Paramount location map indicating which parts of California and Nevada could stand in for international destinations.

Disclaimer Because Internet:

I did not make this map.

I posted it because it is interesting.

If you disagree with the locations, take it up with 1927 Paramount.

Mommy has a headache.

I've been on Twitter too long, guys.

The map also illustrates why the movies went west. Location, location, location.

The notion that they were escaping patent enforcement is extremely oversimplified. Especially since patent-holding companies were among the first in California!

Also, the big wave of California moves happened in the mid-1910s, when the motion picture patent companies were on their last legs.

So, to recap, the earliest wave was made up of patent holders. The biggest wave occurred after their power was broken.

Conclusion: The move to California was based on numerous factors, there is no one simple explanation.

Factors include: Scenery, available land, sunlight, movies no longer relying on poached stage talent, WWI (no more overseas shoots for a while).

When I talk about patent companies, I am talking about Edison and the studios he licensed his patents to.

Edison firmly believed that movies would make money... Through equipment sales. He jealously guarded his patents and was quite a bully.

Of course, most film companies had figured out that the money was in movies, not cameras and projectors but Edison never got it.

Once you learn this fact, all his behavior (resistance to features, push for talkies) makes sense

Will longer movies sell more projectors? They will not.

Checkmate.

Imagine, thinking there's money in features.