The Return of the Hollywood Studio System - Thomas Schatz

In Schatz’s article, the classic and new Hollywood systems are compared and contrasted, emphasizing the changes that the film industry underwent in order to rise from its decline. He also discusses the collaboration of Hollywood films, and the television industry and how it aided in Hollywood’s rise. Studios began selling or leasing their old films to TV stations, which was very helpful, considering the baby boom of post-WWII and how many families wished to stay home, instead of attend movie theatres. Many new generation film-makers like George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Francis Ford Coppola, arose and began to create movies which appealed to the moviegoers of that time, that is, the new hip, cine-literate, generation. One of the ways in which this was done, was by using a wide array of genres, which the new audience was attracted to, like disaster, action-adventure, or chase films, such as Jurassic Park, Star Wars and Jaws. A consumerist approach to the film industry began to unfold and a great emphasis was put on “tight diversification”, which essentially means that a media company today, needs to expand and vary its range of products with respect to the media. This can be done through the collected efforts of many different media companies. For example, Jurassic Parc became a “multipurpose entertainment machine with its movie sequels, sound track albums, video games, theme park rides and an endless array of licensed tie-ins and brand-name consumer products.” The companies Disney, and Warner, were also discussed, emphasizing the fact that they have “become the two leading global media powers”. The article goes on to compare the two companies in terms of their revenues and wide array of media forms they present. One of the underlying messages throughout this article, is that the line “between shopping and entertainment should be blurred” and that “to survive, a company must mobilize a vast array of global brands to command both content and distribution.” The Katzenberg memo was also discussed, where Jeffrey Katzenberg, a Disney executive, believed that successful films are “primarily based on two elements – a good story, well executed” and said that the “idea was king”. He urged Disney to stick to smaller-scale projects and believed that modest films should return. This ideology didn’t agree with Roth’s notion that using marketing strategies as weapons is sometimes equal to the movie idea. This new ‘blockbuster’ mentality -making successful films that have a widespread popularity and high sales- coupled with the consumer culture has changed the way successful productions are created.