IATSE-2nd2018_web

THE MOTION PICTURE
INDUSTRY TRANSFORMS
When the boom years of the post-war era came, the studios were ready. In fact one of motion picture industry’s most profitable
year ever came in 1946. The studio system meant that, in addition to the “talent” (writers, actors, directors), the
technicians were also part of a studio’s repertory company.
IATSE carpenters, electricians, sound technicians, editors,
hair stylists, wardrobe personnel, and make-up artists were
crucial components of the studio machinery.
These technicians helped the studios turn out thousands of
pictures during these years, everything from mundane gangster
movies to cinematic masterpieces. These films depended on
lighting, set design, sound and other technical effects as much
as they depended on script, acting and directing. Orson Welles
may have had the ideas, but it took an IATSE technician to make
them happen.
As the industry evolved, IATSE evolved with it. Alliance
members worked for the major studios, such as MGM,
Paramount, Warner Brothers and Columbia as well as for the
growing number of successful independents, such as Disney
and Samuel Goldwyn. They also worked for some smaller
independents, such as Monogram, who were organized under
the Independent Motion Picture Producers Association.
Eventually, IATSE members in Hollywood would find
themselves having to negotiate with yet another association —
the Alliance of Television Producers, who made motion pictures
for the small screen. The IATSE’s success in negotiating with so
many rival producers lay in the fact that members were involved
in the motion picture process every step of the way, from concept
to reality — from the sound stage to the editing room to the film
lab and exchange to the projection booth.
Even IATSE members in the film laboratories contributed
significantly to the overall product, tackling the many
complicated procedures required to develop the film and
make flawless release prints. These skilled professionals worked
under the jurisdiction of Laboratory Technician Locals from
Hollywood to Chicago, from Detroit to New York.
THE GOVERNMENT AND
THE COURTS STEP IN
Before World War II had ended, U.S. Courts ruled that
the motion picture industry’s methods of distributing movies
represented an illegal restraint of trade. The courts opposed
block booking, claiming it was unfair to individual exhibitors
because it required them to book many pictures they didn’t want
just to get the few they did.
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