28-1635 Business of the Film Industry

This course studies how the movie business works in today’s ever-changing marketplace, concentrating equally on mainstream Hollywood films as well as smaller independent films made outside the studio system. The two businesses co-exist, compete, and sometimes cross over in their attempts for money, starts, distribution deals, movie screens, and audience approval. Course will examine recent mega-mergers in the media world, the type of movies being released, the factors that constitute whether a film is considered a success or failure, and what it takes to compete as a professional working in the very competitive movie industry. Topics will include past events that have shaped today’s film business climate, the various methods of film financing, the cost of film distribution, the state of independent film, the operation of movie theaters, and the mysteries of Hollywood accounting. Throughout the course, students will get an inside glimpse into the economic, political, and power structures behind the scenes which help determine that movies get made, distributed, and seen by the public.

3 Credits