[Commlist] CFP: COSME Conference: Screen Entertainment Since Brexit

CFP: Screen Entertainment since Brexit (2016-2026)
A symposium organised by the Centre for Converged Screen Media and 
Entertainment (COSME), Department of Communication and Media, University 
of Liverpool, Thursday 11 June 2026
Keynote speakers:
Dr Anthony McIntyre, University College Dublin
Dr Christopher Meir, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid
2026 marks the tenth anniversary since the UK’s referendum vote to leave 
the European Union, so what has changed for the screen industries and 
screen entertainment more broadly since -- in the UK, Europe, and around 
the world? A decade on from this seismic political decision, it is time 
to research, reflect and take stock. This one-day symposium will examine 
trends, tensions and contradictions in screen entertainment and screen 
industries, encompassing film, television, gaming, digital cultures, 
transmedia franchising and sports media, in the UK and beyond.
In a 2017 report, the BFI’s screen sector task force report projected a 
cautious and balanced assessment of the ramifications of Brexit for the 
UK screen industries, which mirrored wider projections. On the one hand, 
Brexit promised the possibilities of bespoke trade agreements, 
international competitiveness, and cutting the costs of implementing EU 
legislation; on the other hand, it forewarned a loss of European 
investment, lack of access to European broadcasting and reduced 
flexibility in screen industry labour markets.
In practice, labour mobility has proven to be a key logistical issue and 
production cost, with UK workers experiencing restricted access to 
well-established EU level screen industries infrastructures. While UK 
screen industries continue to be relatively commercially successful, 
from Bridgerton to Bridget Jones and beyond, the impact for 
below-the-line labour has possibly been felt more acutely than for 
transnational capital flows. The role of major tech companies and 
streaming platforms has been consolidated, in a trend exacerbated by the 
COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns. With Amazon shifting substantial 
productions to the UK and acquiring Bray film studios in Berkshire, high 
end television production appears to be booming in the UK with American 
tech money help.
However, does this represent a deeper cultural shift as much as a 
political and industrial one? Have the UK screen industries shifted 
culturally away from Europe since Brexit, with the UK becoming the ‘51st 
state’? More generally, the period 2016-2026 represents a period of 
seismic and discomforting political and social change, with a global 
rise in right wing populism, exemplified by both Brexit and the Trump 
presidency.
Given this cultural shift, Brexit has manifested itself thematically in 
UK screen entertainment of the 21st century so far. Channel 4’s Brexit: 
The Uncivil War (2019), starring Benedict Cumberbatch as Dominic 
Cummings, attempted to dramatize the workings of the Leave campaign and 
its exploitation of technological silos in a collapsing public sphere. 
Ubisoft’s Watch Dogs: Legion (2019) is set in a post-Brexit, post 
Scottish independence dystopian London run by right-wing authoritarian 
technocrats. Channel 4’s comedy drama This Way Up (2019-2021) drew 
attention to the unstable and uncertain atmosphere for Irish people 
living and working in London post-Brexit.
Indeed, as early as 2013 the BBC zombie fantasy series In the Flesh 
depicted a devastated, paramilitarised and insular English small-town 
life, foreshadowing the disillusion and upset with democracy manifest by 
the referendum result. There are many further examples of film and TV 
that – while not explicitly about Brexit – grapple with related issues 
of precarity, social disenfranchisement, and migrant experiences in the 
UK, including Ken Loach’s The Old Oak (2023), the British-Portuguese 
co-production On Falling (2024), even the BBC 2 comedy mini-series Don’t 
Forget the Driver (2019).
To mark this anniversary, the Centre for Converged Media and Screen 
Entertainment (COSME) at the University of Liverpool invites proposals 
for a timely symposium exploring screen entertainment since Brexit. 
Topics may include, but are not limited to:
    The Brexit referendum as screen entertainment
    21st century nationalisms and screen cultures
    The impact of Brexit on the UK film, television and games industries
    How major screen entertainment companies have mitigated against, or 
capitalised upon, the consequences of Brexit
    Brexit and live sports broadcasting
    Brexit, digital cultures, and social media entertainment
    International co-productions post-Brexit
    The EU and its relationship with the UK screen industries ten years 
since the Brexit vote
    Brexit and Ireland on screen
We are inviting
-       proposals of 150-300 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 (n.johnston /at/ liverpool.ac.uk) and 
(s.k.thomas /at/ liverpool.ac.uk) by Monday 13 April 2026.

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