The Hollywood Studio System Essay Hollywood is the film industry of the United States. It is extremely famous worldwide. Hollywood has connotations of money, glamour and fame. It is also most commonly associated with big stars. Studying the history of Hollywood is important as it gives film audiences an idea of how the process of film making has changed over time. The Hollywood majors are the main Hollywood studios which emerged. The first five majors were Warner Bro’s, RKO, FOX, Paramount and MGM however three other studios were also considered as majors. These three studios are Universal, Columbia and United Artists. The first films which started of the US film industry were called talkies. These were silent films which featured famous actors such as Charlie Chaplin. The first talkie which was released was called ‘The Jazz Singer’ This was the start of US film industry. It all began in New York and then gradually began to become more popular. Vertical Integration was the main reason for the power of the studios. It means that all three stages; production, distribution and exhibition were owned. Production refers to the actual stages of making the film. Distribution is the process of transporting the film over to theatres and cinemas. Exhibition is the process of the screening and audience showings. It is referred to as the merger. For a certain period of time, all three areas of film were controlled by the Hollywood studios. Years ago, each studio would only show films from one studio. It enables power as it allows each company to make more money by being in control of which cinemas can show their films. The studio system of film is the arrangement of film production and distribution. It was dominated by the five majors. The occurred during the golden age of Hollywood. It is referred to as ‘the golden age’ as it is the period of time in which Hollywood was at the height of its power. The studINio system was similar to that of Henry Forde however it was integrated into the film industry. An important part of the system was something known as ‘book blocking.’ It meant that studios could make a lot of movies no matter what the budget and quality of the film was. Book blocking involved a studio selling multiple films to a cinema as a unit. The studio produced long term contracts. There are many Advantages and disadvantages of the Studio system. An advantage of the studio system would be that the bigger companies would make more profit. This is because they received better crew and better equipment to produce higher quality films which allowed them to receive more money. Another benefit was the idea of have a guaranteed audience. This meant that their films would defiantly be seen and that they were certain of having an audience meaning they would still be making money. The final and most important benefit is the idea of them being in control. They were able to be in control of both the process and the product meaning things could go exactly as they wanted it to go.

There are also some disadvantages that came with the studio system. One disadvantage could be that the smaller companies lose out on profit as the other five majors may be receiving all the money. This could be due to audiences only wanting to see films containing big stars which were only generally produced by the big five. It also made it difficult for smaller independent films to be released. There is also a disadvantage for the big five. They may also lose money as they have to purchase better equipment and crew. Some stars also resented being controlled by studios. In the 1950’s power was challenged. An example of an incident that occurred was the De Havilland case. Olivia Mary De Havilland was an American actress. She went through a court case due to her having an unfair court case.. Many major stars within the industry began to rebel and agents were having to negotiate deals. The antitrust laws also came into action. These were also referred to as the competition laws. These showed signs of a downfall which was part of the lead up to the end of the golden age of Hollywood. The studio system began to crash which saw a huge change to the change of the structure in Hollywood. If films were not being produced correctly, then companies would lose out on money.