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Creative Producing (BCI 2) - TFT00031I

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  • Department: Theatre, Film, Television and Interactive Media
  • Module co-ordinator: Dr. Nathan Townsend
  • Credit value: 20 credits
  • Credit level: I
  • Academic year of delivery: 2022-23
    • See module specification for other years: 2021-22

Module summary

This optional module is designed to introduce students to the importance of creative relationships in film, television and the theatre where creative work often emerges from particular partnerships. The teaching will cover a number of notable partnership case-studies and the impact of that relationship on content and production methodology, for example: Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner of Working Title Films, Shonda Rhimes and Betsy Beers of Shondaland and Sonia Friedman of Sonia Friedman Productions. The module aims to guide students towards defining and pursuing creative relative relationships on which they might subsequently build creative careers.

Module will run

Occurrence Teaching period
A Autumn Term 2022-23
B Spring Term 2022-23

Module aims

This module aims to:

Explore the importance of creative relationships on the development and delivery of distinctive creative content

Identify a series of analytical or practical steps which combine to create the potential for a creative relationship

Encourage a critical engagement with the strengths and weakness of creative relationships as means of negotiating different creative and institutional business contexts.

Explore the creative workflows - notably the interchange between the "business" producer and the creative - that producing partnerships might follow to realise their objectives

Understand how different perspectives - business and creative - impact on the shaping and development of content

Module learning outcomes

At the end of this module students will be able to:

Analyse and apply good practice from case-study creative producing partnerships to your own potential business relationships.

Deploy an understanding of how workflow moves between business-minded producers and creative talent in such a way as to potentially initiate your own creative business strategies.

Identify the projects and markets that are best suited to particular creative relationships.

Critically evaluate the strengths and weaknesses in creative business relationships and adopt or modify relations in line with business objectives or market conditions.

Assessment

Task Length % of module mark
Essay/coursework
Analysis of a Producing Relationship		 N/A 70
Oral presentation/seminar/exam
Case study presentation		 N/A 30

Special assessment rules

None

Additional assessment information

Formative work is embedded into weekly exercises in the seminar structure

Reassessment

Task Length % of module mark
Essay/coursework
Analysis of a Producing relationship		 N/A 70
Essay/coursework
Case study outline		 N/A 30

Module feedback

Students will receive feedback within four weeks as per university guidelines.

Indicative reading

Barbara Townley Managing Creativity: Exploring the Paradox (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008)

Andrew Spicer, Anthony McKenna and Christopher Meir, Beyond the Bottom Line: The Producer in Film and Television Studies (London: Bloomsbury, 2016).

Ted Hope and Anthony Kaufman Hope for Film: A Producer's Journey Across the Revolutions of Indie Film and Global Streaming (Berkeley: Counterpoint, 2020)

Nathan Townsend Working Title Films: A Creative and Commercial History (Edinburgh: Edinburgh: University Press, 2021)

Nicholas Hytner, Balancing Acts: Behind the Scenes at the National Theatre (London: Vintage, 2018)


The information on this page is indicative of the module that is currently on offer. The University is constantly exploring ways to enhance and improve its degree programmes and therefore reserves the right to make variations to the content and method of delivery of modules, and to discontinue modules, if such action is reasonably considered to be necessary by the University. Where appropriate, the University will notify and consult with affected students in advance about any changes that are required in line with the University's policy on the Approval of Modifications to Existing Taught Programmes of Study.