Studio System Research During which decades was the Hollywood studio system at its most powerful? - 1920s and 1930s What were the major 'big five' studios? - MGM - Paramount - Warner Bros - RKO and Fox - The Little Three What areas and roles in film production did the studio system have direct control over? - By 1945, the studios owned either partially or outright 17% of the theatres in America, accounting for 45% of the film-rental revenue. So the studios had a guarantee that their movies would be distributed. They also controlled the process of making the movies, they usually had the actors, producers, directors and writers under contract, owned the film processing and laboratories and created the prints. The studio was also infamous for 'owning' their stars, a practice that is known as 'The Star System'. Why was the factory method of production successful? - Because the studio pursued vertical integration through ownership or effective control over produc