Games+Production.Pdf

This may be the author’s version of a work that was submitted/accepted for publication in the following source: Banks, John& Cunningham, Stuart (2016) Games production in Australia: Adapting to precariousness. In Curtin, M & Sanson, K (Eds.) Precarious creativity: Global media, local labor. University of California Press, United States of America, pp. 186-199. This ﬁle was downloaded from: https://eprints.qut.edu.au/87501/ c c 2016 by The Regents of the University of California This work is licensed under a Creative Commons CC-BY license. To view a copy of the license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses. License: Creative Commons: Attribution 4.0 Notice: Please note that this document may not be the Version of Record (i.e. published version) of the work. Author manuscript versions (as Sub- mitted for peer review or as Accepted for publication after peer review) can be identiﬁed by an absence of publisher branding and/or typeset appear- ance. If there is any doubt, please refer to the published source. http:// www.ucpress.edu/ book.php?isbn=9780520290853 CURTIN & SANSON | PRECARIOUS CREATIVITY Luminos is the open access monograph publishing program from UC Press. Luminos provides a framework for preserving and rein- vigorating monograph publishing for the future and increases the reach and visibility of important scholarly work. Titles published in the UC Press Luminos model are published with the same high standards for selection, peer review, production, and marketing as those in our traditional program. www.luminosoa.org Precarious Creativity Precarious Creativity Global Media, Local Labor Edited by Michael Curtin and Kevin Sanson UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS University of California Press, one of the most distinguished university presses in the United States, enriches lives around the world by advanc- ing scholarship in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. Its activities are supported by the UC Press Foundation and by philanthropic contributions from individuals and institutions. For more information, visit www.ucpress.edu. University of California Press Oakland, California © 2016 by The Regents of the University of California This work is licensed under a Creative Commons CC-BY license. To view a copy of the license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses. Suggested citation: Curtin, Michael and Sanson, Kevin (eds.). Precarious Creativity: Global Media, Local Labor. Oakland, University of California Press, 2016. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/luminos.10 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Curtin, Michael, editor. | Sanson, Kevin, 1980- editor. Title: Precarious creativity : global media, local labor / edited by Michael Curtin and Kevin Sanson. Description: Oakland, California : University of California Press, [2016] | “2016 | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2015038834| ISBN 9780520290853 (pbk. : alk. paper) | ISBN 9780520964808 (e-edition) Subjects: LCSH: Labor and globalization. | Mass media and globalization. | Mass media–Employees. | Cultural industries–Employees. | Precarious employment–Social aspects. Classification: LCC HD9999.C9472 P74 2016 | DDC 331.7/6130223–dc23 LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015038834 Manufactured in the United States of America The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of ansi/niso z39.48–1992 (r 2002) (Permanence of Paper). contents List of Illustrations vii Acknowledgments ix 1. Precarious Creativity: Global Media, Local Labor 1 Michael Curtin and Kevin Sanson 2. Cybertarian Flexibility—When Prosumers Join the Cognitariat, All That Is Scholarship Melts into Air 19 Toby Miller 3. Spec World, Craft World, Brand World 33 John T. Caldwell 4. Film/City: Cinema, Affect, and Immaterial Labor in Urban India 49 Shanti Kumar 5. The Production of Extras in a Precarious Creative Economy 63 Vicki Mayer 6. Talent Agenting in the Age of Conglomerates 74 Violaine Roussel 7. Transnational Crews and Postsocialist Precarity: Globalizing Screen Media Labor in Prague 88 Petr Szczepanik 8. The Cost of Business: Gender Dynamics of Media Labor in Afghanistan 104 Matt Sienkiewicz vi contents 9. “No One Thinks in Hindi Here”: Language Hierarchies in Bollywood 118 Tejaswini Ganti 10. Complex Labor Relations in Latin American Television Industries 132 Juan Piñón 11. Labor in Lagos: Alternative Global Networks 146 Jade Miller 12. Creative Precarity in the Adult Film Industry 159 Heather Berg and Constance Penley 13. Strategies for Success? Navigating Hollywood’s “Postracial” Labor Practices 172 Kristen J. Warner 14. Games Production in Australia: Adapting to Precariousness 186 John Banks and Stuart Cunningham 15. Redefining Creative Labor: East Asian Comparisons 200 Anthony Fung 16. Unbundling Precarious Creativity in China: “Knowing-How” and “Knowing-To” 215 Michael Keane 17. Revolutionary Creative Labor 231 Marwan M. Kraidy 18. Precarious Diversity: Representation and Demography 241 Herman Gray 19. The Precarity and Politics of Media Advocacy Work 254 Allison Perlman 20. Internationalizing Labor Activism: Building Solidarity among Writers’ Guilds 267 Miranda Banks and David Hesmondhalgh References 281 Notes on Contributors 299 Index 305 illustrations FIGURES 1. Modes of Cultural Labor in the Games Industry 208 TABLES 3.1 Three Warring Paraindustrial Labor Regimes 39 3.2 Cultural Practices of Three Paraindustrial Labor Regimes 45 vii Carsey-Wolf Mellichamp University of California Santa Barbara Acknowledgments Precarious Creativity grew out of a multiyear project on the globalization of labor in the film and television industries, a venture that has been generously supported by the Mellichamp Global Dynamics Initiative and the Carsey-Wolf Center at the University of California, Santa Barbara. This anthology is but one beneficiary of the generous and visionary philanthropy of Marcy Carsey, Dick Wolf, and Duncan and Suzanne Mellichamp. We also wish to thank our sterling team of authors, who pitched in at every turn, making superb contributions, enduring numerous rounds of revision, and performing with a professionalism and timeliness that made this an intellectually rewarding experience for both of us. We furthermore want to thank the Carsey-Wolf Center staff—Sheila Sullivan, Natalie Fawcett, and Alyson Aaris—for their critical assistance in organizing the enormously successful conference that launched this endeavor. The conference benefited as well from the participation and support of motion picture workers and organizers, most prominently Mariana Acuña Acosta, Steve Kaplan, and Daniel Lay. A shout-out as well to Jennifer Holt and Karen Petruska, our co-conspirators at the Media Industries Project, and to John Vanderhoef and Juan Llamas- Rodriguez, who provided indispensable research assistance on all aspects of this project. We also wish to thank David Marshall, Melvin Oliver, John Majewski, Constance Penley, and Ronald E. Rice for the administrative and moral support they have leant to the Carsey-Wolf Center over the years. We are grateful as well for the sage and enthusiastic editorial guidance of Mary Francis. She deserves credit for encouraging us to publish this volume as an open access title through the Luminos program at the University of California ix x Acknowledgments Press. We are proud to note that Precarious Creativity is the first anthology offered through Luminos, a distinction made possible through financial support from the libraries of the University of California, Santa Barbara and Queensland University of Technology. We truly appreciate this opportunity, believing these essays should be widely read and critically debated, since they examine some of the most press- ing concerns of our global era. Read freely, reflect deeply, and act accordingly. 1 Precarious Creativity Global Media, Local Labor Michael Curtin and Kevin Sanson In most parts of the world, screen media workers—actors, directors, gaffers, and makeup artists—consider Hollywood to be glamorous and aspirational. If given the opportunity to work on a major studio lot, many would make the move, believing the standards of professionalism are high and the history of accomplishment is renowned. Moreover, as a global leader, Hollywood offers the chance to rub shoulders with talented counterparts and network with an elite labor force that earns top-tier pay and benefits. Yet despite this reputation, veterans say the view from inside isn’t so rosy, that working conditions have been deteriorating since the 1990s if not earlier. This grim outlook is supported by industry statistics that show the number of good jobs has been shrinking as studios outsource production to Atlanta, London, and Budapest, among others. No longer is Hollywood the default setting for major film and television pro- ductions. California faces stiff competition from both domestic and international locations. New York, Georgia, and Louisiana have all emerged as major production centers, often jostling with Canada and the United Kingdom for the top spots on yearly production reports. In fact, the most recent study from FilmL.A. concludes (somewhat hastily): “While these jurisdictions may trade yearly rank positions for total project count, budget value and production spending, there are no jurisdictions immediately poised to dethrone them.”1 Yet studio bosses and producers have made it clear that they intend to keep scouring the globe for lower labor rates and less regulated environs. Right-to-work states are especially attractive, as are overseas locations

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