Abstract
This chapter explores the growth and characteristics of Bristol’s screen industries, which consist principally of television production companies and a much smaller group engaged in feature film production. In contrast to what one could call ‘engineered’ screen production centres such as Cardiff or Greater Manchester (MediaCityUK in Salford), Bristol’s screen industries—notably the BBC’s Natural History Unit and Aardman Animations—have grown incrementally through the entrepreneurial energies of local creative personnel, rather than from major capital investment, either from the national government or regional agencies. The nature of this evolution has enabled Bristol’s 189 independent production companies—which co-operate as well as compete—to be highly adaptable, responding to local conditions, technological change and shifts in international markets. They also reflect the city’s long anti-authoritarian history, a place where ‘alternative’ ideas are encouraged and supported. Situated within an overarching discussion of the conceptual shift from ‘creative clusters’ to ‘creative ecosystems’ and the importance of understanding a range of causal factors rather than simply economic drivers, the chapter’s detailed exploration of Bristol’s screen industries is based on more than 80 interviews with company CEOs, BBC and Channel 4 executives and with cultural intermediaries as well as local authority figures and creatives alongside extensive data gathering and on-the-ground empirical research that informed two co-authored reports: Go West! Bristol’s Film and Television Industries (2017) and Go West! 2 (2022). It emphasises the importance of how the city’s screen ecosystems are curated and managed and the significance of its successful bids to become a UNESCO City of Film in 2017 and to host one of Channel 4’s Creative Hubs in 2019. The account concludes by positioning Bristol’s screen ecosystem within broader spatial, social and political contexts and reflects on its sustainability within an increasing volatile and competitive global media marketplace.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
- 1.
In addition to Bristol, these are Belfast, Cardiff, Glasgow—capitals of the ‘small nations’: Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland, respectively—Manchester in North West England and Leeds in the North East.
- 2.
Bristol’s regional ITV company was HTV, see Go West 2!, 23–24.
- 3.
Invent the Future of Channel 4 in Bristol, unpublished document in author’s possession; npn, my emphasis.
- 4.
On the 5 January 2023 the Culture Secretary, Michelle Donelan, announced that plans to privatise Channel 4 have been dropped. The number of its regionally based staff will double by 2025 (from 300 to 600) and the broadcaster will be able to produce its programmes as well as commission them. Both these developments will have implications for Bristol’s screen ecology.
References
Aten, P. N., & Romein, A. (2020). Place as a guiding principle for spatial design of creative clusters in urban areas. In M. Komorowski & I. Picone (Eds.), Creative cluster development: Governance, place-making and entrepreneurship (pp. 55–65). Routledge.
Bank, M. (2007). The politics of cultural work. Palgrave Macmillan.
Bathelt, H., Malmberg, A., & Maskell, P. (2004). Clusters and local knowledge: Local buzz, global pipelines and the process of knowledge creation. Progress in Human Geography, 28, 31–56.
Bristol City Council. (2022). Bristol UNESCO city of film UCCN membership monitoring report 2017–21 (January 2023).
Christopherson, S., & Clark, J. (2009). Remaking regional economies: Power, labour and film strategies in the knowledge economy. Routledge.
Davis, C. H. (2011). Media industry clusters and public policy. In C. Karlsson & R. G. Pickard (Eds.), Media clusters: Spatial agglomeration and content capabilities (pp. 72–93). Edward Elgar.
Dotti, N. F., & Lupova-Henry, E. (2020). Creative mediators and their role in the governance of creative clusters. In M. Komorowski & I. Picone (Eds.), Creative cluster development: Governance, place-making and entrepreneurship (pp. 23–36). Routledge.
Dovey, J., Moreton, S., Sparke, S., & Sharpe, B. (2016). The practice of cultural ecology: Network creativity in the creative economy. Cultural Trends, 25(2), 87–103.
Drake, G. (2003). “This place gives me space”: Place and creativity in the creative industries. Geoforum, 34(4), 511–524.
Eriksson, S. (2011). Promotion of company and local economic growth through clusters. In C. Karlsson & R. G. Pickard (Eds.), Media clusters: Spatial agglomeration and content capabilities (pp. 30–43). Edward Elgar.
Florida, R. (2005). Cities and the creative class. Routledge.
Forrest, N., et al. (2022, November). The role of the BBC in creative clusters. PriceWaterhouseCoopers LLP. https://downloads.bbc.co.uk/aboutthebbc/reports/reports/creative-clusters.pdf
Genders, A. (2019). An invisible army: The role of freelance labour in Bristol’s film and television industries. UWE Bristol.
Genders, A. (2022). Precarious work and creative placemaking: Freelance labour in Bristol. Cultural Trends, 31(5), 433–447.
Gross, J., & Wilson, N. (2020). Cultural democracy: An ecological and capabilities approach. International Journal of Cultural Policy, 26(3), 328–343.
Hesmondhalgh, D., & Baker, S. (2011). Creative labour: Media work in three cultural industries. Routledge.
Hitters, E., & Richards, G. (2002). The creation and management of cultural clusters. Creativity and Innovation Management, 11, 234–247.
Karlsson, C., & Pickard, R. G. (2011). Media clusters: What makes them unique? In C. Karlsson & R. G. Pickard (Eds.), Media clusters: Spatial agglomeration and content capabilities (pp. 3–29). Edward Elgar.
Kearns, G., & Philo, C. (Eds.). (1993). Selling places: The city as cultural capital. Pergamon Press.
Komorowski, M., & Picone, I. (2020). Introduction. In M. Komorowski & I. Picone (Eds.), Creative cluster development: Governance, place-making and entrepreneurship (pp. 3–18). Routledge.
Komorowski, M., Lupu, R., Pepper, S., & Lewis, J. (2021). Joining the dots: Understanding the value generation of creative networks for sustainability in local creative ecosystems. Sustainability, 13(22), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.3390/su132212352
Krätke, S. (2011). The creative capital of cities: Interactive knowledge creation and the urbanization economies of innovation. Wiley-Blackwell.
Lee, D. (2018). Independent television production in the UK: From cottage industry to big business. Palgrave Macmillan.
Lee, D., Champion, K., & Kelly, L. (2022). Relocation, relocation, relocation: Examining the narratives surrounding the Channel 4 move to regional production hubs. Cultural Trends, 31(3), 222–239.
Martin, R., & Sunley, P. (2003). Deconstructing clusters: Chaotic concept or policy panacea? Journal of Economic Geography, 3, 5–35.
McRobbie, A. (2016). Be creative: Making a living in the new culture industries. Polity Press.
O’Regan, T., Gibson, L., & Jeffcut, P. (2004). Creative networks. Media International Australia, 112, 5–8.
Porter, M. (1998). Clusters and the new economics of competition. Harvard Business Review, 76(6), 77–90.
Pratt, A. C. (2011). The cultural contradictions of the creative city. City, Culture and Society, 2(3), 123–130.
Scott, A. J. (2000). The cultural economy of cities: Essays on the geography of image-producing industries. Sage.
Scott, A. J. (2006). Creative cities: Conceptual issues and policy questions. Journal of Urban Affairs, 28(1), 1–17.
Spicer, A., & Presence, S. (2017, Rev. 2022). Go West! Bristol’s film and television industries. UWE.
Storper, M., & Venables, A. J. (2004). Buzz: Face-to-face contact and the urban economy. Journal of Economic Geography, 4(2), 351–370.
Storper, M. (2013). The keys to the city: How economics, institutions, social interaction, and politics shape development. Princeton University Press.
Virani, T., & Pratt, A. C. (2016). Intermediaries and the knowledge exchange process. Higher Education and the Creative Economy: Beyond the Campus, 41–58.
Virani, T. E. (2019). Local creative and cultural economy intermediaries: Examining place-based workers in the creative and cultural economy. QMUL Centre for the Creative and Cultural Economy.
Virani, T. E. (2023). Social inclusion and SMEs: The case of creative SMEs in Hackney Wick and Fish Island, London. City, Culture and Society, 32, 100493.
Virta, S., & Lowe, G. F. (2017). Integrating media clusters and value networks: Insights for management theory and research from a case study of Mediapolis in Finland. Journal of Management & Organization, 23(1), 2–21.
Warren, S., & Jones, P. (2015). Introduction. In S. Warren & P. Jones (Eds.), Creative economies, creative communities: Rethinking place, policy and practice. Routledge.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Spicer, A. (2023). Bristol’s Film and Television Industries: An Incremental Ecosystem. In: Virani, T.E. (eds) Global Creative Ecosystems. Dynamics of Virtual Work. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-33961-5_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-33961-5_7
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-33960-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-031-33961-5
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)