In modern
filmmaking, employment is now project-based, transitory, and "based on a film not a firm." Almost all participants in the industry are
freelancers, who move easily from one project to the next and do not have much loyalty to any particular studio, as long as they get paid. This differs from the old
studio system, a form of
mass production in which a studio owned all the means of production (that is, reusable physical assets like sound stages, costumes, sets, and props) In the early days of
talkies, Hollywood studios made
multiple-language versions of some films, effectively a parallel rather than a back-to-back production process in which sets and sometimes crew and supporting cast were shared by each version.
Universal Pictures' 1931
English-language Dracula and
Spanish-language Dracula are surviving examples. Under the old studio system, "a producer had a commitment to make six to eight films per year with a fairly identifiable staff." But now, when they want a particular person for a film, that person may be unavailable because they are already committed to another film for another production company for that particular time slot. In turn, for every single film, studios (and ultimately their investors, shareholders, or backers) end up bearing massive
transaction costs because they not only have to get the right person at the right price, but at the right time, and if they cannot get that person, they have to scramble to locate a satisfactory substitute. All successful directors and producers have certain favorite cast and crew members whom they prefer to work with, but that is of no help to the studio if that perfect character actor, costume designer, or music composer is already fully booked. Compared to the previous system, directors and stars spend a much "larger part of their time negotiating each new film deal." The pioneer of modern back-to-back filmmaking was producer
Alexander Salkind, who decided during the filming of
The Three Musketeers (1973) to split the project in two; the second film was released as
The Four Musketeers (1974). The cast was quite unhappy to be informed after the fact they had been working on two films, not one. As a result, the
Screen Actors Guild introduced the "Salkind clause," which specifies that actors will be paid for each film they make. Salkind and his son
Ilya went on to produce
Superman and
Superman II back to back. ==See also==