A study of the creation, exhibition, management and marketing of film, the context of public culture, including the similarities and differences in creating, managing, exhibiting and marketing Hollywood studio films and independent films. The course will consider the management structures, distribution of the cultural product, strategies for acquiring and spending capital and decision-making, with emphasis on the differences between film that is financed by Hollywood studios and independently financed film. The course will explore how a screenplay is conceptualized and developed, the role of agency relationships in the film business, and the financing, production, direction, distribution, exhibition and marketing of both independent and studio films. A combination of lectures by instructors and practitioners, case studies, film screenings, and consulting projects with independent and Hollywood creators, packagers, financiers, exhibitors, distributors and publicists will illustrate the relationship between the art of film and the business of film. Guests will include screenwriters, agents, producers, directors, distributors, film festival curators and film critics. We will explore the film business from initial concept through marketing and publicity for the finished film. We will focus on the relationship between the creative process and the business of film for both independent and Hollywood films.