Some like it Indie: How the Independents Revoultionised Postwar Hollywood

What is the course about?

This in person film studies course is about the transition from the factory-like filmmaking associated with the Hollywood studio system (when the same companies owned and/or controlled the studios and the biggest cinemas and distribution chains) to the advent of small independent production companies, with neither their own studios to shoot their films in, nor stars and staff on contract to make them with. Instead, these new indies assembled ‘packages’ of talent on a film-by-film basis. This is how companies like Mirisch operated. Mirisch helped make the names of a new generation of onscreen talent including Steve McQueen and Shirley MacLaine, as well as banking on the reputations offscreen of established auteurs like Billy Wilder. They were also pioneers in dealing with controversial new themes, producing films about race (In the Heat of the Night), gender (Some Like it Hot), sexuality (The Children's Hour), and antisemitism (Fiddler on the Roof). The Mirisch Company built the bridge between the end of the studio system in the mid-‘50s and the emergence of a new cinema in the mid-1970s, dominated by the Movie Brats.

What will we cover?

The course will examine how these new independent production companies helped make the names of a new generation of stars, and attract a new generation of moviegoers, while introducing new cinematic subject matter by breaking with traditional Hollywood censorship and employing blacklisted talent. The independents, lacking their own cinemas, which the major studios had benefitted from, were obliged to maximise box office attractions - packaging talent, targeting particular demographics, exploiting spectacle and/or sensation, innovating in storytelling, subject matter and style, differentiating from TV and introducing new technologies, while adapting existing hits from the stage and the page. The course will examine how the Mirisch Company, in particular, devised new ways of working with film franchises (The Magnificent Seven, The Pink Panther and In the Heat of the Night spun off 7 Mirisch sequels and multiple TV series between them) and cinematic cycles, invested in IP with adaptations of bestsellers and Broadway hits, and exploited so-called ‘runaway production’ filming far from Hollywood and often abroad where crew costs and location fees were lower. The course will assess how industrial shifts beginning in the 1950s paved the way for the emergence of a new cinema in the mid-1970s.

What will I achieve?
By the end of this course you should be able to...

• Describe the history and development of Hollywood cinema in the 1950s and ‘60s
• Describe and assess classical and post classical Hollywood modes of production and film style
• Describe and assess the development of postwar independents, including the Mirisch Company
• Assess the impact of the package unit system of production on American cinema in terms of talent
• Assess alternative theories to director authorship for understanding the development of Hollywood.

What level is the course and do I need any particular skills?

The course is suitable for all levels and you do not require any particular skills - just an enthusiasm for Hollywood and discussing movies. The course provides an introduction to the period in Hollywood history and to independent production companies, but is also useful for those wishing to build on existing knowledge of the subject.

How will I be taught, and will there be any work outside the class?

Classes will involve short lectures with power point and the screening of film extracts, followed by group discussion. There will be some reading and viewing expected outside of the classroom.

Are there any other costs? Is there anything I need to bring?

Film extracts will be screened during classes and links will wherever possible be provided to freely available online versions of complete films referred to or discussed in class.

When I've finished, what course can I do next?

Please look also for other Film Studies courses under History Culture and Writing/Film Studies at www.citylit.ac.uk.