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Dr Conor’s research interests are at the intersection of screen production studies, gender theory and critical creative labour studies. Her current research focuses on screenwriting as creative labour in the UK as well as gender and inequalities in cultural production industries. Her previous research analysed the globalisation of the New Zealand film industry and the production of The Lord of the Rings trilogy. She has been teaching and researching in the fields of media and film studies for ten years in both the UK and New Zealand.

Bridget is an interdisciplinary scholar who has worked within and across the fields of media and communication studies, sociology, cultural studies and film studies. Her current fields of research include screenwriting theory, gender theory, critical labour studies and screen production studies. She is currently working on a book titled: 'Screenwriting: Creative Labour and Professional Practice', due out in 2013. The research project the book is based on is an analysis of industrial screenwriting, critically analysing the careers and experiences of British screenwriters and their (both) elite and liminal work as writers and filmmakers in the ‘new cultural economy’. Bridget conducted empirical fieldwork for the project – a combination of in-depth, semi-structured interviews with British-based screenwriters and teachers of screenwriting, textual analysis of screenwriting manuals and analysis of labour market data. Bridget’s previous research analysed the political economy of the New Zealand film industry and the ‘runaway production’ phenomenon in the context of the filming of The Lord of The Rings trilogy. Methodologically, this work utilised historiographic analysis, economic data and creative industries policy analysis, discourse analysis of mainstream media coverage and commentary and interviews with filmmakers and film policy analysts. As well as the book, Bridget is also currently working on projects focused on gender and creative labour and digital screenwriting practices.

Conor, B. (Forthcoming, 2013) Screenwriting: Creative work and professional practice. London: Routledge.

Conor, B. (Forthcoming, 2012). ‘Gurus and Oscar winners: How-to screenwriting manuals in the new cultural economy’. Television and New Media.

Conor, B. (Forthcoming, 2012). ‘Hired hands, liars, schmucks: Histories of screenwriting work and workers in contemporary screen production’ in Theorizing Cultural Work: Transforming Labour in the Cultural and Creative Industries, M. Banks, S. Taylor and R. Gill (eds.) London: Routledge.

Conor, B. (Forthcoming, 2012). ‘Subjects at work: Investigating the creative labour of British screenwriters’in Behind the Screen: European Contributions to Production Studies, London: Palgrave MacMillan.

Conor, B. (2011). ‘Problems in “Wellywood”: Rethinking the Politics of Transnational Cultural Labour’, Flow TV, 13: 7, January 27, 2011. [Re-posted for ‘From the Field: Winter 2011’, scholarly archive compiled by the Media Industries Project, Carsey-Wolf Project, UC Santa Barbara.

Conor, B. (2010).‘‘Everybody’s a Writer’: Theorising Screenwriting as Creative Labour’, Journal of Screenwriting, 1:1, 27-43.

Book Reviews

Conor, B. (2011). Book review: ‘Creative Screenwriting’ by Christina Kallas. Journal of Screenwriting, 2: 2, 291-294.

Conor, B. (Forthcoming). Book review: ‘Creative Labour’ by David Hesmondhalgh and Sarah Baker. Cultural Sociology.

Selected Presentations

July 2011 ‘’You’ve got to Fight for your Corner’: The Ethics of Collaboration in Screenwriting Work’ at the Moral Economies of Creative Labour conference, Institute for Communication Studies, University of Leeds.

June 2010 ‘Screenwriting as ‘Confounding’ Creative Labour’ at ‘The Future of Cultural Work’ conference, The Open University, London.

March 2010 ‘Screenwriters as ‘Creatives’: Problematising the term ‘Creative’ in Screenwriting Labour Research’ on a Production Studies panel at the Society for Cinema & Media Studies (SCMS) 2010 conference in Los Angeles.

September 2009 ‘Gurus and Oscar winners - What Can ‘How-To’ Screenwriting Manuals tell us about Screenwriting Labour?’ at the ‘Rethinking the Screenplay’ second conference, University of Art & Design, Helsinki, Finland.

November 2008 ‘‘Schmucks with Underwoods’: Screenwriting as Marginal Creative Labour’ at the University of London combined PhD symposium, University of Westminster.

September 2008 ‘‘Schmucks with Underwoods’: Screenwriting as Marginal Creative Labour’ at the ‘Rethinking the Screenplay’ conference, University of Leeds.

July 2007 ‘Hollywood or Wellywood? A Political Economy Study of New Zealand as a Location for Global Hollywood’ at the IAMCR 50th anniversary conference in Paris, France.

Bridget loves teaching and has taught in a number of institutions in both the UK and New Zealand.

2012-2013 teaching

7AAYCC30 Research Approaches for the Cultural and Creative Industries
7AAYCC18 “Creatives”: Working in the Creative Industries

Bridget is a member of the International Screenwriting Research Network, SCMS, MECCSA and the Cultural Studies Association of Australasia. She has presented at conferences in New Zealand, France, Finland and the USA in recent years and has been invited to participate in workshops and conferences in Denmark and the Czech Republic in 2012. She is also involved in activism around gender and precarious work in London.