Studio System History

First vertically integrated studio system dates back to 1910 in France, but the official date for the birth of studio system is circa 1920. The earliest prototype of studio system in United States is credited to Thomas H.Ince, who in 1912 built Inceville in Hollywood, where he enacted supreme control from direction, production and supervision. This phenomenon was adopted by Hollywood studio system from 1920s to early 1950s. Acolph Zukor initiated vertical integration in United States in 1917, when he acquired Paramount Film Corporation and aligned it with his own production company, the Famous Players-Lasky Corporation, which also brought him control over production and distribution. This move had its impact on financing and exhibition practices of films. As distribution was a vital source to finance films Zukor could coercion cinema theatres to accept block-bookings, to

For exhibitors First National was established to fight the block-booking system which lasted some 12 years. It owned numerous theatres during its heyday in 1921 and by 1922 it had entered into the production field. Zukor responded to this by buying up theatres himself and by 1920 he had some 100 theatres under his belt. During the first cycle of the studio system’s history (1913-29), the full vertical integration of 5 majors-Paramount, Fox film Corporation, MGM, Warner Bros and RKO-occurred between 1924 and 1926. The ‘little three’ majors-Universal Pictures, United Artists and Columbia- coexisted with the major five. Though they were not vertically integrated, they had access to the majors’ first-run theatres (Hayward 367). Major companies had virtual monopoly over the film industry and acquired huge profits in relation to huge costs during 1920s. To overcome the mounting coasts due to vertical integration and to the advent of sound (1927), studios came under the control of bankers and businessmen. Economic considerations and artistic ones became a consideration for