Dear MECCSA members,

Re our earlier announcement today concerning this collection, we’d just like to emphasise that it would not be out in time for REF 2014. Our editorial timetable is to get this to the publishers by mid-September 2013 hence a publication date of March/April 2014. Sorry if we raised any hopes!

For convenience I’ve posted an altered version below.

Apologies and best wishes,

Chris

CFP: Beyond the Bottom-Line: The Producer and Screen Studies (Edited Collection)

Editors: Andrew Spicer, Anthony McKenna and Christopher Meir

The producer has long been one of the most overlooked and misunderstood figures in Screen Studies. The historical privileging of the director has caused an artificial distinction between creativity and commerce, with the director’s ‘vision’ judged responsible for a film’s artistry and the producer relegated to the shadowy, venal world of business and the ‘bottom line’. Such reductive views are now beginning to be challenged with several serious, scholarly and sympathetic studies of the producer emerging.

Abstracts are invited for contributions to a volume that will seek to further our understanding of the producer within a range of historical and theoretical contexts. Proposals on any topic related to the role of the producer are welcome. Possible topics could include (but are not limited to):

-The producer and theoretical accounts of authorship and/or creativity.

-The collaborative relationships between producers and directors; producers and screenwriters; producers and stars.

-‘Auteur’ Producers.

-The historical emergence of the producer as a distinct role.

-Producers in different historical periods (e.g. classical or post-classical Hollywood; ‘New Wave’ cinemas, etc.).

-Producers in specific national, regional and/or transnational contexts.

-Producers and genre (e.g. popular genres, documentary, avant-garde, etc.).

-Producers in specific media (e.g. film, television, new media forms such as music videos, web-based videos, video games, etc.).

-Cross-over producers from film to television (or vice versa).

-Understanding and defining the roles of executive, associate and co-producers.

-Creativity and the profit motive; understanding and accounting for business acumen generally.

The collection is under contract with Continuum and will be published in 2014. Interested authors should send a 250 word abstract to Christopher Meir ([log in to unmask]) by June 30, 2012. Completed chapters will be between 5,000 and 8,000 words and will be due by January 31, 2013.