Music Video (De)Legitimacy and the Construction of a (Short Form) Auteur David Fincher and Talent Management

This paper explores David Fincher’s collaboration with Propaganda Films, an integrated production and talent management company, during the late-1980s and early-1990s. Focusing specifically on Fincher’s music video work, the paper investigates how Propaganda’s talent management strategies helped to develop Fincher’s career and construct him as an auteur. To do so, the paper adopts a cultural production approach conceptualizing the auteur as a branded identity and discourse mobilized in promotional and critical materials. In doing so, the paper shows how Propaganda helped to single out Fincher’s videos as artistic works showcasing the exceptional talent of an aspiring feature-filmmaker. At the same time, however, the paper considers how Propaganda’s talent management strategies contributed to sustaining problematic cultural notions surrounding music video and short form work in general. As a result, the paper advocates adopting new and more diverse approaches when examining short form work and interrelated industry practice.