The Studio System: The Decline Of The Film Industry

In chapter two of The Cultures of American Film, the main focus is the establishment of studios. As demand for films rose in the early 1900’s, production companies needed to expand; this lead to the creation of large scale studios.

Basically, the studio system controls everything from production to showing included the actors. Actors who worked with a studio were under contract with that studio and could only act in that studio's production. These contracts were seven years long and forbids the actors from doing any other projects, like radio or television along with regulating the actor’s lives. The studio actors that were under contract were mostly white; minorities did not get much contracted work. The actors were required to act in whatever film they were cast, do publicity for their films, promote product tie-ins and occasionally even be loaned out to other studios for a film or two. The actors were working six days a week and often for about 14 hours a day. It may have been a hectic schedule but they were putting out 10 to 20 films a year. Studios had everyone under contract from the actors to the directors, from the writers to the technical staff. I think there was an up and down side to the studio system. On the good side, all the employees were under contract and everyone was available when they were needed. Films were getting produced at much faster rate than they are today. I would think there would be less conflict between actors and directors because everyone would have to

To begin with, some background information on movies and Hollywood in the 1920’s. In the 1920’s, movie attendance soared (The Rise of Hollywood par. 4). As stated in the introduction, with the influx of money in the American economic system, the average person also had an influx of time on their hands. The normal solution was to spend that time on entertainment and movies were the perfect way to do that. By the mid-decade, movie attendance rose to fifty million and only increased from then. The five main movie studios were Warner Brothers, Paramount, MGM, RKO Radio Pictures, and 20th Century Fox (Dirks 1). Before these studios were formed, every aspect of making movies was separated into different companies. The aspects may include filming, editing, or distributing. With the spark of interest in movies, these five companies took it upon

This essay explores the popularity of Australian film, both locally and internationally and asks the question: Is there a crisis in the Australian Film Industry? This essay will go through the current issues the Australian Film Industry and will demonstrate examples of those problems.

The Golden Age of Hollywood was a time when Hollywood hit its peak successfully and economically, starting with the late 1920s, and met its decline due to corruption in the late 1950s. One would ask the question: “Where did the name Hollywood come from?” The name came from Harvey Henderson Wilcox and his wife, Daeida, who were owners of a small ranch west of Los Angeles. According to u-s-history.com, “Daeida, who, while on a train trip east met a woman that described her country home in Ohio, that had been named for the Dutch settlement of Hollywood. Liking the name, Daeida christened their ranch 'Hollywood,' upon her return.” (History of Hollywood, California) Movies during this time period became a vital form of entertainment for all Americans during this time period. By the 1910s, Hollywood was combined into its neighboring city Los Angeles, and many motion-picture studios began to open. Moviemakers rushed to Hollywood, and competition started to become widespread between directors and producers. By 1910, the first motion picture was made in Hollywood, titled In Old California, and soon enough, Los Angeles became second to New York in producing films also because of it’s quintessential weather for movies to be made in all year long during this time. As Hollywood began to industrialize, filmmakers began to work on the image of a “star”; they would continuously use these highly-paid actors in order to achieve a form of comfort for the general audience of the movies. Seeing

As the need for entertainment grows, so does the vice of stardom. We have seen the wreck some stars have made of their lives, addicted to the attention Hollywood brings. And from it came also such classics as Casablanca, Gone with the Wind, and Juno. One thing is for certain; Hollywood studios is the name that carried the movie industry from the drawing board to a the big

Thomas Schatz cites the 1950’s as the inevitable end of the Hollywood film studio system, with the signs appearing as early as the height of the second World War (472). However, the seeds of discontent and disintegration within the system were apparent as soon as the late 1930’s, exemplified in such films as Destry Rides Again (1939, George Marshall) and Mr. Smith Goes To Washington (1939, Frank Capra). The production of these two films and the paths down which they led their star (James Stewart), directors (at least Frank Capra), and studios (Universal and Columbia, respectively) are evidence of the decline of the studio system. The

The Production Code Administration emerged in 1934. It was the organic outgrowth of a backlash to immorality in film perceived since the 1920’s (Gomery & Pafort-Overduin, 2011). As an entertainment medium, film was revolutionary: all of the sudden, vivid snippets of life could reach a mass audience. Not long after motion pictures enthralled the country, producers began to recognize the opportunity to attract larger audiences – and increase profits – by filming stories involving provocative subjects and thus stimulating the people’s sense of wonder (Gomery & Pafort-Overduin, 2011). A natural outgrowth of this trend was the increasingly transgressive nature of motion pictures. In an age characterized by both economic and social progress, a backlash against new ideas

1a.) The American Studio System is a specific way of producing a film in which the film takes place mostly in a controlled environment created by the producers of the film. These studios had complete control over the film production market and used this control to dominate the film industry in the 1930’s and early 1940’s.

The film industry has continuously changed since its inception due to rapid technology advancements. Camera technology has been a key factor that has influenced the growth of filmmaking. The first motion picture in the world was produced in the early 1880s, and the first public screening occurred ten years later. It didn’t take long for the quality of films to improve as new filmmaking equipment emerged. Ever since the first movie was produced, the film industry has been continuously changing in response to emerging filmmaking technology. Introduction of digital photography and digital data storage along with the development of internet significantly influenced the film industry (Barsam, 2015). These technologies contributed

No longer is box-office the main source of revenue for studios as it was in the early days of Hollywood. Today only 6 conglomerates are responsible for almost all of the world's filmmaking. Lucrative licensing deals, merchandising, spin-offs, television shows and so forth have become more important than the actual box-office generated. According to Jay Epstein "Even though today's system of filmed entertainment shares much of the same physical geography, nomenclature, and mythology as the studio system that preceded it, it did not evolve out of it… it appeared with surprising suddenness, and replaced it." He argues that a handful of aspiring businessmen took the reins of the industry and steered it to where it is today. These 6 conglomerates hold 72% of the total market share and have an average of $26.5 billion revenue, while the total box-office revenue in the U.S. in 2000 was only $7.6 billion8. Film production today is not the expression of the director, writer or producer but more their attempt to capitalize on the medium. Modern films cost an average if $100 million in advertising and production cost, while the average box-office of

Hollywood’s Golden Age started when major studios had survived the financial crisis of the 1920s, and decided not to be put in that kind of situation by introducing the contract system to all of their employees. This strategy assured that the studios where less likely to be exposed to high risks, and where sometimes more in favor of the studios. With total power over productions the studios where able to keep production costs at a manageable levels, as well as exclusive rights to certain stars of the era. Even thought employees who were part of the contract system enjoyed steady employment, compensation, and other benefits, the studios reserve the right to cancel or void any contract at their discretion sometimes without merit. Everything about

In development, a project producer takes an original idea from a source and pairs with a writer to develop a script. This is a rather lengthy process as the script is drafted and redrafted to perfection until ready to pitch to potential financial sources, such as banks and investors. Once backed by funding the film goes into pre-production where a carefully designed plan is set forth and managed by the films production crew. Production is when the cameras are rolling, Post production is where the editing and CGI take place, a rather expensive even found more so in sequels and hi tech films. Distribution is the means of where the film will be made available to the public. In today’s market, there are many distributors Rental, DVD, Pay Per View, Television and other media

With the movie industry on the rise in the 21th century, there are a lot of studios that have been known for making great movies like Lucasfilm, Pixar, and Lions Gate, but now Marvel Studios join the hall of fame with the rest of the giants in the movie business. Marvel Studios is known for pushing the story narrative and also making c-list heroes into movie stars(Comicbookcast2,2016). Marvel Studios’ films has not released a critically bad movie, and they beat out the gold standard that Pixar has maintained(T.V. Junkie, 2016). Marvel Studios has been steamrolling all of the movies that the other studios(T.V. Junkie, 2016). Marvel Studios has been known at making decades worth of emotional, dramatic, entertaining movies, but in order to

The world wide movie business with its incredibly large cultural and economic impact is mainly driven by its regional growth and exports. The organization of the film industry is undergoing a significant transformation trough globalization.