Our books, reports, and peer-reviewed articles have shaped debate and informed policy on a wide range of screen industry issues, from the future of public service broadcasting to regional production and the documentary film sector
Sean Connery: Acting, stardom and national identity
Professor Andrew Spicer’s study provides an authoritative and comprehensive account of the career of one of one modern cinema’s most distinctive stars, an instantly recognisable cultural icon whose image and…
Go West! 2
The report, focusing on research undertaken between 2017 and 2022 argues that Bristol, in terms of company numbers and variety, is the second largest screen production cluster after London and…
Writing Film Industry History
The chapter explores the various ways in which scholars have defined and approached writing about film industry history through discussing how it has been defined and delimited (the object of…
Bristol Fashion: Reclaiming Cary Grant for Bristol – Film Heritage, Screen Tourism and Curating the Cary Comes Home Festival
This article re-examines Cary Grant’s star persona arguing that the importance of his Bristolian identity has been under-appreciated. Through a detailed discussion of attempts to promote his Bristolian roots including…
Precarious work and creative placemaking: Freelance labour in Bristol
As an occupational group characterized by their responsiveness, resilience and innovation, freelancers make a vital contribution to the UK’s creative economy. However, although there has been a general acknowledgement of…
Making it Real
Making It Real: A Policy Programme for UK Documentary Film comprises a new industrial strategy for documentary based on inclusivity, sustainability and the creation of optimum conditions for success at…
The Independent Producer and the State: Simon Relph, Government Policy and the British Film Industry, 1980–2005
Professor Andrew Spicer’s article argues the significance of the role played in the development of the British film industry in the 1970s by Bernard Delfont, working as head of EMI’s…
Parting the Iron Curtain: Michael Klinger’s Attempts to Make A Man and a Half
Between 1967 and 1984, British independent producer Michael Klinger attempted to make a war film initially called Parachute that was renamed A Man and a Half. It was an international…
Keeping it Real
Keeping it Real: Towards A Documentary Film Policy for the UK is based on the findings of a survey of over 200 UK feature documentary producers and directors. The survey…
Male stardom in 1960s British cinema
The chapter analyses eight stars – Alan Bates, Michael Caine, Sean Connery, Tom Courtenay, Albert Finney, Richard Harris, Peter O’Toole and Terence Stamp – all of whom were the product…
An invisible nation? The BBC and English-language arts television in Wales
The history of the BBC’s regional programming is one of perennial tension between representing and reflecting the diversity of the UK’s nations and regions, and what is often perceived as…
‘Britain’s first media centre’: A history of Bristol’s Watershed cinema, 1964-1998
This article examines the genesis and development of the UK’s Watershed Cinema and Digital Creativity Centre. Established in 1982, Watershed was both the first full-time multi-screen independent cinema outside London…
An invisible army: The role of freelance labour in Bristol’s film and television industries
The purpose of this report is to complement current statistical data on freelance labour by providing a detailed, qualitative portrait of how freelancers negotiate precarious careers within specific regional contexts…
BBC arts programming: a service for citizens or a product for consumers?
The British Broadcasting Corporation occupies what is often considered to be a unique position within UK culture as both a respected national institution that is a pillar of enlightenment values…
Freelance networks, trade unions and below-the-line solidarity in regional film and television clusters
This article consists of an introduction and extended interview transcript conducted with several members of the Bristol Editors’ Network (BEN), an organization established in May 2015 to support the large…
Go West! Bristol’s film and television industries
The report, based on two major surveys and numerous interviews, is an overview of the history, evolution and current configuration of the film and television industries in the Bristol region…
