Tom Schatz je popredný autor, ktorý sa hlboko ponára do histórie a historiografie americkej kinematografie. Jeho práce sa zameriavajú na kľúčové aspekty hollywoodskeho filmového priemyslu, najmä na štúdiový systém, žánre a vplyvy, ktoré formovali americkú kinematografiu od jej počiatkov až po súčasnosť. Schatz analyzuje, ako sa filmové naratívy a výrobné postupy vyvíjali v rámci priemyselných štruktúr a ako tieto štruktúry ovplyvňovali umelecké výsledky. Jeho publikácie ponúkajú prenikavé pohľady na tvorivé procesy a obchodné stratégie, ktoré definovali zlatý vek Hollywoodu aj jeho neskorší vývoj. Schatzovo písanie je cenené pre svoju akademickú presnosť a schopnosť sprístupniť zložité filmárske dejiny širšiemu publiku.
In this survey of Hollywood's film studios during their most glorious period, Schatz, in contrast with the directorial theories of Andrew Sarris and other film historians, describes the creative give-and-take, the symbiotic accord between creators and front offices.
Traces the movie industry through the momentous decade of the 1940s. This title discusses changes in the structure of the studio system - including the shift to independent production - and the dominant stars, genres, and production trends through the period.
The central thesis of this book is that a genre approach provides the most effective means for understanding, analyzing and appreciating the Hollywood cinema. Taking into account not only the formal and aesthetic aspects of feature filmmaking, but various other cultural aspects as well, the genre approach treats movie production as a dynamic process of exchange between the film industry and its audience. This process, embodied by the Hollywood studio system, has been sustained primarily through genres, those popular narrative formulas like the Western, musical and gangster film, which have dominated the screen arts throughout this century.