Course 2011-2012 a.y.

Course Objectives

Attending the "Workshop on Film Industry Management" allows students to understand the different stages of the entire value-chain from conception to distribution of a motion picture. Students learn the logics governing the actions of main operators in the movie industry both in Italy, the US and Europe. Students understand the organizational logics behind their decisions. Finally students experiment concrete examples of their operations.

Course Content Summary

• economic relations in the value-chain
• the features of independent and major-productions
• marketing strategies in different European Countries
• licensing and merchandising
• the diffusion of multiplex cinemas
• the job market

Detailed Description of Assessment Methods

• Final written exam on course contents (lessons and  proofs).
• Students are examined also on a team-based activity. Students have to split up in small groups (with 4 to 6 people each), and propose the business plan and the promotion strategy of a film project, based on a novel, a remake or an original plot invented by the team members. All the project documents have to be inspired by the different topics discussed in class during the course with professors and guest speakers. The outcome of the team-based activity is a written paper and a power point presentation.

• Final written exam on compulsory books
• Non-attending students are examined also on an individual activity. Students have to choose a preferred issue (among those discussed on the textbooks) to be analyzed, for instance through a case study, an empirical investigation (e.g., through the implementation of a questionnaire), a theoretical review, and so on. The outcome of such activity is an essay that has to be sent by mail to the Teacher and the class tutor the day before the written exam.

Textbooks

Attending students:

• A set of readings and didactical materials will be uploaded on the course's learning space 

Non-Attending students:

• Wasko, How Hollywood Works, SAGE pubblication.
• H. VOGEL, Entertainment Industry Economics, Cambridge University Press, 2007 (Chapters I, III, IV, V) 

Suggested readings:

• T. BALIO, The American Film Industry, Madison, The University of Wisconsin Press, 1985
• G. DELMESTRI, F. MONTANARI, A. USAI, Reputation and Strength of Ties in Predicting Commercial Success and Artistic Merit of Independents in the Feature Film Industry, Journal of Management Studies, 2005, 42 (5): 975-1002.
• A. DEVANY, Hollywood Economics, Routledge, 2008.
• P. FARBER, A. BAUMGARTEN, M. FLEISCHER, Producing, Financing and Distributing Film, 1992.
• D. HESMONDHALGH, The Cultural Industries, London, Sage, 2002, 376-397.
• C. JONES, Careers in Project Networks: The Case of the Film Industry, In M.B. Arthur and D.M. Rousseau (Eds.), The Boundaryless Career: A New Employment Principle for a New Organizational Era: 58-75, New York, Oxford University Press.
• J. LAMPEL, J. SHAMSIE, Capabilities in motion: New organizational forms and the reshaping of the Hollywood movie industry, Journal of Management Studies, 40:8, 2003
• L. LEVINSON, Filmmakers and Financing, Elsevier, 2007
• D. MILLER, J. SHAMSIE, The resource-based view of the firm in two environments: The Hollywood film studios from 1936 to 1965, The Academy of Management Journal, Vol.39, No.3, pp. 519-543, 1996
• R.A.NELSON., M.R. DONIHUE, D.M. WALDMAN, C. WHEATON, What’s an Oscar worth? Economic Inquiry, 39:1, 2001
• A. PASQUALE, Marketing & Distribution. In The Audiovisual Management Handbook. An In-depth Look at the Film, Television, Multimedia Industry in Europe, Media Business School, 2002
• J.A. ROBINS, Organization as strategy: Restructuring production in the film industry, Strategic Management Journal, Vol.14, pp. 103-118, 1993