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Creativity in the British Television Comedy Industry book cover

1st Edition

Creativity in the British Television Comedy Industry

By Brett Mills, Erica Horton Copyright 2017
202 Pages
by Routledge

202 Pages
by Routledge

202 Pages
by Routledge
Also available as eBook on:
What is it like to make television comedy? How do writers get their ideas made, and how do commissioners and producers decide what to make? How do members of the comedy industry work with large broadcasters and production companies, and what does it mean to be creative – and stay creative? Drawing on interviews with many key writers such as Sam Bain, Paul Doolan, Graham Linehan, David... Read more

Contents





Acknowledgements





Chapter 1: What is Creativity?







  1. Introduction






  2. Defining ‘Creativity’






  3. The Creative Person






  4. Creativity and Society






  5. Creativity and Policy






  6. Creativity as Work






  7. Creativity and Comedy






Chapter 2: The UK Television Comedy Industry







  1. Introduction






  2. The BBC






  3. ITV






  4. Channel 4






  5. Imported Comedy






  6. Sky






  7. Current Issues






Chapter 3: Creativity and New Writers







  1. Introduction






  2. A Desirable Industry?






  3. The Individual and the Industry






  4. Case Study 1: People Just Do Nothing






  5. Case Study 2: After Hours






  6. Case Study 3: The Script Editor






  7. Conclusion






Chapter 4: Creativity and Established Writers







  1. Introduction






  2. The Creative Career






  3. Gender and Age






  4. Having a Career






  5. Precarity and Planning






  6. Mentoring and Support






  7. Conclusion






Chapter 5: Creativity and Established Programmes







  1. Introduction






  2. Culture as an Industry






  3. Creative Teams






  4. Maintaining Individuality






  5. Being Recommissioned






  6. The Craft Industry






  7. Personnel






  8. Conclusion






Chapter 6: Creativity and Failure







  1. Introduction






  2. Working with Failure






  3. The Scale of Failure






  4. Managing Failure






  5. Failure and Industry Structures






  6. Personnel






  7. Conclusion






Chapter 7: So, What is Creativity?







  1. Introduction






  2. Creativity Must be Claimed






  3. Creativity is Work






  4. Creativity is Craft






  5. Creativity is Hierarchised






  6. Creativity is Pleasurable




Biography



Brett Mills is Senior Lecturer in Television Studies at the University of East Anglia and is an affiliated researcher at the Centre for Comedy Studies Research, Brunel University. He is the author of Television Sitcom (2005) and The Sitcom (2009).





Erica Horton is a PhD student at the University of East Anglia. Her research focuses on discursive constructions of creativity within the British television comedy industry with a particular focus on Channel 4.

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