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Thursday, November 10
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MIP01
Production Cultures Across Europe: Investigating and Analysing Successful Companies fromthe Independent Film
and Television Industries
V.S. Sundet
1
1
Lillehammer University College, Norway
Studies of production cultures have traditionally been dominated by analyses of media conglomerates and large institutions, such as Hollywood and Bol‑
lywood studios, American television networks and the BBC. Although these studies afford important knowledge about media production as seen from
the perspective of larger and established companies, they do not take into account smaller, independent institutions and their very different production
cultures. Micro, small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) play an important role in the European media market—they are what the European Union calls
the ‘engine’of the European economy – and constitute more than 90 per cent of all media businesses. Politicians often regard them as crucial contributors
to democracy, allowing a multitude of different voices to be heard. There is also a tendency – at least among the cultural elites—to look at SMEs as more
creative and innovative than their larger and more established counterparts. This panel comprises papers that analyse successful micro, small and medium
sized independent film and television companies in the UK, Denmark and Norway. The aim is to give a fresh perspective on media industry studies and
fill the gap left by previous studies, by conducting in-depth analysis of a range of successful, independent SMEs from these three European nations. This
cross-national perspective has been chosen in order to be able to investigate similarities and differences between production companies in contrasting mar‑
kets. The companies analysed in the panel have all survived for at least five years (showing their sustainability) and they have all produced film and/or tele‑
vision programmes that have received critical acclaim and/or been popular with audiences. The panel asks what these companies' strategies have been for
survival and success, and how these strategies have determined their production cultures? In order to discuss these questions, the panel bring together five
panellists who will address the issues involved in understanding strategies and production cultures in SMEs.Three papers will examine specific independent
production companies; the UK film and television company Aardman Animations (Andrew Spicer); the Danish film and television company Zentropa (Heidi
Philipsen); and the Norwegian television company Rubicon TV (Eva Bakøy and Vilde Schanke Sundet). A further paper examines regional film production
companies (Stine Sand), and a final paper addresses the main findings from a cross-national comparison of European production cultures (Roel Puijk and
Eva Bakøy). The panellists represent different national contexts and institutions (University of the West of England Bristol, University of Southern Denmark
and the Lillehammer University College), but are all member of a European project, Success in the Film andTelevision Industries (SiFTI, 2013–2016), funded
by the Norwegian Research Council, whose aim was to analyse the success of independent production companies in four national contexts (UK, Denmark,
Norway and the Netherlands).
PN 014
“It’s Our Property and Our Passion”: The Cultural and Economic Reasons for the Success of Aardman Animations
A. Spicer
1
1
University of the West of England Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom
This paper will analyse the production culture of the UK company, Aardman Animations, in order to determine the reasons why it has grown from a tiny,
two-person operation founded in 1972 into a highly successful business employing 200 people whose characters such as Shaun the Sheep are known
throughout the world. Although Aardman has been extensively discussed in celebratory populist histories and in academic studies of animation aesthetics,
it has not been investigated as a cultural business, analysing the ways in which the company manages its creative talent and its business affairs in order
to be sustainable and successful. My analysis draws extensively on field research: site visits to Aardman’s offices and extended interviews and detailed
correspondence with one of its founders and managing director, David Sproxton, supplemented by additional interviews with two other senior managers
and two high-status freelancers. It also draws on a detailed examination of the trade press and internet sources (including interviews given by any of its
principal personnel), analysis of the company’s website and a critical engagement with its products. This investigation was extended by additional research
into the ecology of the film and television industries in Bristol, where Aardman is located and is also informed by insights drawn from secondary literature in
organisation, business and management studies, media industries studies and cultural geography, including cultural mapping. The paper will identify and
analyse the major factors that hold the key to Aardman’s success: the role played by its founders, Peter Lord and David Sproxton, who remain at the centre
of the company; the consistency of its creative vision and the importance of its underlying values shaped by Lord and Sproxton together with‘star’animator
Nick Park and by deep-rooted cultural traditions; its use of Bristol as a location and cultural hub; its detailed attention to the working environment of its
employees and the nature of its internal organisation; its strategic positioning within the global marketplace with a particular style of hand-crafted anima‑
tion and an eccentric, often surreal Britishness; its relationships with external funders including the BBC, DreamWorks and StudioCanal; its intelligent and
evolving adaptation to changing external cultural and economic contexts, which has enabled the company to meet the challenges of a digital economy,
successfully diversifying across multiple media platforms, notably YouTube; and also its shrewd marketing of the Aardman brand through four integrated
sub-divisions: licensing and publishing; product development; TV/DVD digital sales; live events. Aardman’s products now include video games, syndicated
cartoon strips, theme rides and parks. Overall, the paper will reflect on Lucy Küng-Shankleman’s conclusion from her study of the BBC and CNN: that suc‑
cessful cultural businesses not only attach a high value to the quality of their products but also ensure that everything fits the company’s‘core competencies’,
what it is distinctively good at and cannot be replicated by others. It will be argued that Aardman’s success derives from its core cultural values based on
passion and personal preferences that have driven all its business decisions.
Media Industries and Cultural
Production
(MIP01–MIP11)