Photo:Leo Wilson
When people refer to "Hollywood movies" they are usually referring to those produced by one of the major motion picture studios which have dominated the industry since the 1920s. Although there are many other centres of movie production around the world (notably Bollywood – Mumbai– and Nollywood –Nigeria–) the Hollywood studios have tended to dominate. There are many reasons for this; the historical (they were churning out motion pictures while the rest of the world was fighting WWI) and economic (they are part of huge media groups which own most of the world between them). In the beginning, back in the 1920s & 30s, each studio was known for specialising in certain types of movie - the MGM musical, the Warner Bros gangster pic - but such distinctions have long since disappeared.
Movies produced outside the studio system are known as independent or indie movies; these generally have much lower budgets. Unlike a studio movie, an independent movie has no guaranteed distribution, and may have a lot of difficulty finding its audience.
It is important to have some sense of the history of the Hollywood studios. From the 1920s till the 1950s they were an efficient factory system that churned out a product (movies) on a production line (the Hollywood and Burbank backlots). Film-making, although very much a craft, was a regular job with regular hours. If you worked within the studio system you just turned up for work on a Monday morning, whether you were a camera operator, a director, a writer or a star, and got on with whatever project the studio told you to do that week, regardless of genre or quality. Although this stifled some people's creativity, it was a wonderful environment in which to learn and polish skills. And there were some great characters around - on both sides of the camera.
Learn about the history of each studio at these sites:
Today the main studios (and their websites) are
These companies have the power to finance, produce, distribute and exhibit a feature film.
There is much debate about the future of Hollywood - have the 'money men' taken over? Has all creativity been stifled? Read up on the current issues with PBS's Frontline (video excerpts too!)