When did the seven year contract become the standard practice with the Hollywood movie studios?
Talent in the 1930s and 1940s were forced into seven year exclusive contracts which took away net profits and forced the Talent into limited maximum salaries. Talent who objected to an assigned movie role risked being suspended without pay for rejecting a role. 44. This star system allowed movie studios to greatly profit from their movie stars by lending them out to other studios for huge profits. For example, MGM lent out Clark Gable for the making of Gone With the Wind and contributed money towards production costs in exchange for the distribution rights and a sliding scale percentage of the gross profits starting at 50%. Gable, one of the biggest stars of the era did not want to do the movie, but his contract did not give him the right to turn down parts. Gable received his standard salary per week for playing the part although MGM gave him a small bonus in an act of Sources: http://www.courttv.
