Wood accepted two offers from producer Irving "Sol" Lesser of the newly formed Principal Pictures to make "a most unusual film", "The Female" (1924), set in the South African Veld starring Betty Compson, as well as a Western and Wood's first effort in this genre, "The Mine with the Iron Door" (1924) with Dorothy Mackaill. Wood consented to make another film with Dorothy Mackaill for Paramount in "The Next Corner" (1924) that despite its "expensive production values" was burdened with a "meager plot". Wood and Paramount reached an impasse when he refused to direct another Agnes Ayers vehicle. Wood was officially suspended from Paramount and the other major studios for a year.