The Studio System

738 Words2 Pages

Movies today are extremely expensive to make and distribute across the globe. Both studio companies and independent film companies rely heavily on investors to support their movie. Funding also can come from the film studio system themselves as well as producers. Almost every film however, is backed by a combination of all three types funding. This is where the difference in the studio system and independent film companies come into play. The studio system relies on a general manager, who consults with the director and a production team to determine the film’s budget. The budget is broken out into two levels, direct and indirect costs. The direct costs is usually about 80% of the budget. This includes art direction, cinematography and insurance. …show more content…

The producer or a member of their production team prepares a budget with the assistant director. The budget is broken down into two categories, 30% below-the-line costs and 70% above-the-line costs. The below-the-line costs include the cost of production and postproduction stages and the crew. The above-the-line costs include preproduction stage, producer, director, cast, screenwriter and literary property (where script was developed). (Barsam, Monahan 479) The studio system, because of its size and popularity have the largest financial backing and are able to have more funding for securing better cinematography and casts. Studio system producers predominately will have enough start-up financing to ensure that preproduction can proceed with key people involved. Some films and a lot of independent films will not have the necessary funding upfront and will rely on presenting investors with information on targeted audiences and projected profits before they have secured funding. (Barsam, Monahan …show more content…

During that time period we were selected to see a private viewing of a documentary that was due to be released that summer. The documentary film was called Somewhere Between. The theatre was filled with many people that we knew who were either foster parents already, in the process of being a foster parent or have adopted children both domestic or internationally. The true story follows the lives of 4 teenage girls that have been adopted through China and their story to find their birth families. Us as a targeted audiences were able to provide feedback after we viewed the film. This was done through an online

More about The Studio System

Open Document