Budgeting as an art form: a case study on the different roles played by budgets in Swedish film
Abstract: This paper describes a case study of Swedish feature film production. The study aims to identify existing tensions between creative and corporate logics in three different stages of feature film production - development, production and marketing - and how budgets are used to deal with these tensions. Using Caves' (2000) characteristics of creative work, infinite variety, art for art's sake and infinite variety, we find that tensions arise as a consequence of different activities, organizational conditions and objectives and that these tensions differ between the stages. We show that the use of budgets can both reduce and cause these tensions. The budget takes on the roles of shepherd and diplomat in the development phase, translator and weaver in the production phase, and gatekeeper and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in the marketing phase; each role performing differently in addressing these tensions. By applying the works of Adler and Chen (2011) and Frow et al. (2010), we discuss these findings and their contribution to an increased understanding for how budgets can be used in cultural industries and uncertain environments.
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