The blacklist was implemented by the Hollywood studios to promote their patriotic credentials in the face of public attacks and served to shield the film industry from the economic harm that would result from an association of its product with subversives.

How did blacklist save Hollywood?

The blacklist enabled the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) to establish in its place a system far better suited for business in postindustrial, postwar America and far more suitable ethnically and politically for doing business with the federal government in the 1940s and 1950s.

How did the Red Scare affect Hollywood?

For actors, the effect of working with a subsequently tainted writer was even greater than the effect of working with actors and other Hollywood professionals. ... Actors faced a 20% drop in employment if they had worked with writers who were later blacklisted.