When did studios stop contracting actors?

From the end of the 1940s into the 1960s, the studios therefore gradually phased out the long-term contracting of stars. All performers, including stars, became part of a large freelance labor pool for the industry to draw on. Stars were no longer bound to the studios in the way they had been in the 1930s and 1940s.

Why was Mel Gibson blacklisted Hollywood?

For decades, he has produced the top quality as an actor, producer, and director. However, not even the greatest in the craft was exempt from being blacklisted by the Hollywood elite. Following a 2006 arrest for drunk driving, Gibson reportedly made an anti-Semitic rant accusing the Jews of instigating the world wars.

How long is an actor’s contract?

But it was common during the Golden Age for film studios to discover talent and sign them to four- to seven-year contracts. They couldn’t work with other studios while on contract. Depending on the projects an actor’s studio backed and the opportunities they pegged for that star, this stipulation could make or break a career.

Why are film companies abandoning the stars they own?

Under current practice, film companies have abandoned the most valuable property that they finance and create – the stars themselves – and this is puzzling given how hard film companies work to create and own franchise opportunities and all the ancillary rights that go with them.

Were actors loaned out their talent to other studios?

But talent could be loaned to other studios. Elizabeth Taylor was known for instigating loans from her studio, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), so that she could work on more complex films, including Giant, A Place in the Sun, and Suddenly, Last Summer. Actors couldn’t refuse parts. Period.

Did actors have a choice of which films they worked on?

Once they were under contract, actors had no choice when it came to which films they worked on or who they worked with. Executives made those decisions for them. Louis B. Mayer, co-founder of MGM Studios, is believed to have used this authority to sabotage the career of legendary silent film star John Gilbert, who he’d never gotten along with.