in a nutshell: how the system workedDuring the Hollywood Golden Era, films were a commodity. Studios were out to make money, not art. Studio bosses applied 'Fordist' methods of manufacturing to the production of Motion Pictures. Also, certain laws and regulations, put in place by the American government, supported the monopolization of the movie industry. In short, the system was a 'mature-oligopoly'; a group of companies cooperating to control a certain market. At the time, all the Hollywood bosses incorporated a standard structure of the system into their studios.
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setting the 'gears' in motion:As early as the 1920’s, Hollywood top bosses figured that ‘Fordist’ methods of manufacturing, mainly the Ford ‘assembly-line’ method, could be applied to the production of movies in the studios. Remember that, throughout the early 20th century, Hollywood bosses had witnessed the growing success of the automobile manufacturing industry, and wished to recreate this success for themselves.
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Basically, big Hollywood bosses figured they could model their studio’s efficiency rates based on those produced in a Ford manufacturing factory! Unfortunately, the plan didn't entirely work, for the simple reason that motion pictures are not cars. Unlike cars, movies cannot be exactly reproduced every time they are manufactured. However, studios did, overall, benefit from these internal changes.
"with a little help from my friends"...Hollywood was a Depression-era success story, largely because of President Roosevelt's economic recovery measures of the early 1930's. In an effort to revamp the American economy, which was destroyed by the Depression, FDR’s plans centered on the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA). The act went into effect in June of 1933. The NIRA’s strategy was to promote this recovery by sanctioning certain monopoly practices among major U.S. industries. Basically, the NIRA Act allowed the major Hollywood studios of the Golden Era to strengthen their control of the market-place throughout the movie industry.
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Not surprisingly, the Hollywood ‘powers’ made the most of this!
In exchange, however, the NIRA required that the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors Association (MPPDA), consisting of top Hollywood bosses, write and sign the Code of Fair Competition, which was meant to level out the 'playing field' of the movie industry. Instead, the Code of Fair Competition ended up strengthening, and committing to paper, unwritten laws such as;
vertical integration
block booking and blind bidding
"zoning" and "clearance" policies
and many more...
block booking and blind bidding
"zoning" and "clearance" policies
and many more...
a STEP-BY-STEP PROCESS of the system:
step 1
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step 2
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step 3
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step 4
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“What had been a loose affiliation of movie companies and a vaguely defined production process now became a comodified, regulated totality”.
the (overall) internal sTRUCTURE of the studio system:
By the time the Studio System was in full motion, Hollywood was virtually run from New York by executives with connections at Wall St. in publishing and on Broadway. These executives were in fact the real 'Owners' of the studio. However, in Hollywood, the decisions made within the studio's were carried out by the CEO who: determined A and B picture budgets, how much to spend on prestige films, and the tentative production schedules. Those in charge of exhibition knew what the public wanted. Those in charge of distribution knew what those in charge of exhibition wanted. In essence, everyone worked at pleasing the Chief Executive Officer. The diagram below illustrates the importance of the Chief Executive Officer. Notice how the CEO only answered to the Owners, although he was very dependent on his Head of Production.
In the early Studio System years, the Head's of Production worked closely with Studio bosses supervising everything that went on inside the Studios; by tending to the companies resources while also shaping the Studio's policies, producers and house style.
But, by the early 30’s, each Studio’s market strategies were pretty well set. Basically, Hollywood’s Head producers had done their jobs well, and thus were no longer as crucial to the System. So, the studios gradually phased out, or downgraded, the Head of Productions' role. The studio's rapidly began to implement a new kind of management system with a clearer hierarchy. In this new system, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) was granted more authority than he already had. Remember that, during this era, Studio's were out to make money, not art. So, certain jobs, and people for that matter, which were not vital to the overall system, were slowly pushed out. |
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