CALL FOR PAPERS

Journal of British Cinema and Television

July 2013: ‘Women at Work in the British Film & Television Industries’

Women’s participation in film-making and television production has received relatively little attention in academic film/television histories. Women’s under-representation in key roles like direction has positioned women directors as ‘exceptional’ whilst their over-representation in areas such as costume and make-up has created a gendered sphere which has been marginalised by criticism driven by models of ‘authorship’.  A forthcoming special issue will address the theme of women’s creative involvement in the British film and television industries. The editors welcome papers and case studies which engage with the following themes and questions:

• What input have women made to film-making and television production in Britain and what production cultures impact on women as workers?

• How have broader social, economic and industrial conditions (including industryregulation) impacted on women’s roles and creative practices?

• What is the relationship between women’s work and media trade unions/professional guilds?

• What is the connection between women’s access to production and screen representations of women/textual femininities?

• What is the relationship between film and television genres, their genderedaffiliations and women’s involvement in their production?

• How have women practitioners negotiated femininity and feminism in their working lives?

• What materials and research methods are appropriate for a study of women’s input to film-making and television production?

 The editors are interested in proposals that cover the broad range of roles that women have performed in the television and film industries (through their entire historical periods), including writers, producers, directors, editors, sound engineers, costume designers, art directors, commissioning editors and continuity ‘girls’. We are also interested in women’s work in the independent and avant-garde sectors, and across a range of genres including documentary, short-film, educational films, public information films and amateur film-making. Proposals are also welcomed that address women’s work in distribution and exhibition.  

This special edition arises from the conference ‘Women Make Film: Reframing Cinema History’ organised by the Women’s Film History Network – UK/Ireland and hosted at the University of Sunderland.

Proposals for articles should be sent to Dr Vicky Ball, University of Sunderland (vicky.ball@sunderland.ac.uk) and Dr Melanie Bell, Newcastle University (melanie.bell@ncl.ac.uk) by 1^st September 2011.