After film was popularised during the 1910s, it soon went from being a ‘seaside attraction’ to a commercial and vastly popular form of mass entertainment. This occurred through the death of music hall as a form of entertainment, during which cinemas overtook the buildings that were previously music halls. American entrepreneurs soon began to view film as a grand business opportunity first and foremost, rather than an art form.
Over the course of the 20th Century, film in America undertook a variety of forms. Throughout the 1910s, short films known as ‘two-reelers’ were the most popular form of entertainment. Focusing particularly on comedy, action, and romance, this style of filmmaking was perfected by the silent stars of the 1920s, such as Buster Keaton.
Film’s exponential gain in popularity over the course of the 1920s led to a drastic rise in competition, ultimately forming the ‘Big Five’ film studios that dominated the playing field. Each studio attempted to provide a sense of differentiation, offering bigger budgets, more exotic filming locations as well as featuring the most prolific stars. The studios also implemented the business tactic of vertical integration, with each studio overseeing and taking ownership of every stage of film production. Studios contracted screenwriters, editors, actors and even entire cinemas in an attempt to monopolise the film industry. Through this, both the ‘studio system’ and ‘star system’ were established.
Four film stars in particular were extremely unhappy with the state of the studio system, claiming that the studios collected an inordinate amount of money from the booming film business. D.W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks collectively founded United Artists – a company premised on allowing actors to control their own line of work, rather than being fully dependant upon the domineering film studios.
Otis Morley’s A-Level Film Studies Blog 