...back in the day, was there anything like the focus grouping of a work in progress that you see today?
.............
You can go all the way back to Harold Llyod's test screenings in the 1920s to see examples of this practice. In fact, I think Llyod is credited with originating pre-screenings for tweaking purposes.
Without the studio system -- and its executive king rulers -- to centrally determine what will and won't get made, testing has assumed a much greater role now than in the past (the neoliberal era, which, as Brian mentioned in so many words, reshaped Hollywood economics as thoroughly as the rest of society, ushered in an acceleration of dependence on focus group information).
But it's hardly new.
.d.