Women's Work and Working Women: A Longitudinal Study of Women Working in the British Film and Television Industries (1933-1989)

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This project assesses the contribution women have made to film/TV production in Britain, during a period of considerable social change for women and substantial institutional change for the industries: 1933-89. Whilst a minority have worked in 'above-the-line' roles (directors, costume designers), thousands have been employed in 'below-the-line' roles as hairdressers, continuity 'girls', production assistants, and negative cutters, yet their history has barely been studied. Much of their work has been undervalued by academic scholarship which has privileged auteur-directors, and its study hampered by scarce archival sources. This research project looks at the historical relations between women & production by exploring women's contribution through ACT/T trade union records and oral history testimony. From 1933-89 film & commercial TV operated as a closed shop and BBC employment was similarly regulated. By tracing women's contribution through union membership this project will provide empirical data about how many women worked in the industries, their roles and their movement between film/TV. This data will be supplemented by oral history interviews with women which explore their working lives. In bringing these two approaches together this project will unlock previously hidden evidence about women's work, and develop new ways of conceptualising and historicising the film/TV industries through the experiences of below-the-line workers. This will have a wider impact on both the study of film/TV and our understanding of the role of women in 20thC creative arts/industries. This 3.5-year project has 2 key parts. Part 1, based at the Universities of Newcastle & Sunderland, is led by the PI (Dr Melanie Bell) and CI (Dr Vicky Ball) and comprises a Research Associate (RA), a PhD, a major conference and papers, union training workshops, a website, an oral history project, and a monograph. The PhD will use historical union data to survey women in a chosen industry grade (e.g. producer, editor), and use written, oral & visual evidence from films to produce a number of case studies which analyse women's contributions to the field, thus extending our knowledge of women's work. The conference will draw together academics, archivists, TV/film industry personnel, and policy-makers to explore how long-established working practices have shaped the various dimensions of women's employment in the industries. The RA will lead the oral history component, recording interviews with 25 women, prioritising grades where few historical records remain e.g. make-up, wardrobe, continuity. The interview material will be hosted on a project website and used in BECTU union training workshops with current industry practitioners. The final project outcome (yr 3.5) will be a monograph by the PI/CI which analyses gender and production culture in ACT/T's 3 branches (Film Production, Laboratory, TV) and the BBC, assesses women's campaigning activities (ACTT Equality Committee) and provides case studies of women's work in Costume, Make-Up and Scriptwriting. Part 2, sub-contracted to the British Universities Film & Video Council, will produce a database of ACT/T union membership application data under agreement with the film/TV union, now named BECTU. Whilst the project team will work specifically on women's grades & pay, the database will hold membership application data for both women & men (67,000 apps. in total) ensuring its future potential as a major digital resource for other researchers. Published in yr 3 it will be hosted on a contextual website containing case studies & oral history material and maintained by the BUFVC beyond the life of the project. By bringing into clearer focus the historical gendering of working patterns & production cultures the project's findings will benefit academics/students of film/TV/gender/labour history, and provide a body of evidence which industry personnel/policy-makers may draw upon to intervene in current policy/practice.