How did Hollywood become the center of American film?

Early American film was centered on New York, but from about 1908 a growing number of producers relocated to Southern California. They were drawn by a climate suited to year-round outdoor filming, varied scenery, and inexpensive land and labor. Once many studios clustered in and around Hollywood, the concentration of talent and services reinforced itself, and World War I removed much European competition. By the late 1910s Los Angeles, and Hollywood in particular, was the center of American film production. [1] [2]

According to [digitalhistory.uh.edu](https://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/topic_display.cfm?tcid=124), early films were mostly made in New York or New Jersey, with a few shot in places such as Chicago and Florida. A chapter summarized at [doi.org](https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780195065695.003.0007) describes the move as a swift series of steps lasting scarcely a decade. American Biograph set up a studio in 1906, and Colonel William Selig brought a crew in 1907 to finish The Count of Monte Cristo. Adam Kessel and Charles Baumann arrived in 1909, followed by D.W. Griffith, and in 1911 the Centaur Company opened a branch. Selig, Pathe and Bison were in Edendale, and Kalem was in Glendale. [1] [3]

[openstax.org](https://openstax.org/books/us-history/pages/24-1-prosperity-and-the-production-of-popular-entertainment) says Griffith filmed In Old California in 1910, the first movie shot in Hollywood, which was then little more than a village. [4]

Several sources stress geography. [kids.britannica.com](https://kids.britannica.com/scholars/article/Hollywood/40811) cites a mild climate, much sunshine, varied terrain and a large labor market. A study at [tandfonline.com](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08873638309478586) argues Hollywood had a superior geographic situation, with ideal climate, scenery, talent and ancillary businesses, and that it quickly gained large economies of scale. Allen Scott's analysis at [doi.org](https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199207183.003.0002) adds that the region suited winter production, and that an unfavorable institutional set-up, particularly for independent producers, encouraged the buildup of production facilities. That produced experiments, entries and exits, and a critical mass of activity. [5] [2] [6]

Scott also credits a new business model: Thomas Ince, who arrived in 1911, set up a studio and reorganized the production process. [6]

A popular account holds that filmmakers fled to California to escape Thomas Edison's patent-holding film trust. The openstax.org textbook says filmmakers such as Griffith sought to escape the cost of Edison's patents. Digital History, however, calls the escape-the-trust story popular mythology, noting that the first studio to move to Hollywood, Selig, was itself a trust member. The sources therefore differ on how much patents mattered. [4] [1]

World War I restricted most non-American filmmakers, so Los Angeles dominated the industry worldwide. By the early 1920s Hollywood produced virtually all films shown in the United States and received 80 percent of the revenue from films shown abroad, according to Digital History. It also recruited European talent such as Greta Garbo, Ernst Lubitsch and Josef von Sternberg. [3] [1] [2]