rights amid the movie industry’s conversion to dig-
ital production. In addition, because of the uniquely
collaborative nature of their jobs, industry workers
needed a system that guaranteed public recogni-
tion of their efforts. Contracts between the labor
unions and the studios covered the workers’ inclu-
sion in screen credits. Executive managers often
had similar contracts.
In any manufacturing enterprise, division of
labor refers to breaking down each step in that
process so that each worker or group of workers
can be assigned to and responsible for a specialized
task. Although this system was designed to
increase efficiency in producing steel, cars, and the
like, it was applied very successfully in the film
industry. Indeed, Hollywood has often been com-
pared to Detroit. Both of these major industrial
centers are engaged in the mass production of com-
modities. Detroit’s output is more standardized,
though manufacturer and model differentiate the
automobiles that roll off the assembly line.
Like automobile manufacturers, each studio
during the studio era specialized in certain kinds of
films in its own distinctive style (e.g., MGM excelled
in musicals; Warner Bros., in films of social real-
ism); but unlike the Detroit product, each film was
a unique creative accomplishment, even if it fit
predictably within a particular genre such as film
noir. For the most part, each studio had its own
creative personnel under contract, though studios
frequently borrowed talent from each other on a
picture-by- picture basis. Once a studio’s executive
management—board of directors, chairman, presi-
dent, and production moguls—determined what
kinds of films would most appeal to its known share
of the audience, the studio’s general manager (here
titles varied among studios) developed projects
and selected scripts and creative personnel consis-
tent with that choice.
In Hollywood, the activities in the three phases
of making a movie—preproduction, production,
and postproduction—are carried out by two major
forces: management and labor. Management
selects the property, develops the script, chooses
the actors, and assigns the key production people;
but the actual work of making the film is the
responsibility of labor (the artists, craftspeople,
and technicians belonging to labor unions). Mem-
bers of management receive the highest salaries;
the salaries of labor depend on the kind and level of
skills necessary for each job. Such a division of
labor across the broad, collaborative nature of cre-
ating a film shapes the unavoidable interaction
between the work rules set by union contracts and
the standards set by professional organizations.Professional Organizations and Standardization
Beyond the labor unions, other organizations are
devoted to workers in the motion-picture industry,
including the American Society of Cinematogra-
phers (founded in 1918; chartered in 1919), the Soci-
ety of Motion Picture and Television Engineers
(1916) and the American Cinema Editors (1950),
which set and maintain standards in their respec-
tive professions. These organizations engage in the
activities of a traditional professional organization:
conducting research related to equipment and pro-
duction procedures; standardizing that equipment
and those procedures; meeting, publishing, consult-
ing with manufacturers in the development of new
technologies; promulgating professional codes of
conduct; and recognizing outstanding achievement
with awards. Although they do not represent their
membership in collective bargaining, as do labor
unions, they voice opinions on matters relevant to
the workplace. Membership in these societies has
its distinctions. For example, members of the
American Cinema Editor are nominated and
elected on the basis of their professional achieve-
ments and commitment to the craft of editing.
Membership entitles them to place “ACE” after
their name in a movie’s credits.
In 1927, the industry established the Academy of
Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which seeks,
among its stated objectives, to improve the artistic
quality of films, provide a common forum for the
various branches and crafts of the industry, and
encourage cooperation in technical research. Since
ancient times, academyhas been defined as a soci-
ety of learned persons organized to advance sci-
ence, art, literature, music, or some other cultural
or intellectual area of endeavor. Although profits,504 CHAPTER 11FILMMAKING TECHNOLOGIES AND PRODUCTION SYSTEMS