Cultural Industry - Essay Example

CULTURAL INDUSTRY Cultural Industry In this context, cultural industry relates to the media consumption industries like the film industry, radio industry, and television industry. Cultural industries pursue different objectives that include monetary benefits, art, and entertainment among other courses. This paper forms a discussion on whether culture industries primarily make money or art. In forming this discussion, I will refer to a specific cultural industry and two specific cultural producers within the industry. I will base my argument on documentary producers who seek to propagate culture by manifesting the truth without eyeing profits and reality shows producers who seek to lean more on money making/advertisements. Notably, the paper will argue that not all culture industries make money or art by contrasting the objectives of reality show producers with those of documentary producers. There is a general perception that reality show producers accrue a lot of loses on producing the most favorite reality shows. Indeed, such producers must work for long hours without any breaks and invest many resources in such programs to establish a large audience in the competitive television industry (Beekman 2013). Most televisions host reality shows and hence for a producer to present a captivating and favorite show they require a lot of capital. The television industry employs many people who produce various nonfiction TV shows. As a result, the producers and writers of the favorite reality shows earn substantial amounts of money subject to the demand of such shows. However, this involves a great risk since television stations will only purchase and pay for such programs after airing. In some cases, reality show producers accrue loses. As such, reality show producers lean more on moneymaking ads or shows as they seek to recover the production costs and make profits (Beekman 2013). In television industry, we can define reality shows as real time competition that involves talent shows, celebrity exposes, dating games, survival shows, and other unscripted dramas. Ideally, the number of reality shows has been on the rise in the modern television industry. Major Television stations and cable channels place the reality shows on prime time with an aim of capturing the attention of a great audience (Chase 2014). Although television stations and cable channels derive a large audience from the reality shows, the producers of such shows do not employ actors of such shows thus accumulating huge profits. The reality show producers focus on footage of real events or situations and only pay the hosts or narrators of the show. However, these hosts and narrators demand a lot of money and additional benefits and hence the producers must consider these factors before creating a reality show. As such, regardless of the message contained in the show and the art involved, the producers of reality shows focus on the monetary value of such shows. In absence of writers and actors, editors and producers produce and run the reality shows. As such, the production and programming of such shows are seemingly affordable and hence the television industry is investing heavily on reality shows. Indeed, Reality TV shows now entail about 17 percent of prime time TV programming in the television industry (Chase 2014). Because of this demand, the number of reality show producers is on the rise but with close consideration of the money factor. The producers seek to make a lot of money from reality show productions by paying less money to other parties involved in the production (Chase 2014). The producers establish and advance the illusion that reality shows are actually real hence marinating the right to pay the writers less money (Chase 2014). As such, reality show producers save a lot of money from this initiative. In absence of monetary benefits, the reality show producers lack the motivation to create such shows. However, it is quite clear that the remuneration and benefits of producing a reality show varies from time to time and depends on the quality of the show. Television stations and cable channels can agree with the producers for day, weekly, or monthly credits and benefits for shows produced and programmed. The producers have no bidding agreements with the television station to limit the produced reality shows to specific stations. As such, the producers sell the shows to the highest buyer in the television industry with an aim of maximizing profits. Moreover, producers and writers are members of certain organizations that advocate for better payments on produced shows (Beekman 2013). Indeed, money and resultant profits is main factor that motivates reality show producers. On the other hand, these producers have enhanced the need for sourcing new projects, which encourage individuals to present stories that can form the basis of a documentary in the film industry (Fresh Voices LLC. 2014). However, the producers of documentaries have different objectives that may not relate money factors. Indeed, the purpose of producing documentaries varies from one documentary to another. As such, it is quite challenging to establish the universal motivation behind the production of a documentary. However, it is quite clear that documentaries seek to derive some information and provide some facts relating to such information. As such, the production of a documentary may take a lot of time and resources, which may not be recoverable at the end. Unlike the reality shows, which occupy the prime time in television industry, documentaries have limited space in television but dominate in the film industry. Most documentaries aim at serving the purpose of art that includes trying to change and improve the lives of the audience in the society (Jenny 2014). In achieving this purpose, the producers only seek to propagate culture by telling/demystifying the truth without eyeing profits. The documentaries attempt to change our living by informing or warning us about certain geographical, ecological, and human aspects. The producers of these documentaries pursue their objective of portraying a certain injustice and encourage the audience to advocate for change where necessary (Jenny 2014). Indeed, all documentaries must contain a moral lesson and the producers will go to all lengths with the hope of presenting this lesson to the audience in film industry. The producers of documentary have the sole role of ensuring that the documentary film happens at all costs (College Foundation, Inc. 2011). As such, producing a documentary is a costly affair whose value lies on the perception of the documentary by the audience. The producers do not seek material benefits but focus on passing the moral lesson or message to the audience in the most convincing manner. Ideally, no television station can purchase a documentary at a price that will recover the production costs. This emanates from the fact that documentaries are long and attract less audience. The producers of documentaries double up as managers, entrepreneurs, and financiers of the documentary (College Foundation, Inc. 2011). They absorb the ultimate duty of making a documentary film where they play different roles as either writers or directors. These producers have no intention of recovering their money or generating profits from the film. Indeed, the most fundamental mandate of a documentary producer is to solicit and avail the required monies for producing a film (College Foundation, Inc. 2011). This includes hiring all the people involved in the production, funding the film, and ensuring that the production ends on time without surpassing the allocated budget (College Foundation, Inc. 2011). It is worth noting that it is very challenging to find funding for documentaries since such films do not attract huge commercial success (College Foundation, Inc. 2011). As a result, making profits is not a motivation to the production of documentaries since making profits is not realistic in this case. The producers draw their motivation from the urge to inform, warn, challenge, or change the society. Ideally, producers spend a lot of time soliciting funds for the film from NGOs, government agencies, individuals, and global foundations instead of finding markets for the film (College Foundation, Inc. 2011). This is seemingly a huge task in production and the producers mostly suffer from lack of enough money and conflicts in the production team (College Foundation, Inc. 2011). The production may also involve long and risky travels and long working hours as the producers seek the truth and any other relevant information (Jenny 2014). These factors leave no space for making profits in the production of documentaries. Instead, the documentaries seek to relate the audience’ culture with the storyline in the film with an aim of creating a great impact. The documentary may relate to the animal world, human adventure, local stories, and scientific stories that entertain, inform, or motivate the audience (Jenny 2014). Just like any other piece of art, documentary producers are artists who seek to convey their message through film. Their goal is to inform and not to earn from the production. However, other documentaries allow the audience to draw their own conclusions from the film. Such documentaries are just observational films that seek to generate no monetary gains. Nevertheless, documentary producers seek to pass some information whether common or hidden without eyeing profits (Jenny 2014). Works Cited Beekman, D 2013, Reality TV producers, writers being ripped off on overtime pay, breaks, Writers Guild survey finds, retrieved 22 May 2014, < http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv-movies/reality-tv-producers-writers-ripped-article-1.1520254> Chase, L 2014, How Much Does Reality TV Pay? Retrieved 22 May 2014, < http://finance.youngmoney.com/careers/how-much-does-reality-tv-pay/> College Foundation, Inc. 2011, Documentary Producer, retrieved 22 May 2014, Fresh Voices LLC. 2014, Reality TV Producers Scouting Families and Businesses via Website to Produce as New Shows, retrieved 22 May 2014, < http://www.fresh-voices.com/producers-seeking-reality-show-ideas.html> Jenny 2014, What is the purpose of a documentary? 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