Movies Started in New Jersey. So How Did Hollywood Win?

America's movie business began on the East Coast: Thomas Edison built the world's first film studio, the Black Maria, in West Orange, New Jersey, in 1893. Here's why filmmakers moved west, from Edison's patent trust to year-round sunshine, and how Hollywood got its first studio in 1911.

Sources:
- National Parks Conservation Association: The World's First Movie Studio (2016)
- Wikipedia: Edison's Black Maria; Motion Picture Patents Company; Nestor Studios
- Britannica: Motion Picture Patents Company
- NPR Planet Money (The Indicator): Hollywood's origin story is in ... New Jersey?
- Los Angeles Daily Mirror (Mary Mallory, 2021): Hollywood's first permanent film studio
- Copyhype: Was Hollywood built on piracy? (2012)

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