The film industry has come a long way with endless changes throughout the years in the United States. Movie making in Hollywood itself has made a major impact on all of us ever since the first silent movie produced in 1903 The Great Train Robbery. From silent movies to sound and affects , from finding potential stars to producing a completed movie. Everything took time and money in order to make a great movie . Therefore, when we are looking at movies now, we are only seeing the glamorous side of it and neglecting the hard-work and the whole production behind it. Having said that, we are going to look at the history of the Hollywood industry by examining the start and end of the Hollywood studio system, what contributes to its emergence and decline and the replacement of it after 1970’s .
To understand more about the Hollywood studio system, we must go back to the early 1920’s which was the time of the early development of the system. According to Schatz in the article Studio System Conglomerate Hollywood, there are two factors that combined in order to create this system. The first factor which refers to factory based mode of film production and the second factor which relates to the making of the movie, production, distribution, exhibition. At that time there are eight different major factories that run everything which include MGM, Warner Bros , 20th Century Fox, Paramount, RKO, Universal, Columbia, and United Artists. However, these eight companies separated themselves because not all of them have the same power. Some factories have more privileges than others. Universal, Columbia, and United Artists produced and distributed the films just like the other five factories, the only difference is that they do not own their own theaters. Moreover, Universal and Columbia factories did not have enough money so they produced less A class movies than other factories. On the other hand, United Artists helped financing producers so that they can make movies. That is the first aspect of the system.
The second aspect that contribute to the Hollywood studio system would be the process of making the movie. In order to create a film, there must be characters. During the 1930’s the talent scout system was invented. Undiscovered talents would be scouted everywhere in public and being brought back to the factory in order to see if they have potential to be the next stars. Once the factory believed that there are potential in a certain person, they would sign a contract with them and the contract limited them from living their own life. The factories basically have full control over the actors and actresses in terms of taking charge of their image, their freedom and many more. This was a way to promote yet to exploit these actors in terms of changing completely who they are. They often have to change their appearance and names to become someone new. For example, Joan Crawford’s real name is Lucille Fay LeSueur. Joan Crawford was just a character that the factory built upon Lucille. The contract usually lasts for seven years. However the first six months would be the crucial time because the stars must show that they are star worthy in order to be kept in the factory.
The Hollywood studio system started from 1920’s and end around 1940’s. This was also during the World War II and the Great Depression. During the year 1947 was the peak of the industry when the factories were making the most profits out of the stars. After that year, the system eventually declined due to various reasons. The first reason would be the Paramount Anti-Trust decrees in 1948. The case between the U.S and the Paramount was very important because the court ruled which put the factories that have their own theaters share their movies that they made with other factories. This would help the smaller and independent theaters make profit too by ending the block-booking process. The second reason why the Hollywood Studio system went downhill was because of