Academic-Industry Collaboration for Commercial Film and Television Production:an exploration of case studies

Over the past decade, new types of academic-industry collaborations for commercial film and television production have emerged that aim to help the university partner enhance vocational relevance of their programmes and the industry partner to both find and nurture new talent as well as enable more cost-effective means of production. Building on previous work, this paper considers two collaborative models: University as ‘Production Partner’ and University as ‘Service Provider’. It presents an overview of case studies from a range of collaborations worldwide considering how these partnerships were structured, how stakeholder needs were considered, the benefit to students and graduates, and overall project effectiveness. It then looks in detail at the collaboration between the University of York, UK, and Green Screen Productions Ltd. for the creation of the feature film, The Knife That Killed Me (2014), backed by Universal Pictures UK. Findings suggest that both models are viable but that partners, particularly academic, must understand the nature of engagement in terms of how it relates to their institutional objectives to maximise benefit. It is suggested that these types of collaborations can be utilised in any industrial media setting globally so long as there is careful consideration of the needs and expectations of all participants.