Reflection on the Reading
So in the beginning of the film industry, the actors were like employees. They were told what to do and when to do it. They didn’t get to choose what films they stared in. If the actor wasn’t doing as well at the box office as hoped, they were canned. That happened until they started refusing roles, yet that resulted in suspensions. All of this forced actors to go freelance, floating around, instead of being owned by one company. For more control, actors would team up with the business savvy and form their own production companies. Kirk Douglas did this in 1955 when he launched his own production company Bryna. Under this company and the directing abilities of Stanley Kubrick, Douglas stared in two films that were quite important to his career, Paths of Glory (1957) and Sparticus (1960). He seemed to do pretty well for himself taking a chance and going out on his own. Bryna only had 16 films under its belt during its 31 year rein, from 1955 to 1986; Douglas stared in all but 5 of these films.