The Glasshouse, Building Z2, Kelvin Grove Campus, Musk Avenue, Creative Industries Faculty, QUT

Thursday 10 December 2015 – 3.00pm – 5.00pm

RSVP at the Eventbrite page

Stuart Cunningham (Distinguished Professor of Media and Communications, Queensland University of Technology) and David Craig (multiple Emmy Award-nominated producer and former programming executive at A&E and Lifetime Television plus Clinical Assistant Professor, USC Annenberg) will present an overview of the new screen ecology emerging around the new digital platforms.

The presentation is based on Stuart’s and David’s ongoing research collaboration (based originally around Stuart’s 2014-15 Fulbright Senior Scholarship) which has involved interviews with a significant range of actors in the new screen ecology in the US and Australia, including platforms, YouTube and other platform content creators, managers, executives, talent agents, multichannel networks, technology integration companies, commentators and specialist journalists.

The focus is predominantly on previously amateur creators, using platforms such as YouTube (but also others such as Vine, Instagram, Snapchat, Vimeo, Vessel and increasingly cross- and multi-platform strategies), to develop subscriber/fan bases of significant size and often transnational composition, often generating as a consequence significant advertising and sponsorship revenue and increasingly the attention of mainstream media.

The presentation will explore key themes such as:

• the cultural and business clash between the ‘IT-innovation’ (‘NoCal’, rapid prototyping and iteration, permanent beta, advanced measurement and ‘programmatics’) and ‘premium content-mass media’ (‘SoCal’, time-honoured business models, creative-driven, programs and programming strategic design) models in the new screen ecology
• the sustainability, production cultures and creative labour of YouTube creator careers and intermediaries such as the MCNs,
• content innovation and the genre rules in YouTube-native verticals (vlogging, gameplay, popular knowledge, stunt/comedy)
• the relationship between the new and the established screen ecologies.

GUEST SPEAKERS

Stuart Cunningham AM

Stuart Cunningham AM is Distinguished Professor of Media and Communications, Queensland University of Technology. He was a Fulbright Senior Scholar in 2014-15 at University of California Santa Barbara and University of Southern California.

David Craig PHD

David Craig PhD is Clinical Assistant Professor, USC Annenberg. He teaches courses in traditional and digital media and entertainment management in the Master of Communication Management (MCM) program. He is also a multiple Emmy Award-nominated producer and former programming executive at A&E and Lifetime Television.