The principal issue of debate in relation to the UK film industry is the sustainability of independent film production companies. In the thesis, it will be argued that the characteristics of these companies are closely related to those of project-based firms, which has key implications for government polices aimed at positive intervention in the development of the industry. An analysis of the critical characteristics of these firms, the interdependencies between these characteristics, and the linkages between firms and other industry agents, will enable the construction of a model of the UK film production company. It will be argued that the operation of this model is critically influenced by external financing and the economic domination of the US major studios. It will further be argued that the difficulty of raising finance for film projects; the protection of intellectual property, as a means of recouping investment; and the related entrepreneurial behaviour encourage the adoption of project-based organization. Using this form of governance helps financial risk to be managed by the use of freelance workers and the minimization of fixed capital. This strategy is possible because of the existence of deregulated labour markets and the availability of a large pool of specialist skills. Crew are obliged to maximize their earnings by conforming to the norms implied by the largely deregulated working environment and by specializing in well-defined roles. Skills development in this system is the responsibility of the individual, who must accept this to advance his or her career. Personal interest thus reinforces the tendency to specialization. Partly because of the fragmentation of the industry, agencies and unions possess little authority. Although the industry depends upon well-developed informal networks for its functioning, these are used predominantly for communication. The key characteristics of the UK film industry are conditioned partly by the business strategy of the US major studios, which outsource work to the UK and return all profits to the US. Dependence upon inward investment leaves the industry at the mercy of an economic or investment downturn and price competition from other countries, while the lack of formal training may undermine the ability of the industry to compete in quality and skills. The thesis therefore concludes with policy recommendations that suggest how the industry might create an environment in which the sustainability of production would be achieved.

Films, séries télévisées ou jeux vidéo, les fictions audiovisuelles populaires encouragent et alimentent la consommation de produits culturels variés, apparentés instinctivement à un univers fictif, une marque, un genre ou une organisation spécifique. L’analyse de ce réflexe au moment de la réception permet de mettre au jour les mécanismes établissant les liens entre les œuvres, au moyen du concept central de marqueur, élément en apparence anodin dans la fiction mais fondant une allusion compréhensible sous certaines conditions. L’étude des stratégies de réduction du risque mises en place par les organisations produisant les fictions audiovisuelles montre que les marqueurs jouent un rôle essentiel dans la conception, la production et la mise sur le marché de ces produits culturels, sans en garantir systématiquement le succès, difficilement mesurable. Ces stratégies autorisent, voire encouragent un usage et une appropriation ludique des marqueurs qui conditionnent l’exploration des univers fictifs (parfois génériques) de la culture populaire par ses publics, et sa réutilisation par ses créateurs. / Be they video games, movies or TV shows, popular audiovisual fictions encourage the consumption of diverse cultural works, instinctively linked to a specific fictitious universe, brand, genre or organisation. Analyzing this audience’s reflex leads to the inner working of how cultural products are linked together, thanks to an apparently innocuous element which indeed supports an allusion. This marker, as we will call it, can be understood as such only under certain conditions. When it is, it can play a central role in the risk-reduction strategies implemented by entertainment industries during the design, production and marketing of mainstream fictions, with no guarantees of of a success that can hardly be summed up by box-office numbers. These strategies, in turn, promote a playful use of markers in fictions, allowing the audience’s exploration of popular culture universes, and their recycled use as allusions by creative teams in the TV show, film and video game industries.