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Movie production companies 90s4/11/2024 ![]() ![]() Hollywood film producers and labor organizations, in particular, anticipated a new market for filmed products and employment opportunities in television production. 8 Furthermore, both the MPPDA and the Academy formed ongoing committees to monitor television developments.Īfter World War II, there was a good deal of attention to the potential for the film industry to provide programming for the emerging television business, especially in light of the declining box office. One of the recommendations from the Academy was for the industry to pursue theater television, which will be discussed below. In 1938, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences requested its research council to study the film industry's preparation for the inevitable introduction of television, while numerous articles appeared that discussed the subject. 6 Mortimer Prall, son of the FCC chairman, was hired by the MPPDA to prepare one report, in which he noted that "the motion picture industry has its greatest opportunity for expansion knocking on its door." 7 As early as the 1920s the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors Association (MPPDA), the industry's trade organization, was preparing reports on television, followed by investigations in the 1930s of the film industry's role in the forthcoming television business. There is further evidence that the industry as a whole was not only watching the development of television technology, but saw opportunities in the new technology. Meanwhile, David Selznick, a successful independent Hollywood producer, became involved with the early television inventor Philo T. For instance, the Warner brothers followed the technological evolution of television quite closely, even attempting to attract Vladimir Zworykin away from RCA in the late 1930s. 4Ī few of the Hollywood studio executives demonstrated keen interest in television experiments during the 1930s. While the Depression limited the studios' direct interests, Hollywood still utilized the airwaves for promotion as well as providing talent and programming. ![]() ![]() opened two radio stations, KFWB, Los Angeles, and WBPI, New York) investments in networks (Paramount was involved with CBS in the late 1920s) and relationships with radio interests (RKO was a subsidiary of RCA). A few of their activities included the ownership of stations (Warner Bros. During this early period, the major studios were involved in radio in numerous ways. For instance, Christopher Anderson argued that "the studios wanted not merely to participate in electronic communication but to control the radio and television industries" 3 (emphasis in the original). Many historians have discussed the majors' involvement with broadcasting as early as the 1920s. 2 Early Interactions Between the Film Industry and Television While these developments are discussed more fully elsewhere in this volume, the current chapter focuses on the connections between the film industry and the television industry during this critical decade. In addition, Hollywood was experiencing structural changes due to the Paramount decrees, the growth of independent production, trade barriers in foreign markets, and the demise of the Production Code, as well as changes in movie-viewing habits. ![]() 1 However, the film industry's relationship with television in the fifties must be understood in the context of social and economic changes (suburbanization, changes in demographics, and consumer spending habits) and political tensions (McCarthyism and HUAC). It has been argued that television was the primary factor affecting the dramatic plunge in ticket sales, box-office receipts, and company profits in Hollywood between 19 (see Chapter 1). The importance of television for the film industry during the 1950s cannot be overstated. By the end of the 1950s diversification was well under way-the Hollywood film companies were becoming media companies. In the 1950s, the film companies produced programming for much of the prime-time TV schedule, and they also experimented with alternatives to broadcast television. The film and broadcasting industries have shared a "symbiotic relationship" since the 1920s, with the major Hollywood companies attempting to develop and control television as a new distribution outlet. 6 Hollywood and Television in the 1950s: The Roots of Diversification Early Interactions Between the Film Industry and Television Strategies for Coexistence with Television The New Diversification Conclusion ![]()
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