How Hollywood Became the Center of the Film Industry…
**Secret Revealed**
The thirty mile zone (aka “TMZ” or “studio zone”) is the approximately thirty mile area in Southern California where America’s movie industry is based. However, New Jersey was the center of film in America before Hollywood.
Thomas Edison owned a majority of the patents on motion picture cameras and through these patents, he tightly controlled who could make films. In 1908, he formed the Motion Picture Patents Company, a licensing trust that included other important motion picture patent holders, including Eastman Kodak, who sold the only film stock that film makers could legally purchase.
The patents allowed the group to use law enforcement to prevent unauthorized use of their cameras, film, projectors or any variation of this equipment that included features that infringed on their patents. In some cases they hired thugs to do the enforcement.
Understandably, these tight restrictions stifled innovation and crippled the film industry.
Photo by jai Mansson's photography on Flickr Creative Commons
Independent filmmakers fled to Hollywood. The physical distance from the Edison Trust made it easy to work on their films without the tight control and patent enforcement.
The reliable sunshine and temperature also made Hollywood a more suitable place to make films year-round.
Chad Upton is the editor-in-chief of Broken Secrets and an official Yahoo Answers contributor.
Sources: filmbug, wikipedia (motion picture patents company)
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so, what is this all about
Actually, a number of the earliest silent movies were made in a studio in Ithaca, New York!
Hollywood becoming the centre of film industry is like saying one man’s meat, is another man’s poison. Because Thomas Edison in New Jersey want to eat alone by restricting filmmakers in the number he wants and probably make the cost too high for them. Remember all hands are not equally, so they have to run to the place things will be easier and cheaper for them without much stress. There are beginners in the film making; who have not gotten much money to record or shoot their films, what do you expect them to do. The answer is thanks to Hollywood that has made their day to shine.
Now THIS is something I didn’t know! Thanks for sharing.
I just read the book MAX by Howard Fast and according to this book it started in New York
i like the fact that we can now make our own films andshow them on the internet. greed in recording industry has caused commercial entertainment to practically implode on itself
THIS IS AMAZING i LOVE IT
This proves that Edison was greedy business man before he was a scientist. his msg in life was not to serve humanity; it was to rip as much money as possible…not to mention how much ideas he stole frm the jeneous Tesla…
The more I learn about Edison the more I think he had to have been one of the biggest greed-powered a-holes of his time. Also, this reminds me a lot of the people at the top of certain industries today.
The silent movies really started in Chicago on the North side in the 20′s .Gloria Swanson was in those movies and was JFK’S Fathers girlfriend , because he owned the Merchandise Mart on the C hicago River
The name of the Studio was Essanay it opened in 1907 and moved in 1908 to 1345 w Argyle in the Uptown neighborhood on the northside and later on made silent movies with Charlie Chaplin ,Gloria Swanson ,Tom Mix & a slew of others you can find the info. on Wikipedia under Essananay,& the names of the stars that made movies there .I lived on Argyle yrs.later .
Also Edison Park a northside neighborhood in Chicago was named after Edison .
The motion picture industry was actually centered in Jacksonville, Florida, before it was shifted to California by some Jewish business men when the people of Jacksonville rejected what they saw as the objectionable culture associated with it.
As an aside, the Producer of the original King Kong movie was a Jacksonville native,
Ref: Jacksonville Historical Society
Wasn’t San Francisco, San Jose, Santa Rosa, Oakland and Vallejo at some point supposed to be the center of the film industry in the early 20th century before LA had it. I know in the Bay Area Radio Museum website right after KQW-AM now (KCBS-AM740) was born in 1909 and the film industry and the radio broadcasting industry was supposed to go to the Bay Area especially the area now known as Silicon Valley and San Francisco’s Financial district.
I made it like that
Actually, there was a two or three part documentary on the emergence of Hollywood on PBS World not too long ago. Basically, Jews from Europe with a background in theater, and connections with Jewish bankers who financed them, established Hollywood in the early 20th Century.
Because Jews never had to fight wars or build their own nations, they had the luxury of immigrating to sovereign European countries and pursuing the arts. As such, they became skilled in film and theater which was imported to Hollywood where it was used to create anti-Gentile propaganda for the last hundred years. The Jews have become so good at this, they can routinely make movies, tv shows and even commercials that routinely make the oblivious goy cheer at depictions of his own humiliation and downfall. All at the same time making themselves insanely wealthy.
Read Neal Gabler’s “An Empire of their Own: How The Jews Invented Hollywood.”
Tells you all you need to know.
WHEN THE INVENTIONS OF NEW CAMERAS, AND THE DISCOVERY OF THE WIDE VARIANCE OF SCENERY IN THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA WAS DISCOVERED, ALONG WITH THE FACT THAT MOST NEW “MOVIE STARS” WERE EITHER FROM THERE OR HAD RESIDENCES THERE FOLLOWING THEIR EAST-COAST SUCCESSES. IT JUST MADE SENSE TO MOVE THE “HUB” OF THE FILM INDUSTRY INTO CLOSER PROXIMITY TO THE STARS!!!
Hollywood?, ..I would think “Burbank” California is the nation’s Film Industry town, Hollywood is just the face -
really, i know, i live here….
talent, oppurtunities, love formovie
Some of you are talking nonsense and have no clue about the history of Hollywood. One of the biggest determining factors as to why they moved to Hollywood was because of the weather. It is a lot easier to shoot in an environment that you can control, which is why I personally prefer to shoot inside studios rather than on location. Any real filmmaker knows the value of having control over things such as weather conditions and lighting.
Of course there is no person that can control the weather, but you can control where you shoot and in essence you get your choice of what kind of conditions you shoot in. I’ve spent 6 years working in Canada’s film industry and I can tell you firsthand, shooting in the winter stinks to high hell. 14-18 hour days in freezing temperatures can be rough on the cast and crew. And if you want to shoot an exterior summer scene in the winter here, you are pretty much out of luck.
And yes, I did learn about the history of Hollywood at film school. I studied at the Toronto Film School. My Film History instructor had worked in Hollywood on numerous productions, including a few Star Trek movies and he had a wealth of knowledge concerning the history of film.
Did you know that in the early 20th century, Canada’s film industry was even bigger and more prominent than America’s? If I remember correctly, it wasn’t until around the 1930s when American film studios created the “star system” that America began to take the lead over all other nations when it came to film. The star system, was a formula where specific actors/actresses became selling points for movies. That system is still in use today, which is why your wife/girlfriend just has to see Angelina Jolie’s newest film, or why you have to see Jason Stathem’s latest work. Prior to the 30s most actors were not recognized in the way you would expect them to be in today’s movies.
In addition to the nice weather, Hollywood was close enough to Mexico for the Independents to fleed to if Edison’s thugs ever came after them.
I heard years ago that the main reason it was shifted to California, was the terrain there provided nearly all the scenery needed for the budget films at that time; mostly westerns, war movies, and such. It took a lot of money to film off the area. For example, filming in Hawaii is a high cost place. Moving equipment is very costly. If one can find the appropriate terrain for an outside shot within two hundred miles of Hollywoood, less stage shots, what a savings to be had.
very interesting Ill be posting my ideas in the near future give my blog site a go!!
I WANT TO BE AN ACTOR
Who says it’s the centre?USA is the 5th film maker of the world,1st being India.
I made it like that,i think.