Trisha Dunleavy

Dr Trisha Dunleavy completed her MA and PhD between 1994 and 1999, during the formation of Auckland University's Department of Film, Television and Media Studies and, in 1999, was the first of its graduates to gain a PhD. Prior to her appointment at Victoria University of Wellington, Dr Dunleavy lectured in Television and Film Studies at De Montfort University, Leicester. In 2001, she returned to New Zealand to help establish a new programme in Media Studies at Victoria University of Wellington, acting as its Programme Director until early 2003.

Dunleavy’s research object is the ever-changing medium of television; specifically its institutions, industries, creative strategies and cultural influence. Her contributions to scholarship have been distinctive and highly valued for their tracing of the influences of media ecologies, policies, philosophies, institutions, and industries through to the outcomes for TV programme conception, design, and production. Accordingly, her research interests divide into two main areas, one of which is 'institutional' (TV networks, economics, policy, and creative industries) and the other, 'textual' (narrative form, aesthetics, and complexity). Dunleavy's research has focussed on the US, United Kingdom and New Zealand, with current research foregrounding developments in the UK and EU, that are indicative of a changing international screen production industry in an era of internet-distribution and consumption, high-end TV drama commissioning by multinational SVoDs, and increasing transnational coproduction for this drama as a way to meet its very high production costs.

Dunleavy has authored four monograph books and a volume of shorter works (journal articles, book chapters, public report chapters, conference papers and industry presentations). Two of her books (2009 and 2018) are devoted to changing American and British television drama paradigms. The other two books (2005 and 2011, the latter co-authored with Dr Hester Joyce) focus on New Zealand screen production and its industries. Dunleavy’s published work has been influential in both international and national contexts and is read by industry practitioners and policy makers as well as by scholars.

Current Research

Dr Dunleavy’s largest current project is ‘Transnational TV Drama in the Multiplatform Era’ and is being completed with Dr Elke Weissmann (Edgehill University, Ormskirk, UK). Dunleavy's initial research was funded by a grant from Victoria University of Wellington. The project’s central interest is in the new opportunities for cross-national and/or cross-platform collaboration between national TV networks and globally-minded ‘premium’ players, especially subscription-video on demand (SVoD) providers such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, HBO Max, and Disney+. This international development for high-end drama is exemplified by Italian-language drama serial 'L' Amica Geniale/My Brilliant Friend' (Rai/HBO, 2018-) and by the UK-produced anthology drama series 'Small Axe' (BBC/Amazon Prime Video, 2020) about the challenges for British-Caribbean people and communities in the UK’s post-war decades.

This research project will yield two main outputs by 2024: a co-edited special issue of Critical Studies in Television (for 2023) and an anthology book, coedited with the issue, by Weissmann and myself and entitled 'TV Drama in the Multiplatform Era: Transnational Coproduction and Cultural Specificity' (Palgrave Macmillan).

Major Achievements

Contributions to the establishment of Media Studies at Victoria University of Wellington, including the design of the BA major and initial convening of the first subject courses.
My four book-length publications.
Victoria University 'Excellence in Teaching' Award.
Invited Contributions to European Broadcasting Union and New Zealand Reports on Public Media.
My work as an early member of Executive Committee of the National Association of Media Educators (NAME), then called the Association of Film and Television Teachers (AFTT).