Warner Bros. Studio Tour Hollywood is a guided walk-through tour of Warner Bros. Studios, Burbank, located in Los Angeles, California. Over a two-to-three-hour period, visitors can glimpse behind the scenes of one of the oldest film studios in the world.
The studio tour has been open for several decades, but it was renamed Warner Bros. Studio Tours to provide a more uniform identity following the success of Warner Bros. Studio Tour London - The Making of Harry Potter at Warner Bros. Studios, Leavesden. Previously, it was known as the Warner Bros. Studios VIP Tour. There are three types of Warner Bros. Studio tours: (1) first tour - they used to show the studio to friends and special guests, and their employees used to give tours to them; (2) public tour - after encountering financial difficulties in 1972, Warner Bros. began to provide a tour for the general public; (3) VIP studio tour - this tour was generally provided for celebrities.
History
First tours
In the early days of Warner Bros., Jack Warner provided tours to welcome friends and special guests to the studio. If Warner could not give the tour himself, Mail Room employees were entrusted to show guests around the lot. These tours were not offered to the public and could only be arranged through employees; however, they still proved popular. Consequently, Warner sought to limit requests as he thought studio tours could cause a "slow-up" of the company's operations.
One Mail Room employee, Dick Mason, was noted for giving informative tours and was frequently the requested guide for studio executives' guests. Mason's knowledge led him to be assigned to Jack Warner's office to assist the Vice President of Worldwide Production.
Public tours
In 1972, Warner Bros. faced financial hardships and signed a deal with Columbia Pictures, which was also struggling. They combined to create The Burbank Studios, a joint venture in which they shared studio space. In 1973, the new company opened a public-facing Tour Department. Dick Mason was assigned to manage the new operation. All tours required an advanced reservation and cost $3.
Mason's department included seven tour guides, and tours were limited to twelve people at a time. Tours were unscripted but included the back lot sets, sound stages, and prop house, depending on availability. Without a budget for advertising, news spread by word-of-mouth. The tour proved popular due to its unscripted nature and saw 15,000 guests a year.
As compared to the Universal tour, Dick Mason was interested in educating the public about film making: "The entire tour is practical. There are no demonstrations or simulations. We're catering to families and kids. We just want to give insight to a business most people have misunderstandings about." The tours departed about four times a day and were around three hours.
In 1990, The Burbank Studios dissolved, and Warner Bros. reclaimed the rest of the studio from Columbia Pictures when Columbia moved to the former Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer lot in Culver City. The Tour Department was relocated into a building next to the studio's Gate 4 on Hollywood Way, allowing the public to inquire about the tour without needing a pass. It shared the space with a Studio Store.
VIP Studio Tours
Dick Mason retired from Warner Bros. in 2000, and Danny Kahn assumed leadership of the Tour Department. Kahn moved the location of the tour to an office building previously occupied by Columbia Pictures across the street from Gate 5. He increased the frequency of tours but retained the small group sizes and unscripted nature. The tour became more streamlined and began more aggressive advertising.
Warner Bros. Studio Tour Hollywood
In 2015, the tour re-branded itself with the launch of Stage 48: Script to Screen. The expanded tour uses a new name, a new logo, and newer tour carts.