a random thought about unintended consequences...

Jan 25, 2009 at 8:57 PM
2 comments

I was watching an advance copy of the documentary about the Screen Actor's Guild I'd worked on a few years ago this afternoon. It was really fun to see all the people I'd read about and researched and so on come alive in recreations of old meetings and in interviews and so on.

However, while watching it, something occurred to me that I hadn't really thought of when I was doing my research. In 1948, the Supreme Court issued what was known as the "Paramount Decision." Basically, what this meant was that studios could no longer own movie theaters AND produce movies.

The arrangement had its benefits. Studios had guaranteed distribution for anything they made, and it allowed for the rise of the "studio system" which had actors under contract for multiple years. Studios made lots of movies and actors had guaranteed employment. They were also subject to rules that essentially regulated their personal and public lives, and there was no way a non-studio film could get a film shown without paying exorbitant fees.

Thus, the Paramount Decision, which forced the studios to divest their movie theaters. Ever wonder why all those old theaters are called "Fox" or "Paramount" or "Warners?" Well now you know.

Anyway, here's something I realized - once these theaters were cast off from the studios, they were left to their own devices to stay in business. Most got bought up by theater chains, but some were not. And without a guaranteed lifeline of their own 'product' to simply show on the screen, many theaters were no longer viable as businesses. Boarded up theaters ended up becoming urban eyesores, or the site of redevelopment. In San Francisco, the Cylon-esque "Fox Plaza" is built on the remains of the Fox Theater. In Burlingame, the Fox Theater was demolished for "Fox Mall," one of the lamest looking 70s style buildings ever, and a gouge on Burlingame Avenue. And so on.

Thus, you had a situation where because of a decision made based on media distribution, you had fallout that affected cities across the country. Talk about unintended consequences.

Interestingly enough, nowadays you have TV producers like NBC/Universal own cable television channels for distribution of their own product. In fact, this is commonplace. This would seem to violate the spirit of the 1948 decision, but thanks to Congress and Bill Clinton, lobbyists amended the law so that today's media barons could do as they pleased. Thanks, Bill!

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[this is good]

We still had the same thought and system here in my country while you are lucky to have escaped the old studio monopoly. It's nice to say your thoughts of your past attributes while we read and learn from it. - tnomeralc design -