CFP: [Collections] "Producing Television," special issue of Spectator

Call for Papers

Producing Television
Spectator
Spring 2008 (28.1)

This journal issue considers the ways technologies, social dissent,
business practices, and creative relationships have produced, continue to
and promise to produce television content, programming, aesthetics, and
viewership. By flexibly understanding “production” across a series of
critical categories, this topic considers the meaning of television as: a
labor practice; a creative function for producers and consumers; a
convergence of multiple media; processes involving human figures,
technological innovations, and economic pressures; and a result of
activism and policies formulated by various social groups and political
institutions. Questions motivating analysis may include the following:
What are the ideological and aesthetic pressures placed upon television?
What does television demand of its workers at all levels of production
and consumption? What are the historically specific reasons behind
television’s drive to reinvent its business practices and technologies?
What forces “make” television what is it, at any given period?

Deadline for Submission: November 25, 2007

Spectator is a biannual publication and submissions that address the
above topics in the following areas are now invited for submission:

• Relationships of reciprocity or productive dissent between
political activism and television
• Cult television and audience interpretation, creative uses of and
engagements with cult texts
• Relationships between creative forces in television (e.g.
director and star, producer and networks)
• Government policies and legal actions that redefine television
content, economics, etc.
• Corporate mergers
• Stardom (e.g. the recycling of film stars on television, creation
of television stars via reality TV)
• Technologies that produce a particular television aesthetic
• Labor practices involved in the manufacturing of television
technologies
• New technologies borrowed by television or that takes television
beyond conventional viewing and transmission (e.g. YouTube, TMZ, podcasts)
• Representations of television that define viewing practices,
imagine a future state of television, construct narratives about TV
production (e.g. films about TV executives, fictional narratives about TV
workers, “behind the scenes” specials, biographies of TV stars or major
players)

Contact information:
Jennifer Clark
(213) 740-3334
jennifsc_at_usc.edu

Manuscripts to be considered for publication should be sent to:

Spectator
Attn: Jennifer Clark
University of Southern California
School of Cinematic Arts
Critical Studies
850 West 34th Street, Lucas 405
Los Angeles, CA 90089-2211

One copy of manuscript should be submitted as well as a copy on disk.
Submissions can also be e-mailed directly. Manuscripts should include the
title of the contribution and the name (s) of authors, as well as the
postal address, e-mail address, and phone numbers for author who will
work with the editor on any revisions. All pages should be numbered
consecutively. Contributions should not be more than 5,000 words. They
should also include a brief abstract for publicity. Authors should also
include a brief biographic entry. Rejected manuscripts will not be
returned.

Articles submitted to the Spectator should not be under consideration by
any other journal.

Book Reviews may vary in length from 300 to 1,000 words. Please include
title of book, retail price and ISBN at the beginning of the review.

Forum or Additional Section contributions can include works on new
archival or research facilities or methods as well as other relevant
works related to the field.

Electronic Submissions and Formatting. Authors should send copies of
their work via e-mail as electronic attachments. Please keep backup files
of all disks. Files should be Microsoft Word in PC or Mac format,
depending on the editor's preference. Endnotes should conform to the
Chicago Manual of Style.

Upon acceptance, a format guideline will be forwarded to all contributors
as to image and text requirements.

Current Board for Spectator

Founding Editor
        Marsha Kinder
Managing Editor
        William Whittington
Issue Editor
        Jennifer Clark

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Received on Sat Sep 15 2007 - 23:28:39 EDT