Paywall: The Business of Scholarship

About the production

The documentary was filmed over two years across multiple continents to capture perspectives from different academic publishing ecosystems. Director Jason Schmitt conducted over 50 interviews with key figures in the open access movement, including librarians, university administrators, researchers, and publishing executives. The production team gained unprecedented access to Elsevier's headquarters and interviewed current and former employees. The film was independently funded through a combination of grants from academic institutions and crowdfunding campaigns, allowing for editorial independence from publishing industry influence.

Themes

Themes & topics

Historical background

Released in 2018, Paywall: The Business of Scholarship reached audiences during contemporary production, when exhibition and production norms differed sharply from today's.

Why this film matters

Paywall: The Business of Scholarship remains viewable through digital archives, preserving 2018 screen culture for modern audiences.

Making of

The making of Paywall: The Business of Scholarship was itself a journey through the complex world of academic publishing. Director Jason Schmitt, a communications professor, initially conceived the project after his own struggles with publishing research and accessing studies for his teaching. The production team faced significant challenges in securing interviews with publishing industry executives, many of whom were reluctant to discuss their business models on camera. The filmmakers employed innovative research methods, including analyzing public financial records and using freedom of information requests to uncover data about publisher profits. The documentary was edited over 18 months, with the team struggling to condense hundreds of hours of interviews and complex economic concepts into a coherent narrative. Notably, the production team made the film itself available under a Creative Commons license, practicing the open access principles they advocated for in the documentary.

What critics said

Later retrospectives treat Paywall: The Business of Scholarship (2018) as representative contemporary production fare valued by archivists and genre historians.

Did you know?

• Director Jason Schmitt was inspired to make this documentary after experiencing firsthand the frustrations of academic publishing as a professor
• The film features an interview with Robert Kiley, former head of digital services at the Wellcome Trust, who was one of the first major funders to mandate open access
• Elsevier declined multiple interview requests but eventually agreed to speak with the filmmakers under strict conditions
• The documentary was screened at over 200 universities worldwide during its first year of release
• The film's production coincided with the 'Cost of Knowledge' boycott movement against Elsevier
• Several university libraries used the documentary as part of their advocacy efforts for better subscription deals
• The film was translated into 15 languages to reach a global academic audience
• A special screening was held at the European Parliament to inform policy makers about academic publishing issues
• The documentary sparked debates at numerous academic conferences about the future of scholarly communication
• The film's release coincided with growing momentum for Plan S, an initiative for open access publishing in Europe

Awards & recognition

• Best Documentary Feature - International Independent Film Awards (2019)
• Excellence in Documentary Filmmaking - Impact Docs Awards (2019)
• Award of Merit - IndieFEST Film Awards (2019)

Visual style

The documentary employs a clean, professional visual style that effectively balances talking head interviews with dynamic graphics and archival footage. Director of Photography uses a mix of intimate close-ups during interviews to capture the emotional investment of subjects, and wider shots that establish the institutional settings of academic publishing. The film makes effective use of split screens and data visualizations to illustrate the complex financial structures of publishing companies. Cinematography varies between the sterile corporate environments of publishing headquarters and the vibrant, collaborative spaces of research institutions, visually reinforcing the documentary's central conflict. The camera work maintains a journalistic objectivity while subtly guiding viewers' attention to key moments in interviews. The visual language of the film is enhanced by carefully selected B-roll footage of researchers at work, library archives, and digital interfaces that help contextualize the abstract concepts being discussed.

Innovations

Paywall: The Business of Scholarship demonstrates several notable technical achievements in documentary filmmaking, particularly in its innovative approach to visualizing complex financial and systemic data. The production team developed custom animated infographics that effectively communicate the economics of academic publishing without oversimplification. The film employs sophisticated data visualization techniques to show the flow of money through the publishing ecosystem and the geographic distribution of research access inequalities. Technical innovation is also evident in the documentary's post-production, where the editors seamlessly integrated footage from multiple countries and formats while maintaining visual consistency. The film's sound design achieves clarity in challenging acoustic environments, from large conference halls to intimate office spaces, ensuring that every interview is crystal clear. Perhaps most technically impressive is how the documentary manages to make potentially dry financial and policy discussions visually engaging without sacrificing accuracy or depth.

Music

The documentary features an original score by composer Mark Petrie that blends modern electronic elements with classical orchestral arrangements, reflecting the intersection of traditional academic values and digital innovation. The soundtrack is deliberately understated during interview segments to maintain focus on the speakers' words, while more dynamic musical cues accompany data visualizations and montages that illustrate the scale of the publishing industry. The film also incorporates subtle ambient sounds from academic environments - the rustle of pages in libraries, the clicking of keyboards in research labs, and the quiet hum of server rooms - to create an immersive auditory experience. The music design avoids sensationalism, instead using thoughtful composition to enhance the documentary's serious, investigative tone while maintaining viewer engagement throughout complex economic explanations.

Famous quotes

Knowledge is not a commodity to be locked behind a paywall; it's a public good that should be available to all.

We're paying for the research three times: once to fund it, again to peer review it for free, and a third time to buy it back from the publisher.

The current system is not broken - it's working exactly as designed, to maximize profit for publishers at the expense of knowledge dissemination.

Open access is not just about changing publishing models; it's about democratizing knowledge and accelerating scientific progress.

When research is locked behind paywalls, we're not just losing papers - we're losing potential discoveries, treatments, and innovations.

Memorable scenes

• The powerful sequence where the documentary breaks down Elsevier's profit margins, comparing them side-by-side with tech giants like Apple and Google, revealing how academic publishing has become more profitable than Silicon Valley
• The emotional interview with a researcher from a developing country who describes having to choose between buying food or accessing essential research papers for their work
• The tense confrontation scene where open access advocates debate publishing executives at an industry conference, laying bare the fundamental philosophical differences about knowledge ownership
• The montage of university librarians from around the world describing their impossible choices when faced with budget cuts and rising subscription costs
• The final scene showing the global impact of open access initiatives, with researchers collaborating across borders in ways that were impossible under the old publishing model

What audiences thought

Audiences, particularly within academic and research communities, responded enthusiastically to Paywall: The Business of Scholarship. The documentary sparked numerous discussions on social media platforms and academic forums, with many viewers sharing their own experiences with the high costs of academic publishing. University screenings were often followed by passionate Q&A sessions with librarians and administrators discussing how to implement open access policies at their institutions. The film resonated especially with early-career researchers and graduate students who face significant barriers to accessing essential literature for their work. Many viewers reported that the documentary fundamentally changed their understanding of how academic publishing works and inspired them to become advocates for open access. The film's availability on multiple streaming platforms and through educational licensing has allowed it to reach a global audience, with particularly strong engagement in developing countries where access to paywalled research is most problematic.

Film connections

Influenced by

• The Internet's Own Boy
• Inside Job
• An Inconvenient Truth
• The Social Dilemma
• Merchants of Doubt

This film influenced

• Open Access: A Film About Knowledge
• The Copyright Criminals
• Steal This Film

Film restoration

Paywall: The Business of Scholarship is actively preserved and distributed through multiple channels. The film is archived in several university library collections and academic film repositories. Digital preservation is maintained through the film's availability on major streaming platforms and educational distribution services. The documentary is also preserved in the Internet Archive, ensuring long-term access. The filmmakers have made the film available under a Creative Commons license for educational use, contributing to its preservation through widespread distribution. Multiple language versions have been created and preserved, ensuring the documentary's continued accessibility to international audiences.

Where to watch

• Kanopy streaming service
• Vimeo on Demand
• Amazon Prime Video
• YouTube (rental)
• University library streaming collections
• Educational film distributors
• Director's official website
• Academic Film Archive