Erin T. Hill

Erin Hill worked in film development in New York and Los Angeles before undertaking study of the media industry. Her primary interest is in historical and contemporary media production in the United States, with particular focus on intersecting issues of gender, race and class in creative labor sectors. Her first book, Never Done: A History of Women’s Work in Media Production (Rutgers UP, 2016), examines the role of feminized labor in U.S. film and television production from the 1890s to the present and draws connections to the ongoing struggles of women and people of color in integrating key creative fields in contemporary Hollywood. Hill’s current research investigates the development sector, where projects are scripted, financed and planned. She continues freelance development work for Summit Entertainment, a division of Lionsgate.

Dr. Hill teaches courses on American film history, history of broadcasting, feminist production history, media industry labor, contemporary Hollywood business practices, and race, gender and labor in media production, cultures of production in creative industries, science fiction films, comedy on TV/in media, and media theory. Prior to her time at UCSD, she taught as contingent (aka “adjunct) faculty at various Southern California institutions, including UCLA, Occidental College, Santa Monica College, and CSU Long Beach, gaining experience in both pedagogy and labor precarity.

Education

Ph.D.  (December 2013). UCLA, Cinema and Media Studies.  

Dissertation: “Women’s Work”: Feminization in Media Production

M.A.  (2006). UCLA, Cinema and Media Studies.  

B.A. with distinction (1999). University of Michigan, Film/Video Studies & Theatre and Drama.

• COMM 20: Media Analysis: Form, Style and Meaning
• COMM 103F: How to Read a Film
• COMM 106F: The Film Industry 
• COMM 106T: Television, Culture and the Public – Comedy on TV
• COMM 106V: History of Broadcasting
• COMM 132: The Politics of Comedy in the Media
• COMM 146:   Production Cultures – Investigating Contemporary Labor and Production Practices in Media Industries
• Comm 190: Junior Seminar – The Self and the “Other” in Science Fiction
• COGR 275: Media
• Cogr 296: Communication Research as an Interdisciplinary Activity

Books

• Never Done: A History of Women’s Work in Media Production. New Brunswick: Rutgers, 2016. 

Refereed Articles and Book Chapters

• “Men Produce, Women Develop”: Story Labor, Executive Power, and The ‘D-Girl’ in New
• Hollywood” Oxford Handbook of American Film History. Jon Lewis, Ed. (London: Oxford, expected 2024). (Forthcoming).
• "Structuring Absences: Feminized Production Labor and Unionization in the U.S. Film and
• Television Industry” Hollywood Unions. Kate Fortmueller and Luci Marzola, Eds. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2024. (In Press – 12-13-24 Publication Date )
• “Re-Casting the Casting Director.” In Making Media Work: Cultures of Management in the
• Entertainment Industry. Eds. Derek Johnson, Derek Kompare and Avi Santo. New York: NYU Press, 2014. 
• “Distributed Assistanthood: Dues-Paying Apprentices and ‘Desk Slaves.’” In The International
• Encyclopedia of Media Studies: Media Production. Ed. Vicki Mayer. Oxford: Blackwell, 2012.
• “Hollywood Assistanting.” In Production Studies: Cultural Studies of Media Industries. Eds.
• Vicki Mayer, Miranda Banks, and John T. Caldwell. London: Routledge, 2009.
•  “‘What’s Afflictin’ You?’: Corporeality, Body Crises and the Body Politic in Deadwood.” In
• Reading Deadwood. Ed. David Lavery. I.B. Taurus: 2006. pp. 171-183.

Articles

• “MGM’s 1925 Studio Tour and Promotional ‘Tours’ of Labor in Early Hollywood,” In Media
• Res, “Making-of” Theme Week,” September 17, 2018. [http://mediacommons.org/imr/]
• “Ida Koverman and the Unsung Women Heroes of Film History,” Lenny Letter,  January 25,

2017. [https://www.lennyletter.com/story/she-damn-near-ran-the-studio]

•  “The Gendering of Film and Television Casting: A Research Notebook.” CSW Update. April

2011. [https://csw.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Apr11.pdf]

• “Both Sides of the Fence: A Portfolio of Interviews – Erin Hill, Hollywood Assistanting.” John Caldwell, ed. In Production Studies: Cultural Studies of Media Industries. Eds. Vicki Mayer, Miranda Banks, and John T. Caldwell. London: Routledge, 2009.
• “In Response to the AFI: Top 100 American Films by Women Directors.” Co-authored with Brian Hu. Mediascape. Spring 2007. Republished by co-author after a change in web host: [https://brianhu.net/2007/06/01/in-response-to-the-afi-top-100-american-films-by-women-directors/] Original address (now defunct): http://www.tft.ucla.edu/mediascape/archive/volume01/number03/reviews/hillhu.html]

Translations of Previously Published Work

• “Studio Tours: Feminized Labor in the Studio System” Frauen Und FilmGerman (German language excerpt from Never Done: A History of Women’s Work in Media Production). Current Research Methods within Production Studies, Frankfurt: Stoemfeld Verlag (Heft 69, 2021). 
• “Paper Trail: Efficiency, Clerical Labor, and Women in the Early Film Industry” (book excerpt, German translation) Produktionskulturen der Medien. Berlin: Springer Verlag. Forthcoming. 

Labor Campaigns

• 2018                Reel Equity (IATSE Local 871). Signed/circulated Open Letter, promoted Pay
• Equity Summit 2018; Consulted with organizers; Contributed, via my published research, the historical basis for comparative wage study in: Pamela Courkos and Cyrus Mehri, “Script Girls, Secretaries and Stereotypes: Gender Bias In Pay on Film and Television Crews,” Prepared for IATSE local 871 by Working Ideal, June 2018, pp 14-15.

Educational Media

• “Above-the-Line and Below-the-Line.” On-camera presentation. Dirs. Mathew Solomon,
• Vincent Longo. Audiovisual Lexicon for Media Analysis, (University of Michigan Film,
• Television and Media, Forthcoming, 2023)
• “HBO’s Cinematized Television.” Visual Essay. Co-authored with Brian Hu. Mediascape. Fall

2009. [Not currently online due to changes in UCLA IT sites infrastructure and

• non-compatible media, available upon request; Original domain (now defunct)
• http://www.tft.ucla.edu/mediascape/Fall09_HBOTV.html; Interim domain
• http://oajournals.blogspot.com/2011/02/mediascape-uclas-journal-of-cinema-and.htm]  

Media coverage

• Stamp, Shelly. “Book Reviews: What Happened to Women in Histories of Hollywood?” Journal of Women’s History, 33.3 (Fall 2021), 162-5. [https://muse.jhu.edu/article/805550]
• Becker, Christine. “Review: Never Done: A History of Women’s Work in Media Production by
• Erin Hill.” Signs, 46.3 (Spring 2021), 772-4. [https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/712070]
• Steiner, Lauren. “Review: Never Done: A History of Women’s Work in Media Production by
• Erin Hill.” Journal of Cinema and Media Studies (previously Cinema Journal) 58.3, (Spring 2019). [https://muse.jhu.edu/article/723824/summary]
• Clarke, Liz. “Review Essay: Recent Works on Women in Media Production.” Gender and History 30.3 (October 2018). [https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1468-0424.12408]
• Salzburg, Anna. “Book Review: Hill, Erin. Never Done: A History of Women’s Work in MediaProduction,” Media Industries 5.1 (2018). [https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/mij/15031809.0005.109/--book-review-never-done-a-history-of-womens-work-in-media?rgn=main;view=fulltext]
• Martindale, Michelle. “Review of Hill, Erin, Never Done: A History of Women's Work in Media Production.” Jhistory, H-Net Reviews. (October, 2017). [https://networks.h-net.org/node/14542/reviews/564657/martindale-hill-never-done-history-womens-work-media-production]
• Fulton, Maxfield. “Review of Never Done: A History of Women’s Work in Media Production.” Film Quarterly (Spring, 2016). [http://fq.ucpress.edu/content/70/3/101]

Interviews  

• Marc Rivers, “The Poioneering Women Behind the Invisible Art of Editing,” All Things Considered, NPR, (March 3, 2024) [https://www.npr.org/2024/03/03/1235703884/the-pioneering-women-behind-the-invisible-art-of-film-editing]
• Toby Miller, “Cultural Studies Podcast,” (January 25, 2024). [https://culturalstudies.podbean.com/e/erin-hill-on-hollywood-women-executives-women-workers-and-how-to-uncover-histories/]
• Christi Carras, “Company Town: Labor unrest defined Hollywood in 2023. Here’s what we learned from the twin strikes,” Los Angeles Times (December 29, 2023). [https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2023-12-29/hollywood-strikes-2023-actors-writers-iatse]
• Larry Mantel, Radio Interview on “TV & Film Labor Explainer: How Did The AMPTP Come To Be & How Have Some Independent Production Companies Continued Production?” AirTalk with Larry Mantle, KPCC 89.3 (NPR/LAist), Tuesday, August 15, 2023. [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/airtalk-episode-tuesday-august-15-2023/id73329334?i=1000624558679.
• Lopez, Kristen, “‘A Once in a Generation Reckoning’: How the Actors Strike Changes the Game.” The Wrap/Yahoo Entertainment (July 14, 2023). [https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/once-generation-reckoning-actors-strike-130000925.html]
• Treisman, Rachel. “Three lessons past Hollywood strikes can teach us about the current moment.” NPR (July 7, 2023).  [NPR - https://www.npr.org/2023/07/19/1188363449/sag-wga-strikes-hollywood]
• Lopez, Kristen, “How the WGA Strike Finds Echoes in the Hollywood Blacklist.” The Wrap (June 30, 2023). [https://www.thewrap.com/wga-strike-hollywood-blacklist-skirball-center/]
• Ealer, John. The Story of Late Night, on-camera interview, episodes 1 and 3 (CNN/Cream Productions, 2021).  [https://cnncreativemarketing.com/project/soln/]
• Cara, Sergio. “Se buscan superheroinas: Estudio sobre la representacion de la mujer en ciencia ficcion.” Ya - El Mercurio (December 11, 2018) 30-34.
• Schubert, Abbey. “Hollywood is Ignoring Women over 45 and These Experts Know Why.” Mic.com, (July 31, 2017). [https://mic.com/articles/183117/hollywood-is-ignoring-women-over-the-age-of-45-and-these-experts-know-why#.AB71Umg8P]
• Warner, Andrew. “Professors Consider Effects Hollywood Writers’ Strike Would Have Caused.”The Daily Bruin (May 2, 2017). [https://dailybruin.com/2017/05/02/professors-consider-effects-hollywood-writers-strike-would-have-caused/]
• Livick, Bill. “Hill Publishes Book on Hollywood Labor,” Stoughton Courier Hub (February 5, 2017). Media Industry Collaborations

• 2017-2023    Body Parts: A Documentary Feature (dir. Kristy Guavera Flanagan, prod. Helen Hood Scheer) – Released 2023

Consultation

• 2021-2023       Script Consultant, Midcentury (feature film, dir. Sonja O’Hara, 2022 release), Future Proof Films (“Special Thanks” credit).
• 2021-2022       Consultant, “Current TV and Film Industry Trends,” “True Crime Programming Trends,” Study conducted by Luce Research/Republic (on behalf of Netflix)

Media Industry Events

• 2023 “Body Parts: Q&A with Producer Helen Hood Sheer.” Host. Arts Theater of Long Beach.
• 2020 “A Panel Discussion of Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blaché,
• Presented By Netflix and the Producers Guild of America Women’s Action
• Network” Panelist, Netflix/PGA.  

Story Analysis (2001-2024)

• Summit/Lionsgate Entertainment  
• Madison Wells Media  
• Odd Lot Entertainment  
• Marquee Entertainment  
• USA Films/Focus Features
• Winchester Films  

TV Production Research   

• HBO -The F-Word  miniseries     

• Discovery Channel - Pararescuejumpers: That Others May Live