Abstract
This article considers the nature of employment in the UK Film Industry in the period 1927–1947 against a background of US domination of the global market for film. Drawing on archived interview material from 60 participants in the archive of the History Project of BECTU (the British trade union for Media and Entertainment workers) the article focusses on entry routes, working hours, training and pay grades to assess the degree of stability present in the labour market across a number of selected below-the-line film production occupations. This provides an historical context to debates surrounding the organisation of work in the sector, which is characterised by both continuity and change. The article argues that the UK film industry has never been a stable, ‘job-for-life’ sector, nor have its labour processes ever followed mass production lines. It supports assertions that assumptions of linear development from secure to casualised employment are inadequate for understanding work in this sector.
Highlights
This article presents the history of labour market flexibility in the UK film industry since the emergence of a Studio System in 1927 as divided into three main phases characterised by; (1) labour/capital conflict and a fragmented internal labour market from 1927‐1947 (2) a labour/capital pact and sector level institutional agreements from 1948‐1990 and (3) deregulation and weakening of labour organisation from 1990 onwards1
By examining the period before the capital/labour pact lead to a period of relative stability and security in film employment and by comparison with more contemporary accounts of the employment relationship (Blair, Grey and Randle, 2001) this article concludes that employment trends in the industry may have been more circular than linear and that continuities are as prevalent as change
The first tier comprised the vertically integrated studios owned by Gaumont British Picture Corporation (GBPC), Associated British Picture Corporation (ABPC) and Rank and other in‐house production companies8, including studios owned by the Hollywood majors
Summary
This article presents the history of labour market flexibility in the UK film industry since the emergence of a Studio System in 1927 as divided into three main phases characterised by; (1) labour/capital conflict and a fragmented internal labour market from 1927‐1947 (2) a labour/capital pact and sector level institutional agreements from 1948‐1990 and (3) deregulation and weakening of labour organisation from 1990 onwards. This article examines the first of the three phases above, from 1927‐ 1947, against more contemporary accounts combining a comparative political economy of the UK and US Studio System (Blair and Rainnie 2000; Wakso 2003) with oral history testimonies of UK film workers employed during the 1930s. By examining the period before the capital/labour pact lead to a period of relative stability and security in film employment and by comparison with more contemporary accounts of the employment relationship (Blair, Grey and Randle, 2001) this article concludes that employment trends in the industry may have been more circular than linear and that continuities are as prevalent as change. A third section provides a brief account of employment flexibility in the sector today, the historical development of the UK film studios and the internal labour market.
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