a
    trajectory entailed
  * the ways they impacted the development of media policies in the UK
  * their relationship with the UK government and key institutions
    overseeing the development of screen industries in the UK (DCMS,
    Ofcom, BFI, etc)
  * the regulatory frameworks imposed by the various governments and
    administrations during the period
  * their place in cultural and creative industries discourses as these
    started to develop in the 1990s
  * the ways they contributed to a converging media landscape in the UK
    and beyond
    the successes and failures they had and the ways these shaped the
    key screen industries sectors in the country
  *
    the ways the UK screen industries are looking into the future as we
    approach the midpoint of the third decade of the 21st century.

    *We are inviting**
    *-       proposals of up to 300 words, accompanied by a bio of up to
    50 words
    -       pre-constituted panels of up to 3 speakers, with each panel
    proposal consisting of a panel topic accompanied by an abstract of
    up to 200 words as well as abstracts for each of the three
    presentations and bio details of up to 50 words for each speaker
    -       pre-constituted round table workshops of up to 4 speakers,
    with each workshop consisting of a workshop topic, accompanied by an
    abstract of up to 200 words, abstracts of up to 100 words on the
    aspect of the workshop each speaker will contribute to and bio
    details of up to 50 words for each speaker

    *Please send your proposals to (cosme /at/ liverpool.ac.uk) by 24 March 
2024.**
    *
    We are looking forward to seeing you in Liverpool.

    Sarah Thomas and Yannis Tzioumakis
    Co-directors of COSME

<https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/communication-and-media/research/groups/centre-for-converged-screen-media-and-entertainment/>:
    the Centre for Converged Screen Media and Entertainment and
    Conference Organisers

<https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/communication-and-media/research/groups/centre-for-converged-screen-media-and-entertainment/>

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