AHC: Hollywood in Britain

[Aichi72]

With any PoD after 1900, have the TTL equivalent of Hollywood (that is, the center of the English language film industry) be located in the United Kingdom.

 

[marktaha]

No WW1 for a start.

 

[overoceans]

At what point did the American market for movies become bigger than the British market? Was it that way right from the invention of film?

If so, it might have been inevitable that Hollywood would be in the USA, because the main agenda would be to produce films with American stories for American audiences.

 

[George Carty]

With any PoD after 1900, have the TTL equivalent of Hollywood (that is, the center of the English language film industry) be located in the United Kingdom.

Unlikely because the climate is too unfavourable. There's a reason why Hollywood is somewhere which is warm, sunny and dry for most of the year.

 

[Gillan1220]

How was the British film industry prior to WWI?

 

[ramones1986]

Well, can Pinewood be qualified?

 

[gaitskellitebevanite]

With a post-1900 POD its a real struggle, think the most plausible likely scenario is based around a 'Confederate victory in the ACW' scenario with a politically unstable North America. The reasons for Hollywood's growth - large amounts of cheap land, weak labour laws, warm weather - just dont apply to Britain.

The best alternative to a Post-1900 Hollywood isn't Britain but in Berlin, in a world where Weimar survives, with Babelsberg as the German Hollywood.

 

[stodge]

Hooray for Cricklewood....

Stan Laurel never meets Oliver Hardy - instead, Laurel becomes a huge star in the early Cricklewood movies and ends up partnering with Charles Chaplin. The Laurel & Chaplin Movies of the 20s and 30s are legends of comedy and comic timing.

 

[Admiral Bloonbeard]

J. Arthur Rank of the Rank Organization buys RKO Radio Pictures instead of Howard Hughes, he was one of the one of the bidders of RKO until Hughes outbid him. Without the mismanagement of Hughes, RKO never shuts down and remains a major studio to this day. The Rank Organization then competes with Hollywood on the likes of Paramount, MGM, 20th Century Fox, Universal, Columbia, Warner Bros, and United Artists.

 

[Deleted member 90563]

Make the South of France British, then you might have a chance.

 

[Peg Leg Pom]

The studios would need to be in the South West for the light quality, not the Home Counties for a start. The main problem is space though, we live on a crowded island and the price of land reflects that. You're not going to get the large complexes built with large back lots like they have in California.