United Artists Films
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| In-name-only subsidiary | |
| Industry | |
| Founded | February 5, 1919 |
| Founders | |
| 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. Founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks, the studio was premised on allowing actors to control their own interests, rather than being dependent upon commercial studios. UA was repeatedly bought, sold and restructured over the ensuing century. The current United Artists company is a successor to the original in name only: the studio was acquired by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1981.
On September 22, 2014, MGM acquired a 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 wholly acquired UAMG and folded it into MGM Television.
Pickford, Chaplin, Fairbanks, and Griffith incorporated UA as a joint venture on February 5, 1919. Each held a 20 percent stake, with the remaining 20 percent 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, apparently said "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. Hiram Abrams was its first managing director, and the company established its headquarters at 729 Seventh Avenue in New York City.
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Wikipedia