NECS Preconference The Impact of Digitalization on Global Screen Industries Sponsored by NECS Screen Industries Work Group With the support of Université Paris Diderot, CERILAC, LARCA June 28, 2017, Université Paris Diderot Salle Pierre Albouy, 13.00 - 17.00, Grands moulins, C building, 6th floor Coffee break at 15.30. This NECS 2017 pre-conference investigates the impacts of digitalization on distribution and production practices in the screen industries from various directions: policy, business, law, technology, professional cultures, consumer behavior, cultural values, etc. We invite proposals for short 10-15-minute workshop presentations relating to any one of the three panels outlined below. Proposals should include a title, an abstract of up to 100 words, and between three and five key bibliographical references, along with the presenter’s name, institutional affiliation and a 50 word academic bio. Please submit proposals no later than 30 April 2017 to nolwenn.mingant@univ-nantes.fr, petrszczepanik@gmail.com and paul.mcdonald@kcl.ac.uk. The pre-conference is sponsored by the NECS Screen Industries Work Group. Attendance is free and it is open to all NECS members. Conference organizers: Nolwenn Mingant, Petr Szczepanik, Paul McDonald. Panel 1. Digital Distribution and Screen Media Industries: Change or Continuity? With video-on-demand, ‘over-the-top’, catch-up television and online gaming services, digital distribution is now an established feature of the screen media industries. When examining these developments, discussions of digital distribution frequently argue the entry of new online services and corporate players into the media landscape is both challenging the structures of corporate power in the screen media industries and transforming consumer markets for media content. At the same time the emergence and popularization of digital distribution has already resulted in a number of high-profile branded services coming to dominate the online space. Reflecting on these developments this panel therefore focuses on the question - to what extent are services for the online digital distribution of film, television and gaming disrupting or preserving traditional structures and market behavior in the screen media industries? Contributions are invited that critically assess how far digital distribution is causing change or maintaining continuity in the screen media industries. Panel 2. Screen Policies and Digital Challenges This panel will discuss the current challenges posed by digital technologies to existing legislations in the screen industries (film, TV, internet, …). It focuses both on digitalization as a threat to and opportunity for current screen policy models. Emphasis will be placed on the perspective of policymakers with a view to determining the extent to which the digital revolution has led to a mere extension of traditional screen policies or the development of a new paradigm. In order to encourage comparative discussion between different national and regional screen policy contexts, contributions are invited that look at the impact of
digitalization on screen policy in any geographical area. These impacts may include, although are not limited to: • key digital-related policy makers and organizations • harmonization of on-line and off-line legislations • relationships between state institutions and newcomers in the value chain (VoD, Netflix, …) • evolution of national and supra-national copyright rules • digital revolution and cultural diversity goals • balancing film, TV, internet and other media sector within a creative industry framework • state support for the adoption of digital standards (distribution, exhibition, etc.) and equipment (digital divide concept) • geoblocking • cybersecurity • labour laws • film digitization and film archives Panel 3. Digital Single Market: The Impact of the European Commission’s Strategy on Business Models and Practices Published in 2015, the European Commissions’s Digital Single Market (DSM) strategy aims to ‘open up digital opportunities for people and business and enhance Europe’s position as a world leader in the digital economy’. So far this initiative has met with a strong opposition from traditional media industries. European producers and distributors are worried that their business models will collapse and that European markets will be dominated by US-based giants like Netflix, Google, Amazon or Apple. This panel focuses on the key challenges that gradual implementation of the DSM poses for producers, distributors, sales agents, broadcasters, telecommunication companies, audiovisual online services, aggregators, authors, collecting societies, etc. It will critically place the positions of key stakeholders against each other to identify potential congruities and alliances, conflicts and contradictions, dead ends and best practices. These positions will be discussed vis-à-vis global trends in business and technology, together with other policy initiatives from the European Commission, including regulations on the portability of online content services, broadcaster ancillary online services (simulcasting and catch up TV), copyright rules, and revision of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive. Accordingly, potential topics for papers and panels may include but are not limited to: • territorial licensing and geoblocking • distribution windows • marketing and audience-building • localization of content and online curation • presales of distribution rights • co-production deal-making • broadcaster online services • remuneration of authors • content identification and the ‘notice and takedown’ • alternative models of financing, production and distribution