Vertical Integration Of Film Industry

In the early 1900’s, as films stated centering their focus on profit, large scale studios came onto the film scene. The studios that were discussed in the chapter were: Universal, United Artists, Paramount, Warner Bros, MGM, Fox, Columbia, and RKO. These studios employed some of the biggest names in the film world at the time. Many of these studios are still in business today, and have given prominent actors and directors their shot at fame. Universal was the first studio to move to the west coast. They produced popular films such as The

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

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Motion pictures are a key driver of the market for entertainment products, one of the largest export markets in US. Motion picture industry consists of three stages: studio production, distribution, and exhibition. The studios produce the lifeblood of the industry, the films that are its content. The biggest players at this level are the majors, big studios which integrate production and distribution, as do the slightly smaller mini-majors. The next stage is distribution. Distributors are the intermediaries between the studios and exhibitors. Distribution entails all steps following a film’s artistic completion including marketing, logistics, and administration. Distributors coordinate the manufacture and distribution of

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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.

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This research paper will cover the topic of the American film industry, globalisation and how globalisation has impacted on the change of the American film industry. I will also continue on to how the American film industry and its producers can integrate successfully internationally.

Before the Paramount decision, the five major studios, called the “Big 5” referring to Fox, Paramount Pictures, Loew’s incorporated, Warner Brothers, and RKO, could package multiple films together to be sold to a theater. This practice, called block booking, forced movie theaters to buy multiple lower quality movies in order to have the rights to show the best movie the studio produced, as they came as a bundle together (Aberdeen, n.d.). With the “Big 5” holding a monopoly over the industry and each block booking, theaters were forced to comply with this unfair practice. The court ruled that it was illegal for the studios to use block booking, so they had to put more effort into creating movies that were sure to be bought by theaters that saw potential in them. This lead to the creation of the blockbuster, as studios dedicated themselves to creating the most commercially viable movie to sell to theaters and to outshine their competitors, changing the film industry

These five studios were; 20th Century Fox, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), Paramount Pictures, RKO Radio Pictures and Warner Brothers. Together they were able to utilise ‘the studio system’ which is where all the studios ran the production, distribution and exhibition of films allowing them to exercise an unfair monopoly over the film industry. By exercising an unfair monopoly, the big studios had directors, writers, actors and producers under long term contracts meaning they ‘owned’ their stars. Studios could also practice the system of ‘block booking’ where they would sell multiple films to theatres as a unit which generally included only one attractive, A-budget film which theatres really wanted. In doing so the rest of the unit contained a mix

The studio system by definition is a system which was used during the Golden Age of Hollywood, is a method of film production and distribution dominated by a small number of “major” studios in Hollywood. The Golden Age was actually built upon the studio system and this began during the silent age. The Studio system was created by eight major studios that actually survived the conversion to sound and the financial crisis of 1929. They had different strategies for going fourth with this system, one of them being the contract system. People working for this system were to sign different private contracts letting them be able to go back and forth or jump from one project to another while making film after film at well-ordered costs of productions.

Media Essay: David Russell How important is vertical integration for institutions and audience? Vertical integration is when a company, e.g. Warner Bros – oversees the planning and also the creation of a specific product. The way they oversee this is by advertisement, marketing and distribution; for example Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. A company which is vertically integrated, has control over all the product’s life when making, or selling the product. Warner Bro’s.

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One the one hand, the fertility of the industry opened the doors to corporations that sighted substantial growth potential. New entrants with big pockets such as Walmart could pose a certain threat to Netflix, by exploiting a playing card based on cost reduction. On the other hand, barriers to entry became relatively significant as established video rental retailers such as Netflix have the experience and the knowhow to market movies to people. In this industry, firms that do not have a technological advantage can’t compete. The best example is Netflix’s CineMatch program that offered personalized film recommendations based on customer’s rental patterns. This way, Netflix was able to better serve its subscribers. From a cost perspective, the movie rental industry requires high capital expenditures, and the major expenses are highly related to acquisitions of DVD library and investments in technology (exhibit 2 continued). Thus, we may say that entry is difficult in this industry as the competing firms have reputation, experience and recognizable brand names.