Thomas H. Ince

Usually considered the father of the moviemaking studio system, Thomas H. Ince was a true innovator, defining the creative and industrial role of producer, institutionalizing the continuity script, and as early as 1912, constructing the blueprint for departmentalized, factory-like studio filmmaking that would become the town's model. Ince brought discipline and structure to the haphazard film industry, placed great emphasis on hiring technicians with their own specialties instead of tackling all facets of the project on his own; because of this he became one of the most important forces in early American cinema. Upon his arrival to Hollywood in 1912, he built and acquired what became Inceville, a fully-equipped moviemaking facility that became the first modern Hollywood studio. It was there that he helped steer Hollywood toward feature films with the five-reel epic, "The Battle of Gettysburg" (1913), which was since been lost to time. Meanwhile, he formed the Triangle Film Corporation with D.W. Griffith and Mack Sennett, and released some of his most notable films, including "The Italian" (1915), "The Coward" (1915), "Hell's Hinges" (1916) and his most famous production, "Civilization" (1916). He later formed Thomas H. Ince Studios in 1918, which became the Culver Studios later in the decade, but by this time his power began to wane, thanks to the larger studios adopting his methods and using their vaster sums of wealth to gain a more solid foothold. Making fewer movies, Ince oversaw the anti-drug exposé "Human Wreckage" (1923) and the adaptation of Eugene O'Neil's "Anna Christie" (1923). But before he could rebound, Ince died of a heart attack while aboard a yacht owned by William Randolph Hearst, though rumors swirled that the publishing mogul accidentally shot him while aiming for Charlie Chaplin, who was having an affair with Hearst's mistress, Marion Davies. Though no solid proof existed of the accusation, Ince nonetheless became forever associated with 1920s scandal-laden Hollywood despite the many innovations he made that were still being utilized in the 21st century.