Papers presented by Pete Johnson since 2019
2025 Atlanta, Georgia
"Between Capital and Labor? Historicizing the Television Producer"
Pete Johnson, University of Texas, Austin
Abstract:
Television producers in the United States have historically oscillated between the position of capital—entrepreneurs owning the means of production and intellectual property rights —and labor—employees serving as writer-producers who do not own the underlying rights to what they create. Throughout network-era television (1950s–2000s), producers’ roles shifted at different historical moments, whether the entrance of the major studios into television in the mid-1950s or ownership regulation in the early 1970s. Typically, these oscillations followed a discernable pattern: producers launched their own independent shingles after a technological or regulatory catalyst; only a few sustained over the medium term; and those that did sustain and find success were eventually integrated into the Hollywood studios. This cycle occurred for several reasons idiosyncratic to television, including the non-rivalrous public good nature of the medium, scarce buyers, and the economies of scale and vertical integration required to mitigate the high failure rate. Additionally, since the 1980s, the major television studios have used various strategies, such as “first-look” and “overall” deals, to ensure top producers remain in the position of labor. The economics of streaming television resulted in some television producers once again operating independently of studios starting in the 2010s. However, this political economy has presented new challenges: the distinctive financial model of platforms like Netflix has required upfront “buyouts” for producers, regardless of the success of their programs, in exchange for long-term rights. This, ultimately, inhibits independents from profiting from big hits and accessing investment capital. Amid broader industrial contraction, the recent movement for a producer’s “union” demonstrates how this landscape is ever-evolving. How can contextualizing the long historical arc of television history inform contemporary tensions? Given the historical specificity of this stakeholder and medium specificity of television, is there value in trying to place producers into the category of capitalist, manager, or laborer?
2023 Detroit, MI, United States
"The “White Knights” of Showbiz: Junk Bonds & Leveraged Buyouts in 1980s Television"
Pete Johnson, The University of Texas, Austin
Abstract:
Media industry historians often evoke terms like “deregulation” or “neoliberalization” and speculate on how the financialized state of contemporary media conglomerates derives from a series of policies initiated in the late-1970s and 1980s (deWaard 2020; Holt 2011). However, these histories often remain at the macroeconomic or policy level. Indeed, the mid-level manifestations of neoliberalism and financialization in the 1980s remain underexplored. This paper addresses these meso-level effects by looking at leveraged buyouts (LBOs) in the broadcasting and cable space from 1981 to 1987. In particular, it examines private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts’ (KKR) LBO of station group Storer Communication. Leveraging archival trade magazines, local newspapers, and equity analyst reports, I ask how three key stakeholders—the media industry, Wall Street, and local stations/audiences—responded to changing financial ownership. How did private equity and LBOs shape television industry practices, texts, and reception? How did media industries address finance (and vice versa)? Ultimately, I find that even though a small group of vocal activists and industry insiders remained skeptical, audiences and television professionals were generally ambivalent about Wall Street ownership—in fact, financial investors were preferable to erratic media moguls. While highly leveraged acquisitions of media firms (e.g., Twitter) and speculative junk bond financing (e.g., Netflix) remain prevalent today, this project draws critical attention to an earlier period of media financialization, when financial stakeholders invented and reinvented tools and tactics to monetize cultural products in a deregulated marketplace. References deWaard, Andrew. 2020. “Financialized Hollywood: Institutional Investment, Venture Capital, and Private Equity in the Film and Television Industry.” Journal of Cinema and Media Studies 59, no. 4 (Summer): 54–84. Holt, Jennifer. 2009. Empires of Entertainment: Media Industries and the Politics of Deregulation, 1980-1996. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.