Film production companies

Film production companies produce films (i.e., motion pictures); and may also produce television programs. The motion picture studio which Thomas Edison established in 1893 to produce material using his recently invented motion picture camera can be considered the first production company. Producers gravitated to southern California in part for access to long hours of natural light and in part to avoid entanglements with Edison's interests. The first movie studios tended to control all aspects of film production from the making of the movie itself to exhibition. Today, the major studios often simply provide financing and distribution for smaller independent producers. Many of the major Hollywood studios are,in turn, controlled by huge diversified media companies such as News Corporation or Time Warner.