Association With The Motion Picture Industry
Peters began his photography work in the motion picture industry around 1899, with the Pathe Freres film company of France. Later, when he left them, he continued to work throughout Europe at various companies in the motion picture industry to develop his skills. He also did photography and motion picture work at Karnak and Luxor in Egypt.
Peters was associated with the Cosmos Film Company in San Francisco, California, which later became Exactus Photo Film Corporation of Palo Alto. He became its first president and general manager when it officially started operations on August 28, 1914. The company stated that its purpose was
| “ | to produce, sell, rent and exchange educational and industrial moving picture films for the use of schools, academies, and universities throughout the state of California, and later throughout the United States. | ” |
In the beginning, Exactus had a list of well-respected California educators to serve on its board of directors. However, a lack of good business management and closing skills in obtaining financial backing caused its failure only two years later. There were also clashes of misunderstandings between the educators and Exactus' technicians that exacerbated the situation. By the end of 1916, Peters held an auction of the physical items held by the bankrupt company to raise money to pay off its creditors. What little stock left was turned over to the Palo Alto Film Company.
Peters kept the technical and educational value of the Exactus films at a high quality in spite of these tumultuous times. At the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in 1915, his company won two gold medals and one bronze medal for films they had produced.
Read more about this topic: Thomas Kimmwood Peters
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