Thomas Schatz, The Whole Equation of Pictures

Thomas Schatz’s article, The Whole equations of Pictures, tries to figure out who was responsible for making movies during the studio system era. Often the director is considered the auteur, and given credit for the final product. This idea is reductive and does not show the whole picture. Movies require much more than just a director. During this time period, the actual people in charge of films made were the heads of the big studios. These people produced, funded, marketed and brought creative teams together to make films. Without them the films would not have been made. To some degree directors had some autonomy in their productions. However, the studio chose the core values and themes of the movies. Directors needed the symbiotic relationship with the studios to get work, and often made multiple movies at the same studio. We know today that it required and it still requires many different people to make a film. However, even today directors are seen as the main force behind a film.We can think about a film as a Spielberg or a Tarantino easily. Often scriptwriters and the creative team members are overlooked. Hollywood no longer has the studio system, but myths surrounding who is responsible for making films remain.