Film Industry

The film industry consists of the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking: i.e. film production companies, film studios, cinematography, film production, screenwriting, pre-production, postproduction, film festivals, distribution, actors, film directors and other film personnel. Though the expense involved in making movies almost immediately led film production to concentrate under the auspices of standing production companies, advances in affordable film making equipment, and the expansion of opportunities to acquire investment capital from outside the film industry itself, allow independent film production to thrive. Al Christie for David Horsley founded the first movie studio in the Hollywood area, Nestor Studios, in 1911 in an old building on the northwest corner of Sunset Boulevard and Gower Street. In the same year, another fifteen independents settled in Hollywood. Hollywood became strongly associated with the film industry so much so that the word "Hollywood" referred to the entire industry. In 1913, Cecil B. DeMille, in association with Jesse Lasky, leased a barn with studio facilities on the southeast corner of Selma and Vine Streets from the Burns and Revier Studio and Laboratory, which they established there. DeMille then began production of The Squaw Man (1914). The building became the Lasky-DeMille Barn and is now the location of the Hollywood Heritage Museum. In 1917, the Charlie Chaplin Studios, located on the northeast corner of La Brea and De Longpre Avenues just south of Sunset Boulevard, became popular. It has had many owners since 1953, including Kling Studios, which housed production for the Superman TV series with George Reeves; Red Skelton, who used the sound stages for his CBS TV variety show; and CBS, who filmed the TV series Perry Mason with Raymond Burr there. A&M Records belonging to Herb Alpert and Tijuana Brass Enterprises have also owned it. It is currently The Jim Henson Company, home of the Muppets. In 1969, The Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Board named the studio a historical cultural monument. The United States has the oldest film industry, and Los Angeles, California, is the primary nexus of the U.S. film industry.