Loddstone Studios was a film production company set up in the 1920s by Eli Marrion's grandfather. It was initially supposed to be named Lode Stone but a mistake by lawyers resulted in it being dubbed incorrectly. It cost ten thousand dollars to set up. The studio became one of the pillars of the Hollywood industry and made countless stars, but also took advantage of naive individuals such as Ernest Vail, who was tricked into selling the rights to his book for a pittance.