Ways in Which Corporate Control Affects or Shapes TV (Essay Sample)

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Corporate Control
Caldwell in his critique and supposition of the industrial auteur theory depicts the nature in which corporate control shapes and affects the television and film industry globally. He argues that corporate control can be summed up in two dimensions. The first one is control over the nature in which creative ideas and concepts channeled to this industry get harmonized and developed over time. And the second is the increasing rate with which new media conglomerates are vehemently replace the role of the author or creator of a film with a producer or studio executive as the key creators of a film (Caldwell 198). Such actions spark conflict between the true authors and the studio executive, hence threatening the free-flow or new ideas and the essence of attributing due diligence regarding creativity to the authors (Caldwell 198).
Ways used to propagate such corporate interventions in the line of production stem from auteurism itself. This is the total control over all facets of film making and production exercised by a producer and overly gives the film its originality and appeal. Auteurism over the years has evoked sharp criticism based on the role these producers, regarding creativity control and rights control, had on the nature in which films were made and put out on the market. In new media conglomerates, this is common and widely practiced, but the density with which such effects of auteurism are felt seems to secede in bigger companies. However, such practices are still up-to-date, based on Kristin Thompson and Janet Staiger in their critique of the neo-classical approach used by Hollywood to maintain auteurism practices (Caldwell 199). Television production methods seems to challenge the Hollywood's way of corporate control as depicted by Newcomb and Robert Alley and accords the true role of executive producers in a film rather than the initially used auteurism approaches.
Corporate control has also affected the manner in which these films are written (Caldwell 201). Presently, it is hard to have a single writer do a whole film or movie and expect to pan out a class act. The need to have such content done in the earnest sets the pace for a new model of authoring judging from the Phil Rosenthal's critique of the system (Caldwell 201). Authors are assembled into groups and tasked with the role of writing a film with a single person being the overall or head in this process. In such an approach, the artistic value of writing is eroded and replaced with an industrial approach to film writing (Caldwell 201). Writers are kept at arm's length from their directors who call the shots in every aspect that goes into the writing of the film. This, in turn, implies that, no matter how creative the author is, the flow of his/her ideas to public viewership lie at the mercy of the director or main author. The conglomerates that govern film production have played a role in fostering this approach that also plays a role in idea theft (Caldwell 201). These conglomerates pressure producers to come up with content that, in turn, leads these producers to create artificially done work rather than the artistic content instead of the artistic pieces that over time develop writer’s art of film authoring (Levine 68).
Corporate control and interventions also lead to idea theft and ownership disputes. Most notable is the manner in which production rights and model or operations are set. For example, Hollywood is more receptive to films that target high-culture as compared to low-culture. In essence, the production setup tool is inclined in this manner. Alumni from elite institutions are more preferred when it comes to the awarding and contracting of the production contract. This has influenced the film industry in turn, in the event where this film conglomerates seek to recruit creators, the elite-schooled producers are the one considered. In short, the better art institution a producer has educated from, the easier he/she is likely to be considered creative despite their artistic prowess in film work (Levine 66). Such high expectations of these producers give room for probable content theft and ownership disputes. Idea theft is enhanced with the use of art workers more than writers in this heavily interlinked industry. A good example is a dispute that occurred between Judd Apatow and Mark Brazill (Caldwell 207).
Corporate intervention in the establishment of writing committees in filmmaking, that have quantified in a model known as a show's 'bible' , have shaped the longevity of television productions over time. This model uses writers who are tasked with patching of the plot and manner in which the story flows over time and ahead of schedule for the sake of the show or film's security. However, the viewing of writers as assemblers and anonymous inputs not only constrains the creativity of writers as they are under the control of the directors, but also reduces them to workers housed in a system that can exist even without them. Committee writing degrades the true value of an original creator while conferring much control over the production process to the producers of the film. In this manner, producers can fire and hire without having to worry about the possibility of the film ending as a result of the loss of a writer. Committee writing has also faced sharp criticism in its use. A large pool of talented writers gets clumped together and work for long hours on a model believed to be detrimental to the human aspect of fair working conditions (Levine 71). A good example is an accusation levied towards Crane Productions Company and its infringement of the rights of the writers in the Sitcom production, Friends (Caldwell 214). Such infringements of writers rights, coupled with ageism and sexism, have affected most of the Hollywood and its manner of approach in writing most of their television shows and films. The model is, however, essential in conferring talent and sharing ideas across writers more, however, the manner in which this model is being applied has evoked serious criticism with critics demanding a better approach (Caldwell 219). Committee writing interventions that govern mentorship authorship crediting has solved the many challenges that existed in traditional approaches to this model. This, in turn, has accorded rare positive reviews in the system itself and the importance that it plays.
Corporate control has affected the theoretical approaches adopted in the writing process of these films. The widely used theories are the audience-targeting approaches, whereby the writers, before their writing, need to form or develop and 'desire assessment' of the probable viewers and, in turn, write their pieces in line with this assessment (Levine 79). This involves the production companies hiring test audiences to determine the effectiveness of their pieces more so in comedies before their airing. This approach is common in television series and is a product of market-oriented approaches vis-a-vis artistic approaches to the type of content put out by these film companies (Caldwell 223).
Caldwell's model of production and the shortcomings, depicted in his model, can be seen in other TV films. A good example is the comedy series Friends. This Sitcom production portrayed all the projected worries that accompanied the production critiquing done by Caldwell. To begin, the authoring and writing models that Friends used were similar to the ones argued by Caldwell. Committee writing, a method of writing, has over the years been used in film script writing a...