Description
Book SynopsisAn examination of the critical influence of working actors and actors' labor unions on industrial structures and practices in Hollywood, including film, television, and streaming.
Trade ReviewGiven the recent stories surrounding Hollywood and its unions, [Fortmueller's] look at the place occupied by working actors and extras in the film industry could not be more timely. * The Film Stage *
[A] thorough history of background actors and extras in the entertainment industry workforce, from the silent era to today...Fortmueller offers intriguing details and anecdotes uncovered in archival materials, and at times the book reads like an entertaining work of meta-cinema, full of scandal and intrigue. * Library Journal *
[
Below the Stars] is a valuable read that untangles, with exceptional clarity, the convoluted histories of labour unions in various media landscapes and stages of technological developments, presenting a comprehensive picture of industrial forces from the unique vantage point of below-the-star actors. * Alphaville *
[
Below the Stars demonstrates] how media studies scholars should theorize and teach labor organizing and media industry structures...Fortmueller’s archival research demonstrates a keen ability to find Hollywood workers often missing from other archival collections. But in her final chapter, interviews with working actors provide a striking look at the precarity of employment that defines our contemporary media moment. * Journal of Cinema and Media Studies *
[
Below the Stars] provides us with multiple previously obscured union histories. It also drives home our need to re-envision the ideological constructs we sometimes cling to in our field: the conflation of actor and star and the belief in the impermeable boundaries between media. In short, this book fills several gaps in the field and is a necessary addition to any course on the US media industries, stardom, performance, and/or US television history. * Media Industries *
Table of ContentsList of Abbreviations
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter 1. Hollywood Freelance: How Actors and Extras Shaped the Film Industry
Chapter 2. Actors and the Making of Television’s First Golden Age
Chapter 3. Reuse and Replace? Actors, Reruns, and the Cable Era
Chapter 4. New Media, Old Labor Conflicts: Voice Actors and Digital Professionalization
Conclusion
Postscript. Actors and COVID-19: What the Pandemic Teaches Us about Film and Television Labor
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Index
