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The U.S. Film Industry: A Historical Overview

The U.S. Film Industry: A Historical Overview. J412/J512 U.S. Film Industry October 3, 2013. Reading Quiz. What is the “new abnormal,” as discussed in Lynda Obst’s article?. Answer. Essentially: Extreme reduction of risk (or attempt thereof)

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The U.S. Film Industry: A Historical Overview

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  1. The U.S. Film Industry:A Historical Overview J412/J512 U.S. Film Industry October 3, 2013

  2. Reading Quiz • What is the “new abnormal,” • as discussed in Lynda Obst’sarticle?

  3. Answer • Essentially: Extreme reduction of risk (or attempt thereof) • Are films “properties that can be marketed into international franchises?” (p. 5) • “International has come to be 70% of our total revenues in the New Abnormal” (p. 7). • “They can invent stars for tentpoles, pay them less up front, and tie them in to infinite options for sequels, like with Chris Hemsworth in Thor” (p. 18).

  4. The Early(US) Film Industry J412/512 9/27/12

  5. Film’s Inventor? • Thomas Edison or William K. L. Dickson?  Dickson performed bulk of experimentation; most scholars credit Dickson with transforming a concept into reality.

  6. Fred Ott’s Sneeze, 1894 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PaJ1r0udvQ

  7. Film as novelty http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nj0vEO4Q6s http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agvQxm_nPIw

  8. Film as Business

  9. From 1908:Beginnings of anIndustrial Structure

  10. Mass Production • Growth of narrative format • “Director” system • Companies: Edison, Biograph, Vitagraph, Kalem, Essanay, Lubin, plus small producers

  11. Struggle for Control: Patent Wars

  12. Locations of Film Industryin Early 1900s

  13. New York Edison Kinetoscope Parlor Vitagraph Company of America

  14. Fort Lee, NJ Moving Pictures Studios West

  15. Film Clip: “Hollywood East” Motion Picture Set, 1912

  16. Hollywood

  17. Golden Era of Hollywood (approx. 1920s-1950s/1960s)

  18. Golden Era: Film Studios Operating in Hollywood • Big Five: • Paramount • Fox • Loews (MGM) • RKO • Warner Brothers • Little Three: • United Artists • Columbia • Universal • Poverty Row • Republic • Monogram • Grand National • Others

  19. The Big Five studios were: “a large inverted pyramid, top-heavy with real estate and theaters, resting on a narrow base of intangibles which constitute films”(Huettig).

  20. Business Strategies • Block booking • Run, clearance and zoning • Admission price discrimination

  21. Watch at Home: “A Trip Through a Hollywood Studio” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfUAMjiTY-0

  22. Anti-Trust andthe Paramount Decrees

  23. Anti-Trust Lawsuits • First antitrust lawsuit (1938): • Principal objective: Divest theaters • Secondary objective: End monopolistic practices in film industry • Settled out of court: theater control remained with studios

  24. Paramount Decrees • Final decision in 1946 • Unfair practices favoring theater circuits were declared illegal restraints of trade and prohibited • Paramount & RKO filed consent decrees to divest theater holdings • Loew’s, Twentieth Century-Fox and Warners refused to comply • Launched another appeal • Ultimately divested in 1953

  25. Impact on HollywoodStudio System • Production: • Little Three had more share of market • Boom in independent production • Production Code harder to enforce • Distribution: • Big Five could no longer give special treatment to each other • Exhibition: • Independent theaters had more control over their businesses

  26. From Film Industry to Entertainment Industry

  27. Key = TV provided “studios with blueprint for creating a new market by means of exploiting their library of titles through a new technology” (Tzioumakis, 14).

  28. Conglomeration & Deconglomeration • Conglomeration: Studios acquired by major corporations • e.g., Paramount = Gulf + Western • Deconglomeration: Major corporations focused operations • Studios able to focus on media, utilize synergy and cross-promotion to full advantage • Strategies: • Synergy, cross-promotion, horizontal & vertical integration, global expansion

  29. Paramount: • By 1966: • Aging leadership • Production losses, lack of aggressiveness • Eroding assets • 1966: Gulf + Western acquired for $125m • Overhauled mgmt, restructured company • Independent production • Television acquisitions • Reduced foreign distribution overhead

  30. Twentieth Century-Fox: • 1965: The Sound of Music • Flops: Dr. Doolittle (1967), Hello Dolly! (1968), Star! (1968) • 1971: New leadership • Cut back on film production • Created music-recording companies • Acquired TV stations, Coca-Cola Bottling Midwest, Aspen Skiing Corporation, Magnetic Video, Pebble Beach Corporation • 1977: Star Wars

  31. Where does digital technology fit in? • “Digital media provide lucrative platforms for new but also old media content, adding to the value of the music, film or television libraries kept by rights holders.” -- Paul McDonald (quoted in Tzioumakis, p. 25)

  32. Location of Film Industry / Alternatives to Hollywood

  33. Outside the Hollywood System • Artistic cinema • Minority films • Exploitation films • Documentary films • Industrial films

  34. Pacific NW & Hollywood

  35. Questions?

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