This edited collection focuses on successful small and medium-sized film and television companies in Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. The contributors explore case studies of businesses that have prospered over a period of at least five years and have made several successful productions, both in terms of popularity and critical acclaim. The chapters investigate each company’s history and evolution and offer comparisons and contrasts. The book presents an overview of the film and television sectors in each country and draws together the common elements that may explain how they have been able to survive and thrive.   Building Successful and Sustainable Film and Television Businesses provides a truly cross-national, comparative dialogue that is vital to the field of media industry studies today.   Roel Puijk is professor of film and television studies at Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences in Lillehammer, Norway. Building Successful and Sustainable Film and Television Businesses A Cross-National Perspective By Eva Bakøy, Roel Puijk, Andrew Spicer Intellect Ltd Copyright © 2017 Intellect Ltd. All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-78320-820-3 Contents Acknowledgements, vii, Chapter 1: Introduction Eva Bakøy, Roel Puijk and Andrew Spicer, 1, Chapter 2: The Film and Television Industries in Norway Jo Sondre Moseng, 21, Chapter 3: Leadership Practices in the Norwegian Film Industry Eva Bakøy, 45, Chapter 4: Co-Produced Television Drama and the Cost of Transnational 'Success': The Making of Lilyhammer Vilde Schanke Sundet, 67, Chapter 5: Different Places, Different Stories? The Importance of Place in Regional Film and Television Production Stine Sand, 89, Chapter 6: An Introduction to the Danish Film and Television Industries - A Small Country Successfully Producing Drama Heidi Philipsen and Roel Puijk, 107, Chapter 7: Zentropa: A Successful Danish Film Company - 'A State of "Emergency" Is a Good Position to Be in' Heidi Philipsen, 131, Chapter 8: The Means and Meanings of Being Independent: Competing Truths in the Television Company STV Søren Birkvad, 153, Chapter 9: Embracing the International Market: The Dutch Film and Television Production Landscape in Transition Eggo Müller and Daisy van de Zande, 175, Chapter 10: Innovation in the Independent Dutch Film Production Companies Column Film and Rinkel Film Willemien Sanders and Roel Puijk, 197, Chapter 11: The Professional Is Personal: A Comparison Between the Dutch Television Production Companies JVtv and BlazHoffski Willemien Sanders and Roel Puijk, 219, Chapter 12: The Finance and Production of Independent Film and Television in the United Kingdom: A Critical Introduction Steve Presence, 247, Chapter 13: Staying Alive as an Indie: How Three UK Companies Build and Sustain Their Businesses Audun Engelstad, 271, Chapter 14: 'It's Our Property and Our Passion': Managing Creativity in a Successful Company - Aardman Animations Andrew Spicer, 295, Chapter 15: Conclusion Eva Bakøy, Roel Puijk and Andrew Spicer, 321, Notes on Contributors, 335, Index, 339, CHAPTER 1 introduction Eva Bakøy, Roel Puijk and Andrew Spicer This collection is based on a three-year research project, Success in the Film and Television Industries (SiFTI) funded by the Norwegian Research Council. The project had two basic purposes: 1) To illuminate the operations of sustainable and successful film and television companies in Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom; investigating their histories and evolution, the particular challenges they face and how they deal with them, the people who work for them and the men and women who run them; 2) To compare and contrast these companies in order to find out if there were common elements in how they conduct their business that might explain why they had been able to survive and also thrive. In contradistinction to the conventional focus on media conglomerates (Chan 2005; Fitzgerald 2012; Kunz 2007), or large-scale institutions such as Hollywood studios (Bordwell et al. 1985; Caldwell 2008; Dangcil 2007) or public service broadcasters such as the BBC (Bloomfield 2008; Born 2004; Davies 2001; Kung-Shankleman 2000), the focus of this collection is on micro-, small- and medium-sized companies (MSMEs), which the European Commission calls the 'engine of the European economy' (2015: 3). The collection's focus on European companies is also a departure from the main trajectory of media industry studies, which have usually analysed American businesses (e.g. Gitlin 1983). It is therefore a contribution to the increasing academic attention that is now being given to European media production (see for instance, Bondebjerg et al. 2015; Meir 2016; Szczepanik and Vonderau 2013). However, even within studies of European media, this volume's comparative, cross-national approach makes it distinct from the bulk of cultural/ creative industries studies. MSMEs are not only econo