Flexible Organizations, Innovation and Gender Equality: Writing for the US Film Industry, 1907-27

Laurel Smith-Doerr

Industry and Innovation, 2010, vol. 17, issue 1, 5-22

Abstract: Why did women writers do so well in the early American film industry? Content analysis of articles published in Moving Picture World and the New York Times, 1907-27, shows early film studios were flexible in job assignments and collaborated with other studios. This non-bureaucratic configuration was more conducive to female screenwriters than the hierarchical studio system that emerged later in the 1920s. Women writers had more visibility and authority in this network form of organization than in the large bureaucratic studio system. Investigating a case prior to World War II suggests how organizational arrangements affect women's place in the labor market when odds are against equality.

Keywords: US film industry; gender equality; screenwriting; creative industries; network organizations (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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DOI: 10.1080/13662710903573810

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