Beyond the industrial structures and the typical glossy Hollywood cinema described elsewhere in this volume, there is another entire category of American fictional feature films created and shown under different conditions. These are the B movies, also called "quickies," "cheapies," "low-budget," or simply "budget films," even "C" or "Z" films. Such terms imply pictures that were regarded as secondary even in their own time, and the "B" label has often been used to imply minor pictures or simply poor filmmaking, anything tacky or produced on a low budget.1 However, B films occupied an equally important role in Hollywood; to concentrate upon the A would emphasize the art of a few films and elide the basis of production, the underlying commercial and artistic means by which the industry survived-as well as the vast quantity and range of films offered to spectators during the studio era.
The content, production, exhibition, and profit from A films were not typical of the material that made motion pictures a continuously viable business enterprise. With each studio releasing, on average, one feature every week of the year, big-budget films were the exception, a distinct minority of the motion pictures produced.
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