Studies in Labour History- Screen Workers and the Irish Film Industry

The book presents a local history that explicates the development of the screen industries in Ireland and their relationship to the global Hollywood production system.

Ebook available to libraries exclusively as part of the JSTOR Path to Open initiative.

Since the 1950s, film production in Ireland has evolved into a mature industry creating high-profile film, television drama, documentary and animation for both the domestic and international markets. This book traces that evolution through a history of the screen production industries on the island of Ireland. More specifically, the book is concerned with the people who work in these industries – how they have shaped the work they do and the conditions under which that work is carried out. The book therefore highlights the vital contribution of film and television workers to screen policy and labour relations in Ireland, north and south.

The book presents a local history that explicates the development of the screen industries in Ireland and their relationship to the global Hollywood production system. While the emphasis is on film and television workers, the book acknowledges the essential producer contribution to building the industry as it exists today. However it also emphasises producer obligations towards the screen workers they employ. The result is a local history of Irish screen production told mainly from a labour perspective, using previously unused records from the trade union archives and other labour history sources.