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In both copyright and in film, the status of and perspective upon performers and auteurs is a carefully managed and somewhat hierarchical relationship. Attention to the rights of performers did not start to emerge until the advent of film technology enabled the fixation and reproduction of performances in the late nineteenth century. At the same time, the artistic recognition of film and the nature of its authorship remained in question. During the interwar years, a number of particular developments were instrumental in crafting the ultimate conceptualisation of film as a copyright work, including: the influence of film criticism and theory in clarifying the authorship and artistry of film; the advent of sound technologies; and the emerging studio system and management of stardom. This period was also a critical time for relevant legal and policy developments. The United Kingdom began to address the protection of performers with a specific legislative response in the form of the Dramatic and Musical Performers Protection Act 1925. Similarly, in the United States, performers had uncertain, if any, protection, but with the advent of sound technology their interests raised real ethical, cultural and commercial questions leading to industry responses rather than legal rules. Internationally, the Rome Conference of the Berne Convention in 1928 recognised for the first time authors’ rights in a performance, but resisted calls for the rights of the performing artists themselves. In the absence of international consensus on the question of performers’ rights, which would not be achieved until the Rome Convention in 1961, the structure, culture, and legal context of national industries were critical at this time, and performers’ rights thus remained a local issue. This chapter addresses the developments in the film industry in the interwar period and its role in reform of the wider legal landscape for copyright and performers’ rights both then and today; in particular, the influence of film criticism and theory in determining the shape and the authorship of film, the role of technology, particularly sound, in the origins of performers’ rights, and the thorny issue of authorship with respect to an expanding field of the copyright work today.