Which producer is credited with the studio system and creating the concept of the studio head?

• A. Thomas Ince
• B. Fred Silverman
• C. Christiaan Huygens
• D. Mary Pickford

Answer: (A)

The idea being tested is who helped establish the organized, centralized way Hollywood studios produced films and who the studio head role emerged from. Thomas Ince is known for creating the early studio system in Hollywood, building a centralized production model with fixed contracts, a stable of actors and crew, and a producer who oversees everything—the studio head. This approach turned film production into an organized, repeatable process across a studio’s slate of projects, giving the studio significant control over budgets, schedules, and resources.

Fred Silverman is a television executive from later decades and years, not someone tied to the origin of the studio system. Christiaan Huygens was a 17th-century scientist unrelated to film production. Mary Pickford was a pioneering actor and producer who helped push artists’ independence and co-founded United Artists, but she didn’t invent or institutionalize the studio system or the studio head concept.