The film industry as a whole may be divided into three interdependent segments: production, distribution, and exhibition. Production is what most people think of when they think of Hollywood— the actual creation of motion pictures. Distribution is the network that gets the completed film from the studio to the theaters that are waiting to show it. Exhibition is the operation of the movie theaters—selling tickets, selling concessions, and screening films. However, the film business encompasses much more than that. Forced to sell their exhibition chains in the 1950s, the major studios have diversified their interests. Furthermore, the studios themselves have become units of much larger global conglomerates.

Therefore, in the 1990s, the World Wide Web recruitment site for Universal Studios could state with perfect accuracy:

Picture any large, worldwide corporation. They need all kinds of people for all kinds of jobs...