Local business and real estate interests offered generous incentives. Land was cheap and plentiful and labor was mostly non-union. Southern California, however, was far from the East Coast and judges in California were less favorable to monopolistic practices. Films were silent at the time, so, sound was not an issue. Several film shoots are taking place simultaneously. Busy Edison Motion Picture Studios in Bronx, New York. The courts, particularly in the Eastern United States, only seemed too happy to enforce their monopoly.Ĭirca 1907. Since virtually all motion picture equipment was patented by MPPC, this essentially made them absolute masters of film production and exhibition. They sought to ruin violators, hanging them out, so-to-speak, as examples. ![]() The MPPC was never satisfied with simply rooting out infringement, however. Anyone caught violating the clause was dragged into court. MPPC inserted clauses in sales contracts that anything created or exhibited with their patented equipment was subject to MPPC control and licensing. He joined forces with other motion picture patent-holders to form the Motion Picture Patents Company (MPPC), essentially a monopoly of patent-holders. He used his patents to impose control over users, whenever possible, and extracted lucrative license fees. Yet, he was also known to be a ruthless businessman. Edison is revered for introducing amazing inventions that changed everyday life. This where the nation’s first film production studio was located, established by Thomas Edison, inventor of the movie camera (kinetographic camera) and movie viewer (kinetoscope). Just getting to Los Angeles wasn’t easy, involving an arduous four-day trip by train or a much longer journey by sea.Īt the time, movie-making was centered on the East Coast, specifically in the New Jersey/New York area. From Library of Congress.Īt the beginning of the 20th century, the East Coast of the country considered Los Angeles to be a nice place and pleasant one to visit, but too far away and too inconsequential to really matter. Eastman Kodak with Thomas Edison (behind motion picture camera) in Rochester, New York, demonstrating new Kodacolor film. How Thomas Edison (Sort-of) Created Hollywoodġ928.
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