The Talent Management of Indie Authorship

From American independent cinema and short “films” to pay-TV and streaming

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by Andrew Stubbs-Lacy

Type: Studies
Subject: Genre > Independent cinema
Keywords: authorship, independent cinema, United States
Publishing date: 2024 (August 31, 2024)
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
Language: English

Relative size

Physical desc.

Hardcover • 272 pages
6 x 9 ¼ inches (15.5 x 23.5 cm)

ISBN

978-1-4744-8264-6

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Book Presentation:
Explores the role that talent intermediaries, including producers and talent managers, play in packaging American independent cinema projects
• Sheds much needed light on the roles that talent agents and talent managers play in the production, promotion and critical reception of contemporary American screen media
• Traces the movement of indie-auteurs between screen media in an era of convergence, with case-studies on American indie cinema, cable and streaming television, music video, advertising and branded content
• Provides new perspectives and insights on the careers of indie-auteurs such as the Coen brothers, Steven Soderbergh, Tyler Perry, Spike Jonze, Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Dee Rees, Cary Fukunaga, Sam Esmail, Brit Marling, Zal Batmanglij, Amy Seimetz, Ryan Coogler and Shaka King
• Examines indie-auteurism’s cultural and social connotations and the repercussions that the management of indie-auteurism has in relation to class, gender and race

This book explores the role that talent intermediaries, including talent agents, talent managers and producers, play in packaging, marketing and selling screen media products, services and brands by constructing and positioning their clients and collaborators as indie-auteurs. Exploring several case-studies across a range of screen media during an era of media convergence, including American indie cinema, high-end television, music video, advertising and branded content, the book explores the strategies that talent intermediaries adopt and the industrial, cultural and social connotations and hierarchies that indie-auteurism as a promotional discourse and tool carries and reinforces.

As a result, the book stakes out new ground that complicates popular ideas of indie-auteurs as highly autonomous and innovative filmmakers by exploring how this authorial discourse migrates between media and is constructed and reconfigured in relation to changing industrial and cultural contexts.

About the Author:
Dr. Andrew Stubbs-Lacy is senior lecturer of Film Industries and Studies at Staffordshire University.

Press Reviews:
"Although the idea of indie film authorship remains potent, it comes under intense scrutiny in The Talent Management of Indie Authorship. In this remarkable study, Andrew Stubbs-Lacy demonstrates compellingly how such authorship is painstakingly (re-)packaged and (re-)produced by talent intermediaries as they guide their clients’ navigation of an increasingly converged media industries landscape."
– Yannis Tzioumakis, University of Liverpool (Author of American Independent Cinema)

"Through his focus on talent managers and producers, Andrew Stubbs-Lacy offers a fresh take on the dynamic relationship between American independent film and the media industries since the 1980s. He skillfully illustrates how these intermediaries helped a range of writer-directors build and sustain their indie brand identities as they moved across different media forms."
– Alisa Perren, Director of Center for Entertainment and Media Industries, University of Texas

See the publisher website: Edinburgh University Press

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