Well, IIRC, Hayes controlled production by directly targeting distribution, i.e. the distribution companies and the theaters they owned. So Hollywood was faced with the dillema of making the movies they wanted to, which would never be seen, or conforming to the code and getting Box office revenue.

Fast forward to today and we see that Brent Ward's jihad on porn is following much the same pattern: Jeff and Max aren't under indictment for producing porn, but for distributing it. Same with the Harbs.

History repeats itself.