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Neil Percival
Principal Lecturer in Film and Television Production


Research interests: employment practices, precarious labour, unpaid work, sustainability of careers, diversity and workforce mobilisation in the film/TV industries
Academia.edu: Profile
Twitter: @neilpercival

About
I
 spent 15 years in the UK TV industry from 1992-2007, mainly as a freelance producer/director. I worked for a mixture of small indies and major broadcasters shooting, directing and producing factual one-offs and observational series.

I also ran an online community for over 9,000 TV freelancers, gathering information about freelance working experiences and raising awareness of illegal employment practice. The community changed industry practice in relation to unpaid work experience through the impact of the 2005 ‘TV Wrap’ campaign.

I joined Northumbria University as Senior Lecturer in 2007, becoming a Principal Lecturer in 2009. My research continued my interest in employment practices, precarious labour, sustainability of careers, diversity and workforce mobilisation in the film/TV industries. I’ve carried out a large research project surveying attitudes to unpaid work, and recently another project interviewing professionals about their reasons for leaving the TV industry. I've also recently co-written a journal article about the factors that trigger mobilisation to activism and resistance in the creative industries, with David Lee at Leeds University. My PhD, a longitudinal study tracking progress of 150 new entrants to the media sector over a two-year period, contributes to the same field. 

At Northumbria I teach two professional practice modules on BA Hons Film and TV Production.
Qualifications
  • 2016-present: PhD (Northumbria University). ‘The exploitation of ‘creative labour’: a study of employment conditions for entry-level workers in the film and TV industries’. Longitudinal study tracking experiences of entry level media workers over two-year period.
  • 2011-2014 MA Academic Practice (with distinction), Northumbria University
​​Institutional Roles
I'm currently the Faculty's Director of Placements & Employability (Arts, Design & Social Sciences). I've also held roles relating to L&T, student wellbeing, and enterprise.
Employment
2007-present: Principal Lecturer - Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne.
Currently Director of Placements and Employability, Faculty of Arts, Design & Social Sciences. Other leadership roles have included Enterprise, Student Experience, and L&T Lead.
1995-2007: Freelance producer/director on TV productions for companies including Touch Productions, Lion TV, Endemol UK, Leopard Films, Granada, BBC Factual. Specialised in observational documentary and factual entertainment.
Established and ran national ‘TV Freelancers’ online community as well as North East regional media network ‘NE Telly Net’.
1992-1995: filmNOVA, Newcastle upon Tyne. Full-time production trainee, later writer/director; broadcast sport TV and commercials. 
Modules Taught
  • Professional Practice 1 (BA Hons Film & TV Production) - an introduction to production management organisational skills, legal issues, ethics and employability.
  • Professional Practice 1 (BA Hons Film & TV Production) - a module focusing on industry placement and further development of career planning and industry exposure.
Recent Publications

Published:             
Percival, N., & Hesmondhalgh, D. (2014). Unpaid work in the UK television and film industries: Resistance and changing attitudes. European Journal of Communication, 29(2), 188-203. doi: 10.1177/0267323113516726
​
In press:               
Percival, N. (2019): ‘Gendered reasons for leaving a career in the UK TV Industry’. Journal article accepted for forthcoming publication in ‘Media, Culture and Society’.
Percival, N. and Lee, D.: ‘Get up, stand up? Theorising mobilisation in creative work’. Journal article under submission (Journal: ‘Television and New Media’)

Conferences & Talks
  • Invited paper at Westminster Insight symposium on gender inequality in the media: ‘Gendered reasons for leaving the UK TV industry’. London, April 2019
  • Invited seminar: TFTV Research Seminar, York University. ‘Get Up, Stand Up? Theorising Mobilisation in Creative Work’. (Collaboration with David Lee, Leeds University). November 2018
  • ‘Why do workers leave the UK television industry? Insights into the sustainability of creative working lives, from interviews with those who have left the sector’. In: ECREA European Communication Conference, November 2018, Lugano (Switzerland).
  • Conference panel chair and proposer: panel entitled ‘Breaking barriers: transitional stages in women’s careers in the UK film and TV industries’, CAMEo conference Sept 2018, ‘Care in the Media and Cultural Industries’, Leicester University. Panel included my conference paper: ‘Experiences of women leaving the TV industry’
  •  ‘Entry level workers' disconnection from the collective memory of TV and film professionals in the UK: attitudes and resistance to unpaid work’. In: ECREA European Communication Conference, November 2016, Prague (Czech Republic). 
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  • Home
  • blog
  • Team
    • Sarah Bowman
    • Kate Egan
    • Roger Domeneghetti
    • Russ Hunter
    • Steve Jones
    • James Leggott
    • Gabriel Moreno-Esparza
    • Neil Percival
    • Massimo Ragnedda
    • Sarah Ralph
    • Jamie Sexton
    • Cecilia Stenbom
    • Johnny Walker
  • Research
    • recent publications
    • talks and conference papers
    • public engagement
    • Research Students
    • Seminar Series
  • Our Programmes