Mobile Hollywood: Labor and the Geography of Production

by Kevin Sanson

A free ebook version of this title is available through Luminos, University of California Press's Open Access publishing program. Visit www.luminosoa.org to learn more.

Contemporary film and television production is extraordinarily mobile. Filming large-scale studio productions in Atlanta, Budapest, London, Prague, or Australia's Gold Coast makes Hollywood jobs available to people and places far removed from Southern California—but it also requires individuals to uproot their lives as they travel around the world in pursuit of work. Drawing on interviews with a global contingent of film and television workers, Kevin Sanson weaves an analysis of the sheer scale and complexity of mobile production into a compelling account of the impact that mobility has had on job functions, working conditions, and personal lives. Mobile Hollywood captures how an expanded geography of production not only intensifies the often invisible pressures that production workers now face but also stretches the parameters of screen-media labor far beyond craftwork and creativity.

244 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 6, 2024

Reviews

[Anders Grønlund · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sanson's book is a good and well-written introduction to several layers of contemporary Global Hollywood and the changes that increased mobility has brought with it. With both new points and continuations from previous publications, the book zooms in on the concept of mobility in the context of supply chain capitalism and how developments - such as artificial production incentives and technology - have affected key functions, not least around location. Here, the book shines in its introduction to service producers, location experts and teamsters in particular, while the book thrives on the subject's good anecdotes from many (sometimes a little dated) interviews with above and below-the-line staff - especially those who get stuck in or are a product of Mobile Hollywood. At times, the points become somewhat repetitive - including the author's sympathies - but it's an excellent, not least open access, book to gain insight into overlooked roles in film production, new challenges (and dangers!), a complex cross-border production network and a range of concepts that will benefit any analysis into related topics.