Shape-Shifters: independent producers in Scotland and the journey from cultural entrepreneur to entrepreneurial culture

MacPherson, Robin

Abstract

This essay examines the changing composition and relationship to public policy of the independent film and television sector in Scotland since the early 1980s. It looks in particular at Scottish film and television producers' problematic engagement with the increasingly hegemonic creative industries discourse and the dominance of industrial over cultural and social arguments in the framing of the sector's relationship to bodies such as Scottish Screen and the Scottish Government. The sector's reluctance to address issues of national identity in constituting its own positions is considered as a source of tension in articulating its collective interest. The essay concludes that there are contradictions in the film sectors' relationship to the field of public policy, resolution of which may become critical to its survival in the context of recession and pressure on public film funds.

Citation

MacPherson, R. (2009). Shape-Shifters: independent producers in Scotland and the journey from cultural entrepreneur to entrepreneurial culture. In J. Murray, F. Farley, & R. Stoneman (Eds.), Scottish Cinema Now (222-239). Cambridge Scholars Publishing

• Publication Date: 2009
• Deposit Date: Sep 1, 2009
• Publicly Available Date: Dec 31, 2009
• Peer Reviewed: Not Peer Reviewed
• Pages: 222-239
• Book Title: Scottish Cinema Now
• ISBN: 978-1-4438-0331-1
• Keywords: Scottish Cinema Film Policy; Scottish screen; independent film; television; national identity; funding
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/id/eprint/2810
• Contract Date: Sep 1, 2009