Textual Practices

John Thornton Caldwell investigates different textual practices in the television industry in "Cultures of Production: Studying Industry's Deep Texts, Reflexive Rituals, and Managed Self-Disclosures". As a basis for his theory serves the idea that the content of a television program is the outcome of a socially and culturally diverse system within a production company. It is especially important to Caldwell to show how the industry views itself. To explain how the industry communicates with each other as well with the outside world, he differentiates three textual practices.
First, fully embedded deep texts are only relevant and meant for insider within the working field. By dividing professionals in assistants and mentors with diverse skills, efficiency through collective knowledge is almost guaranteed.
Secondly, semi-embedded deep texts circulate
These "behind-the-scenes" products however are only partly an actual representation and much more a way to create an artificial image of the industry. Therefore they are also part of the cultural marketing concept.
In the chapter "Producers as Creatives: Creativity in Television Set Production", Vicky Mayer takes on a bottom-up perspective and argues that process of creation is bound up in a social context. The example of assembly-line workers in Brazil shows that the working conditions include underpayment and unstable conditions. Further, creativity here is a product of pressure rather than inspiration.
Creativity is achieved through unusual mental and physical action. In addition, some actions are more likely to be considered art, for example painting a portrait with a brush is mostly understood as a product of art, whilst painting walls is only a form of labor. Therefore, creativity can also be limited through language, because this differentiation is always present in a creator's