Society of Independent Motion Picture Producers
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| In-name-only subsidiary | |
| Industry | |
| Founded | February 5, 1919 |
| Founder | |
| Headquarters | Beverly Hills, California, United States |
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Key people
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Mark Burnett (CEO) Brian Edwards (COO) |
| Products | Motion pictures |
| Parent |
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (MGM Holdings, Inc.) |
| Website | www |
United Artists (UA) is an American film and television entertainment studio. The studio was founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks with the intention of controlling their own interests rather than depending upon commercial studios. The studio was repeatedly bought, sold and restructured over the ensuing century. The current United Artists is an in-name-only successor to the original company, which was acquired by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1981.
On September 22, 2014, MGM acquired controlling interest in Mark Burnett and Roma Downey's entertainment companies One Three Media and Lightworkers Media, then merged them to revive United Artists' TV production unit as United Artists Media Group (UAMG). On December 14 of the following year, however, MGM acquired the 48% stake of UAMG it did not own and folded it into MGM Television.
UA was incorporated as a joint venture on February 5, 1919, by Pickford, Chaplin, Fairbanks, and Griffith. Each held a 20% stake, with the remaining 20% held by lawyer William Gibbs McAdoo. The idea for the venture originated with Fairbanks, Chaplin, Pickford and cowboy star William S. Hart a year earlier. Already Hollywood veterans, the four stars talked of forming their own company to better control their own work.
They were spurred on by established Hollywood producers and distributors who were tightening their control over actor salaries and creative decisions, a process that evolved into the studio system. With the addition of Griffith, planning began, but Hart bowed out before anything was formalized. When he heard about their scheme, Richard A. Rowland, head of Metro Pictures, is said to have observed, "The inmates are taking over the asylum." The four partners, with advice from McAdoo (son-in-law and former Treasury Secretary of then-President Woodrow Wilson), formed their distribution company, with Hiram Abrams as its first managing director. Its headquarters was established at 729 Seventh Avenue in New York City.
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Wikipedia