Media distribution practices: gatekeeping and access  A talk by Dr. Virginia Crisp 

Media distribution practices: gatekeeping and access 

A talk by Dr. Virginia Crisp 

Fri Nov 4, 1.00PM – Isabel Bader Centre, Room 222 

Dr Crisp will provide a brief introduction to her main academic passions, researching media distribution and co-chairing the international research network, Besides the Screen. In doing so, she will discuss her longstanding interesting in exploring the intersections and overlaps between formal and informal media distribution as well as discussing her more recent conceptual framing of in/formal distribution activities as a form of ‘gatekeeping’. She will also discuss the history and upcoming activities of the Besides the Screen Network and its continuing aim to push the boundaries of screen studies into ever more trans/multi/inter disciplinary, multi-practice and inter-industry activities. 

Dr Virginia Crisp is Reader in Media Industries and Cultures at King’s College, London. Virginia’s research spans three interconnected areas: distribution studies, championing multi/trans/interdisciplinary research, and media industry studies. Her first monograph, Film Distribution in the Digital Age (2015) provided a sustained critical examination of the symbiotic relationship between both formal (industry-led) media distribution and informal circulation (piracy). She is currently in the process of writing a book on media piracy with Paul McDonald, due to be published with Polity in 2024. Virginia is the co-founder (with Dr Gabriel Menotti) of the Besides the Screen Network, a network that brings together academics, filmmakers, artists and industry professionals from across the globe to consider the transformation of audiovisual media practices. Virginia is currently the Deputy Head of the Department of Culture, Media and Creative Industries at King’s College, London, which is a vibrant, research-led department that approaches a new subject area with traditional academic rigour.