Abigail Fitzpatrick conducts research on the gendered experiences of women in the studio system during the early years of the film industry in Hollywood. Since the turn of the 20th century, Hollywood movies have been one of the United States’ greatest cultural exports.

The important American story of filmmaking in Hollywood cannot be told without women, who worked and gained prominence as actors, stunt performers, writers, agents, and even directors. They endured sexual harassment, rape, exploitation, discrimination, and violence in the rapidly growing industry that depended upon the arousal of its audiences in a period still ruled by patriarchal assumptions.   

Fitzpatrick shows that the onset of the studio era during the 1920s and 1930s, dominated by the five major firms (Warner Bros., Paramount, MGM, Fox and RKO Pictures), ended an era of independent filmmaking that had offered many opportunities for women. Based on preliminary research, opportunities for women began to shrink as an oligopoly of the major studios began to control the industry. Even as women made gains in other industries during the 1930s and 1940s, women experienced challenges during the peak decades of the studio era.