Some of America's greatest innovators were thought of as pirates.
When Thomas Edison invented the phonographic record player, musicians branded him a pirate out to steal their work and destroy the live music business, until a system was established so everyone could be paid royalties, which we today call the record industry.
Edison, in turn, went on to invent filmmaking, and demanded a licensing fee from those making movies with his technology. This caused a band of filmmaking pirates, including a man named William, to flee New York for the then still wild West, where they thrived, unlicensed, until Edison's patents expired.
These pirates continue to operate there, albeit legally now, in the town they founded: Hollywood. William's last name? Fox.
For that reason but also because they desperately needed somewhere sunnier to film, NYC (where everyone was originally based) was just too dark and gloomy for filmmakers to be able to establish a viable industry. I read a really good book on it last year... I can't remember what it was called though.
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