The Studio System

The Studio System of Classic Hollywood was a very unique and all-in-one process. The most interesting aspect of how they made movies back then at least to me was how everyone in the movie business was on a contract with the movie studios. 

Being on contract meant that the people who were signed on to a particular studio like MGM, meant that they could only work on the MGM movies assigned to them for a certain number of years or movies.

This was a very important piece to the puzzle that is the movie industry. This meant that the studios would have certain actors that the general public liked very much. Usually these stars came associated with specific genres of film like a musical, gangster, or crime film. So the studios would cater to whatever was working at the time, with whoever was the hottest actor or actors of the day. And because they were on a contract they had to do it. 

This was the case with Frank Capra and many others. In Frank Capra's case, from 1934-1946 he directed four films including It's a Wonderful Life, all under contract for Columbia Pictures. Without the contract to make the films he was supposed to make, there would not be many of the classic movies of the Golden Era of Hollywood.

Pic from: http://www.filmreference.com/images/sjff_02_img0600.jpg