Presented at the RGS-IBG conference, Edinburgh, 4th July, 2012. Session: Historical Geographies of Creative Economies (http://conference.rgs.org/conference/sessions/View.aspx?heading=Y&session=0c092827-1c04-4347-8f55-a59746d5d7da)

1. Network Analysis of Film
and TV Production in
North East England,
1971-2011
Jon Swords
Northumbria University

2. Search for the new... search
for success
“one of the besetting sins of creative industries policy-
making is its obsession with the new, its insistence that
everything is ‘changed utterly,’ and its seeming
ignorance, of its own history”
(Knell, 2007)

3. Creative Industries in North
East England
Much of the region’s creative industries are characterised as:
- operating self contained and regionally bounded working
practices
- being isolated cognitively and physically from creative hubs
- using passive or serendipitous engagement strategies to
engage non- locally
- facing barriers to engage non-locally
(Swords and Wray, 2010)

5. “There is no industry anymore…if I
don’t find a new project soon I’m
moving to Glasgow.”
(Producer D)

6. What’s happened?
Why did it happened?
What are the consequences?

7. Productions made (at least in part) in NE
Productions involving NE based production
companies

8. Screen minutes for film and TV productions made in/by North East
4000
TV
Short films
Film Feature films
3000
Minutes
2000
1000
0
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

9. Screen minutes by location of production company
2500
Originated in NE
Originated outside NE
2000
Minutes
1500
1000
500
0
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

10. Impacts of Decline
Regional firms 3.5x more likley to film locally
“Very little creativity on set, mainly routines
tasks and fetching and carrying. Intensive
creative period is pre-production.”
(Producer H)

11. Moving beyond the region
Bounded regional space of workers vs multi-scalar relational
spaces of production networks
“...the key domains of finance, distribution and
exhibition that exert a massive influence on the
organizational structures and geography of the
industry.”
(Coe and Johns, 2004: 188)

12. Skeletal Remains of
Project Ecologies
“project ecologies denote relational space which
affords the personal, organizational, and institutional
resources for performing projects. This relational
space encompasses social layers on multiple scales,
from the micro-level of interpersonal networks to the
meso-level of wider institutional settings.”
(Grabher and Ibert, 2010: 176)

13. Visualising Project Ecologies Tony Abrahams
Peter Joly
gillian garner
WORLD WIDE INTERNATIONAL TELEVISION Keith Spark
Angus Newton
Jane Lewis
Jimmy Garrett
Ray Townsend Paul Reynolds
Karen Mc Kinlay
Gordon Hann
Jim Will
John Mason Bob Dixon IV
des whelan
Alison Daglish maria walker
Annie Wotton Herby Newton John Hughes danny longhurst
Alan Sharp
Bob Dial
Chris Abrahams
FESTIVAL FILMS Cliff Burr
Tim Putnam
Paul Van Der Weele
Tyne Tees Television Jimmy Mc Gill
Tracey Malone
Jamie Mc Phee David Seaton
Gavin Millar
Jenny Shircore
The Dwelling Place
Shuna Harwood
Chris Allies
John Hooper
Gillian Zali Bob Bridges
Jill Forbes Christine Llewellyn Reeve
John Haynes
Liz Vincent Fernie
Michael Mc Garrigle
Paul Sadourian
Annie Penn
Ray Burridge
David Medlycott
ray marshall
Corrina Bonicelli
Benjamin Greenacre
Susie Bruffin
Richard King
nael abbas
nadia el-saffar
colin towns
Tony Ginnelly
Nic Grant
Keith Richardson
don bell
Steven Leadbitter
catherine cookson ashley wilkinson
Gary Crumpton
FESTIVAL FILM & TELEVISION PRODUCTION
A Dinner of Herbs

17. Split between film and TV
Key
TV productions
Films
All data, 1971-2011

18. 1980s 1990s
2000s
Key
TV productions
Films

19. 2000-05 2006-11
Key
TV productions
Films

20. Why is NE England
interesting?
“Researchers have looked for creativity in fairly
obvious places...have found it there; and have
theorised about cities, creative industries and
urban transformations as if their subsequent
models or logic were universally relevant
everywhere.”
(Gibson, 2010: 3)

21. Next Steps
what happens when creative industries go into decline?
will other sectors be impacted?
does a different kind of creativity emerge?
firms learn and adapt?
do job search strategies change?
where to workers go?
if they leave, will the return in the future?
in how people market themselves?
do people disassociate themselves with the region?
is there a link with decline in other sectors?