Essay Sample: What Has Happened to the Holly Wood Studio System?

The lecture focuses on three key things that include the new Hollywood and conglomerate holly wood. The lecturer aims to explore the changes that have happened to the studio system in Hollywood, film on the holly wood system, and she also talks about the movies, Hail Caesar!, by Joel and Ethan Coen.

The work of Thomas Schatz on the studio systems kicks off the lecture. According to Thomas, there are three revolutions in holly wood. One is the formation of the studio system. The second is the rise in television and the dismantling of the studio system (Paramount case). Consequently, the third revolution takes place in the 1990s as a result of three factors which begin to hand power back to the studios. These factors include deregulation of the media, globalization, and the rise of new media technologies.

Thomas Schatz explored the issue and found that the second revolution moved power from the studios to the talent brokers and music industry. In the 1960s, the music corporation of America dissolves its talent agency and purchased the Universal pictures. This was the first instance of the modern media conglomerate. As well as power belonging to the executives and C.E.Os who turn these conglomerates, leading stars and independent producers have more power and freedom than ever before. Talent agencies such as William Morris, and Creative Arts thus share the power of the studios.

The third revolution goes by the name of conglomeration. This is according to Schatz, and he is aggregating the industries of movies, video, broadcast television, foreign video, foreign television, theme parks, soundtrack albums, books and more. This is said to be a new form of vertical integration and horizontal integration the aim of which is was once again is to take the risk out of the movie software. This was initially feared because it looked like it would bring back the reign of the studios. However, it entailed a subsumption of studios into parent companies, global media giants whose control has lead them to be compared to nation states. Hence, the movie studios, along with the conglomerates indie film divisions, television, and cable network have become players in a game they no longer control.

Phase 1 of the conglomeration was in the 1960s and there were Mergers between studios and business conglomerates previously involved in a diversity of industries unrelated to holly wood. An example is merger between Gulf and Western. This became the parent company of Paramount. The merge is driven by the desire for diversification. That is to ensure stability by creating numerous profit centers to hedge against a business down turn in one area. In this phase, there was focus on programming involving satellites, cable, network television and home video. This increased the demand for movies. The smart cinema owes its existence to the independents. The independents organized exhibition space for their work in foreign countries.

The phase 2 conglomeration involved synergy diversification. This was key to the health of the industry until the end of the 20th century. Horizontal integration was involved and as an example Rupert Murdoch acquired 20th century fox . There was also downsizing and contiguous businesses in this era. A good example of this is Sony.

In future, it is expected that Hollywood studios will begin to look beyond the US borders for their next acquisition target. Additionally, sentiments suggest that the next wave of mergers may come from Silicon Valley Titans such as Google, Amazon, Apple, as well as Samsung and Chinese investors.