School of Creative Arts, Film and Media (SCAFM)

Profile

Paul McDonald is Associate Dean (Research) in the Faculty of Creative and Cultural Industries and Professor of Cinema in the School of Creative Arts, Film and Media.

After training as a professional actor at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, for a number of years I worked in commercial film production before entering film academia. At the University of Reading, I majored in Film and Drama, minoring in Philosophy, after which I progressed to doctoral studies in film at the University of Warwick. Following posts at the University of Salford, South Bank University, and Roehampton University, I joined the University of Portsmouth in February 2007.

My research is concentrated in two areas. Work on the cinema and film industries examines the structural, operational, technological and legal dynamics which shape the workings of the film business. In The Contemporary Hollywood Film Industry, which I co-edited with Janet Wasko (University of Oregon), an international range of authors explored the changing contours of the film business, covering aspects of film financing, distribution, ancillary markets, labour, the star system, intellectual property, and Hollywood’s presence in international territories. Video and DVD Industries provided the first major study of the home entertainment business in the digital age, exploring the technological development of DVD and hi-definition video formats, the growth of the DVD market, Hollywood’s early involvement in online delivery, and the technical, legal and enforcement measures taken to protect against industrialized video piracy. This research was supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. My article ‘Miramax, Life is Beautiful, and the Indiewoodization of the Foreign-language Film Market in the US’, was published in 2009 by the New Review of Film and Television Studies. I am co-editor with Michael Curtin (University of California, Santa Barbara) of the International Screen Industries series from BFI Publishing, and co-ordinator for the Film Industries Work Group in the European Network for Cinema and Media Studies.

A second area of my research is concerned with film stardom and acting. The Star System: Hollywood’s Production of Popular Identities gave a historical overview of how the currency of star power has been produced and deployed across different phases in the history of the Hollywood film business. I have contributed the chapter ‘Stallone’s Stomach: Cop Land and the Weight of Actorly Legitimization’ for Chris Holmlund (ed.) The Ultimate Stallone Reader, which is due to be published in 2010. Currently I’m working on a study of stardom in contemporary (post-1990) Hollywood, which has received grant funding from the British Academy. To complete this work, I will be on leave during 2009-10 supported by a Research Fellowship from the Leverhulme Trust.

In July 2009, I organized the symposium Researching Cinema History:  Perspectives and Practices in Film Historiography in collaboration with the British Universities Film & Video Association. Arising from that event I am currently editing a special issue of the New Review of Film and Television Studies on perspectives and methods in film historiography.

Since 2007 I have served on the Peer Review College of the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

I am a member of the Strategic Committee for the European Network for Cinema and Media Studies, and hold membership to the Society for Cinema and Media Studies and the Media, Communication and Cultural Studies Association.

I’m interested in supervising doctoral research in the following areas:
• Cinema and film industries – particularly aspects of distribution and exhibition
• Film acting
• DVD and home entertainment
• Film marketing
• Hollywood stardom

Selected publications

McDonald, P. (2009) Miramax, Life is Beautiful, and the Indiewoodization of the foreign-language film market in the USA. New Review of Film and Television Studies, 7(4), 353-75.

McDonald, P. (2009). Digital discords in the online media economy: advertising versus content versus copyright. In P. Snickars and P. Vonderau (Eds.), The YouTube reader. Stockholm: National Library of Sweden.

McDonald, P. (2008). The star system: the production of Hollywood stardom in the post-studio era. In P. McDonald and J. Wasko (Eds.), The contemporary Hollywood film industry. Malden, MA: Blackwell.

McDonald, P. (2008). Hollywood, UK. In P. McDonald and J. Wasko (Eds.), The contemporary Hollywood film industry. Malden, MA: Blackwell.

McDonald, P. (2007). Video and DVD industries. London: British Film Institute.

McDonald, P. (2004). Why study film acting: some opening reflections. In C. Baron, D. Carson and F. P. Tomasulo (Eds.), More than a method: trends and traditions in contemporary film performance. Detroit: Wayne State University Press.

McDonald, P. (2003). Stars in the online universe: promotion, nudity, reverence. In T. Austin and M. Barker (Eds.), Contemporary Hollywood stardom. London: Arnold.

McDonald, P. (2000) The star system: Hollywood’s production of popular identities. London: Wallflower Press.