Montreuil, Seine-Saint-Denis
In 1908, the Motion Picture Patents Company changed the standardized prices used in the American film market, with films priced systematically by length. Though previous price standardizations had been useful to Méliès, the 1908 changes worked against him and contributed to his financial difficulties; under the new standards, his carefully planned and executed films were too expensive and time-consuming to make a profit. In an attempt to keep up with the new demands, Méliès doubled his output in 1908, turning out simpler films as quickly as possible from his two glass studios in Montreuil, Seine-Saint-Denis.