Introducing the Creative Industries: From Theory to Practice

"This text does a sterling job at identifying, outlining and defining the many elements that go to make up this booming sector of industry. What makes it particularly interesting is that it includes the view of the creative industries from the perspective of working in it, then the definitions of what products and producers are involved, and ends with the broader picture of the creative economy and predictions for future trends. Add to this that they include both theory and practice, and this really is an all-round guide to the vast domain that is loosely titled ′the creative industries′"
- Angela Birchall, School of Media, Music & Performance, Salford University

This is your complete guide to studying and succeeding in the creative industries. This book takes you through the history, trends, products and markets of the creative industries, showing how success depends on a mix of ideas, tactics and talent.

When understanding social networks and cultural economy is just as important as hands-on skills or an entrepreneurial spirit, Introducing the Creative Industries shows you how to use theories, concepts and practical skills to get ahead in their course and professional life. Creatively imagined and beautifully written, this book:

• Interweaves theoretical concepts and professional practice on every page
• Uses cultural economy to teach the essential concepts and thinkers
• Integrates case studies from fashion and gaming to journalism and music
• Teaches strategies for navigating the links between skills, industries, creativity and markets.

This book shows you how to spot opportunities and use your knowledge and savvy to take kickstart your career in this fast-moving industry. It is an essential guidebook for students of creativity in media and communication, design, creative industries and business.

Rosamund Davies has a background in professional practice in the film and television industries, in which she worked with both independent production companies and public funding bodies. As script editor and story consultant for Film London, she oversaw the development of around 100 projects.

Rosamund has been a lecturer in creative and media writing at the University of Greenwich since 2001, founding and expanding the university′s screenwriting provision. She also developed the Working in the Media and Creative Industries course, which became the basis for the book Introducing the Creative Industries: From Theory to Practice (SAGE, 2012), which she co-authored with colleague Gauti Sigthorsson.

Rosamund is a member of the International Screenwriting Research Group and sits on the Programme Committee of the Adaptive Hypertext and Narrative Connections track for ACM Hypertext. Her publications include articles and book chapters on screenwriting, hypertext and online video. Her article Narrating the Archive and Archiving Narrative: the Logic of the Index in International Journal of the Book, 5 (2008), was awarded the International Award for Excellence for the top ranked article in 2008. As an original member of the International Screenwriting Research Group, she has been active in the development of this new area of research and her article Screenwriting Strategies in Marguerite Duras′s script for Hiroshima, Mon Amour (1960), was selected for inclusion in the first volume of the Journal of Screenwriting (2010) and identified as an example of innovation in screenwriting research (Koivumäki, M.R, 2011).

In her recent media practice, Rosamund has explored the intersection between narrative and archive as cultural forms and transmedia storytelling approaches to dramatic narrative. As co-investigator on the interdisciplinary research project PATINA (Personal Architectonics Through Interaction with Artefacts), funded by the RCUK Digital Economy programme, Rosamund has brought narrative enquiry to the context of designing effective research spaces, collaborating with colleagues in computer science, human computer interaction, archeology and architecture at the universities of Southampton, Bristol, Brighton, Newcastle and Swansea. She is currently collaborating on further interdisciplinary research projects with colleagues from computer science and archeology at the University of Southampton and Kings College London.

Dr Gauti Sigthorsson is Principal Lecturer in Architecture and Programme Leader  for the BA and MA in Media & Communication at the University of Greenwich.