Juan Monroy — Wasserman and Blockbuster Hollywood

American Film Industry, 1960s–1980s
- Post-Studio Era
- Diversification
- Conglomeration
- Blockbuster releases
Moguls and Pioneers
Adolf Zukor
- Feature films
- Movie star system
- Affluent audiences
- Run zone clearance
- Block booking
- Blind bidding
Lew Wasserman
- Talent agent
- New payment model for actors
- Television production
- Diversification
- Media Conglomerate
Wasserman
- Born in Ohio, 1913
- Began as an agent for MCA, 1936
- Represented musicians working in clubs in Chicago
- Became president of MCA, 1948
- Began representing Hollywood screen actors
  - Bette Davis
  - Henry Fonda
  - Ronald Reagan
    - Helped him become president of the Screen Actors Guild, 1947
James Stewart
- MCA client
- Capital gains vs. Wages
- First actor to receive points
  - Winchester ’73
- Revived career with…
Alfred Hitchcock
- MCA client
- hosted television series Alfred Hitchcock Presents, 1955–1958
- signed contract with Universal Pictures
  - Rear Window (1958)
  - Psycho (1960)
Revue Productions
- Began as a radio production company
- Received waiver from Screen Actors Guild to produce for TV
- Formed MCA Television in 1948
  - became top supplier for network television
  - Acquired pre–1948 sound film catalog from Paramount
- Famous programs
  - Leave it to Beaver
  - Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Universal Pictures
- Sold Universal City Studio lot to Revue in 1958
- Merged with Decca Records, 1962
- 89% of Universal Pictures
- MCA dissolved talent agency to comply with anti-trust laws
Diversification
- Paramount
  - Gulf and Western, 1966
  - Later owned by Viacom
- Warner Brothers
  - Seven Arts, 1967
  - Kinney National, 1969
  - Warner Communications, 1971
- MGM
  - Edgar Bronfman, 1967
  - Kirk Kerkorian, 1969
  - MGM-UA, 1980s
Modern Media Conglomerate
- Universal City Studios
- Universal Television, formerly Revue
- Universal Studio Tour, 1964
- MCA Records, 1972
- G P Putnam, 1975
What happened to MCA-Universal
- Purchased 50% of USA Television
- Sold to Matsushita, 1990
- Sold to Seagrams, 1997
- Merged with Vivendi to form Vivendi Universal, 1999
- Acquired by GE, NBC Universal, 2005
- Acquired by Comcast, 2009
Blockbuster
- term originally from nuclear warfare
- Bombing metaphor apt for release and marketing of such films
- Premised on abundance of the film’s availability rather that scarcity
Jaws
- Creative Artists Agency
- packagaing
- Richard Zanuck and David Brown, producers
- Peter Benchley, novelist and screenwriter
- Steven Spielberg, director
Marketing Jaws
- Variety reported on a “blockbuster buy for three days of TV spots.”
- Opened June 20, 1975
- Summer release was unusual for a major studio motion picture
- Wide release: opened on 500 screens
- Contrast with roadshow release
Financial success
- Cost $8 million to produce
- $36 million after three weekends
- Grossed $200 million over US theatrical release
The next big change
- Videocassette recorder
- BetaMax
- Feared by the movie industry
- Universal Pictures sued Sony to block recording of television programming