TV-produktion i Sverige : En studie av TV-producenter inom drama och samhällsprogram

As television viewers we are used to watching television as a flow of programs with varying content, and usually do not think about how the programs are created. Who decides what should be produced and what the programs should contain? What role do the TV producers play? Who are the producers? Have their working conditions changed due to changes in society? The aim of this study was to answer questions about the TV producer’s background and career, and about how ideas for TV productions developed into actual TV programs. The study resulted in more than 90 “cases” or descriptions in drama and journalism. The respondents were asked about the role that different levels of management, economic resources, technical equipment, audience ratings played in the production of television programs. They were also asked how they evaluated professionalism and competition and what changes had occurred during the periods of the study, 1992-1999 and 2006-07. The TV producers who were interviewed belonged to different “generations” and had entered the television industry on different occasions, such as at the launch of television channels (the first TV channel, TV2, TV4) or new ventures like regional television or minority language programs. The drama producers often executed the ideas that had been decided on by higher management, even though some drama authors who participated in this study had great power over the story lines and content. The journalist producer’s independence and power over the content were greater than the drama producer’s, since they wrote their own “scripts” during the production of programs. In light of many “cases” of programs described it can be suggested that journalist producers’ choice of program ideas were parallel and complementary or alternative institutional processes, that preceded, followed or coexisted with reports, investigations, trials etc. One of the most obvious changes during the period studied from 1992 to 2007 was the change in overall technology from analog techniques to digital. Internet, intranets, e-mail and cell phones had made “the mobile office” a reality and the analog techniques in cameras and editing in TV production became digital during the period.