D. W. Griffith

McCutcheon, Jr., however, was not able to bring the studio success. As a result, the Biograph head Henry Marvin decided to give Griffith the position; and the young man made his first movie for the company, The Adventures of Dollie.

Biograph's In Old California (1910) was the first film shot in Hollywood, California. Influenced by the Italian feature film Cabiria (1914), Griffith was convinced that feature films were commercially viable. He produced and directed the Biograph film Judith of Bethulia (1914), one of the earliest feature films to be produced in the United States. At the time, Biograph believed that longer features were not viable. According to actress Lillian Gish, "Biograph thought that a movie that long would hurt audience's eyes".

Because of company resistance to his goals, and his cost overruns on the film (it cost US$30,000 dollars to produce), Griffith left Biograph. He took his stock company of actors with him and joined the Mutual Film Corporation. He formed a studio with the Majestic Studio manager Harry Aitken; it became known as Reliance-Majestic Studios (and was later renamed Fine Arts Studio). His new production company became an autonomous production unit partner in Triangle Film Corporation along with Thomas Ince and Keystone Studios' Mack Sennett; the Triangle Film Corporation was headed by Griffith's partner Harry Aitken, who was released from the Mutual Film Corporation, and his brother Roy. Read Less