'It’s our property and our passion’: Managing creativity in a successful company – Aardman Animations

Spicer, Andrew

Abstract

This chapter explores how creativity is managed by Aardman Animations, one of the most successful independent UK film and television companies, whose vision is to forge an artists’ ‘studio’ rather than simply a business. This chapter argues that this aspiration can only be achieved by imaginative leadership that affords employees some creative autonomy, guided by an overarching strategy that grasps the creative possibilities of commercial constraints, including the opportunities provided by the proliferation of online platforms. In this way, th chapter argues, Aardman has kept pace with a changing animation industry now orientated to the creation and exploitation of a portfolio of copyrighted projects and the development of an international brand, rather than single programmes.

• Publication Date: Dec 15, 2017
• Deposit Date: Apr 3, 2017
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 3, 2017
• Publisher: Intellect
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Book Title: Building Successful and Sustainable Film and Television Businesses
• Chapter Number: 14
• ISBN: 9781783208203
• Keywords: film and television industries, creativity, media industry studies, Aardman Animation
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/882275
• Publisher URL: https://www.intellectbooks.com/building-successful-and-sustainable-film-and-television-businesses
• Additional Information: Additional Information : The collection was the summation of a three-year research project involving 4 HEIs: Lillehammer University College Norway (Lead); Utrecht University; University of Southern Denmark and UWE Bristol. I co-edited the collection
• Contract Date: Apr 3, 2017