Michael Curtin, University of California, Santa Barbara, and Kevin Sanson, Senior Lecturer and DMRC Chief Investigator, have published a collection of interviews with film and television workers drawn from an extensive global fieldwork project on working conditions in the screen industries. Rather than offer publicity-friendly anecdotes by marquee celebrities, Voices of Labor presents critical reflections on changes in the workplace brought about by corporate conglomeration and globalization. Ranging across job categories—from showrunner to make-up artist to location manager—this collection features voices of labor from Los Angeles, Atlanta, Prague, and Vancouver. Together they show how seemingly abstract concepts like conglomeration, financialization, and globalization are crucial tools for understanding contemporary Hollywood and for reflecting more generally on changes and challenges in the screen media workplace and our culture at large. Alongside the interviews, the authors have contributed an original research essay and critical introductions to frame the conversations with practitioners.
Voices of Labor: Creativity, Craft, and Conflict in Global Hollywood is available in print and open access from the University of California Press.