Roderik Smits

Phone: +49.331.6202.162

Room: 1.014.4 (House 7)

Research interests

My research focuses on the changing nature of the film industry and is positioned at the intersection of Film Studies and Media Industry Studies. It provides a spotlight on film distribution and film exhibition as rapidly developing research areas in the context of the digital revolution. I am particularly interested in the role of gatekeepers who exert control over the process of enabling and disabling access to films in international markets.

Current research project

I joined Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF in autumn 2019 to undertake the research project “Online Platforms and Film Circulation”. Drawing on in-depth analysis of online platforms, expert interviews and audience research, the project examines how VOD platforms engage with and support non-mainstream, specialised films to exploit their potential in the online market. I have been awarded a postdoctoral fellowship by Postdoc Network Brandenburg to undertake this project.

More information about my project is available here.

Biography

I have been a researcher for various major research projects in the past six years:

• Beyond the Multiplex: Audiences for Specialised Film in English Regions, funded by AHRC (UK). It is the first major study to analyse how non-mainstream, specialised films can reach diverse film audiences in regions outside London.
• Screen Agencies as Cultural Intermediaries: Negotiating and Shaping Cultural Policy for the Film and TV Industries within Selected Small Nations, funded by AHRC (UK). It is the first major study that draws a comparison between screen agencies in small European nations.
• Mediating Cultural Encounters Through European Screens (MeCETES), funded by HERA (Europe). It was the first major study to provide much-needed insight in the production, distribution and consumption of European films and television series.

I completed my PhD in Film Studies at the University of York (2013-2017) and subsequently worked as post-doctoral researcher at the University of York (2018) and Cardiff University (2019).

Academic book publication

• Smits, R.(2019).Gatekeeping in the Evolving Business of Independent Film Distribution. Monograph. Palgrave Global Media Policy and Business book series. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 278 pp. (peer-reviewed). https://www.palgrave.com/gb/book/9783030168957

Academic journal articles and contributions to edited collections

• Hanchard, M., Merrington, P., Wessels, B., Rogers, K., Pidd, M., Yates, S., Forrest, D., Higson, A., Townsend, N., and Smits. R. (2020). Developing a Computational Ontology to Understand the Relational Aspects of Audience Formation. Emerald Open Research, 2(5), pp. 1-17. (peer-reviewed, open access). https://doi.org/10.35241/emeraldopenres.13465.1

• Wessels, B., Forrest, D., Hanchard, M., Higson, A., Merrington, P., Pidd, M., Rogers, K., Smits, R., Townsend, N., and Yates, S. (2019). Using Mixed-Methods, a Data Model and a Computational Ontology in Film Audience Research. Cultural Trends, 28(2-3), pp. 118-131. Special issue about Audience Data and Research. (peer-reviewed). https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/09548963.2019.1617934
• Smits, R. and Nikdel, E.W. (2018). Beyond Netflix and Amazon: MUBI and the Curation of On-Demand Film. Studies in European Cinema, 16(1), pp. 22-37. Special issue about Corporate Agency in Contemporary European Cinema. (peer-reviewed). https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17411548.2018.1554775
• Smits, R. (2018) Tournaments of Values at the European Film Market. Arts and the Market, 8 (1), pp. 64-79. (peer-reviewed). https://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/pdfplus/10.1108/AAM-01-2018-0001
• Smits, R., Higson, A., Mateer, J., Jones, H.D. and D’Ippolito, B. (2018). Distributing Films Online. Workshop report. Journal of British Cinema and Television, 15:2, April 2018, pp.291-299. https://www.euppublishing.com/doi/abs/10.3366/jbctv.2018.0419
• Smits, R. (2017). Film Distribution: A Changing Business. In: J. Wroot and A. Willis (Eds.). DVD, Blu-Ray and Beyond: Navigating Formats and Platforms within Media Consumption. Palgrave Macmillan, 115-134. http://www.springer.com/us/book/9783319627571#aboutAuthors
• Smits, R. (2016). Gatekeeping and Networking Arrangements: Dutch Distributors in the Film Distribution Business. Poetics, 58, pp.29-42. (peer-reviewed) http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304422X16302017

Blogs, interviews and other publications (open access)

I am keen to make an impact beyond the academy, and have contributed to various industry reports, media articles and blogs:

• ‘Coronavirus: How Hollywood Studios and Online Video Platforms are Responding’ [link]. Flow Journal, 21 April 2020.
• ‘Sales Agents and Distributors Remain Equally – if not more – Important to the Creation and Circulation of Films in International Markets’ [link]. Interviewed by Cineuropa, 23 March 2020.
• ‘Video-on-Demand and the Myth of Endless Choice' [link]. The Conversation, 16 August 2018.
• ‘UK Film Distribution: What’s Changing?’ (co-written with Huw Jones & Andrew Higson), [link]. MeCETES pre-conference report, June 2016.
• Several blog posts for Cineuropa [link]
• Several blog posts for MeCETES [link]

Industry Engagement

I have developed a network of industry connections and have been invited to participate as a speaker and moderator in several industry events organised by Creative Europe (EU), Film Expo South (UK) and the LIGHTS Frankfurt International Film Festival (DE). I have also contributed as a consultant and researcher to a Creative Europe report about film distribution.

Editorial duties

I am a reviewer for Poetics, Routledge and Bloomsbury Publishing.